Challenges and pathways of low-carbon oriented energy transition and power system planning strategy: a review

This paper provides an overview of the challenges and pathways involved in achieving a low-carbon-oriented energy transition roadmap and power system planning strategy. The transition towards low-carbon energy sources is crucial in mitigating the global climate change crisis. However, this transition presents several technical, economic, and political challenges. The paper emphasizes the importance of an integrated approach to power system planning that considers the entire energy system (including both physical and information systems and market mechanisms) and not just individual technologies. To achieve this goal, the paper discusses various pathways toward low-carbon energy transition, including the integration of renewable energy sources into current energy systems, energy efficiency measures, and market-based and regulatory strategies encompassing the implementation of regulations, standards, and policies. Furthermore, the paper underscores the need for a comprehensive and coordinated approach to energy planning, taking into account the socio-economic and political dimensions of the transition process. In addition, the paper reviews the methodologies used in modeling low-carbon-oriented power system planning, including both model-based methods and advanced machine learning-assisted solutions. Overall, the paper concludes that achieving a low-carbon-oriented energy transition roadmap and power system planning strategy requires a multi-dimensional approach that considers technical, economic, political, and social factors

Low-carbon Energy Transition and Planning for Smart Grids

With the growing concerns of climate change and energy crisis, the energy transition from fossil-based systems to a low-carbon society is an inevitable trend. Power system planning plays an essential role in the energy transition of the power sector to accommodate the integration of renewable energy and meet the goal of decreasing carbon emissions while maintaining the economical, secure, and reliable operations of power systems. In this thesis, a low-carbon energy transition framework and strategies are proposed for the future smart grid, which comprehensively consider the planning and operation of the electricity networks, the emission control strategies with the carbon response of the end-users, and carbon-related trading mechanisms. The planning approach considers the collaborative planning of different types of networks under the smart grid context. Transportation electrification is considered as a key segment in the energy transition of power systems, so the planning of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs) and hydrogen refueling infrastructure for fuel cell electric vehicles is jointly solved with the electricity network expansion. The vulnerability assessment tools are proposed to evaluate the coupled networks towards extreme events. Based on the carbon footprint tracking technologies, emission control can be realized from both the generation side and the demand side. The operation of the low-carbon oriented power system is modeled in a combined energy and carbon market, which fully considers the carbon emission right trading and renewable energy certificates trading of the market participants. Several benchmark systems have been used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed planning approach. Comparative studies to existing approaches in the literature, where applicable, have also been conducted. The simulation results verify the practical applicability of this method

Risk Hedging Strategies in New Energy Markets

In recent years, two typical developments have been witnessed in the energy market. On the one hand, the penetration of renewable generations has gradually replaced parts of the traditional ways to generate energy. The intermittent nature of renewable generation can lead to energy supply uncertainty, which might exacerbate the imbalance between energy supply and demand. As a result, the problem of energy price risks might occur. On the other hand, with the introduction of distributed energy resources (DERs), new categories of markets besides traditional wholesale and retail markets are emerging. The main benefits of the penetration of DERs are threefold. First, DERs can increase power system reliability. Second, the cost of transmission can be reduced. Third, end users can directly participate in some of these new types of markets according to their energy demand, excess energy, and cost function without third-party intervention. However, energy market participants might encounter various types of uncertainties. Therefore, it is necessary to develop proper risk-hedging strategies for different energy market participants in emerging new markets. Thus, we propose risk-hedging strategies that can be used to guide various market participants to hedge risks and enhance utilities in the new energy market. These participants can be categorized into the supply side and demand side. Regarding the wide range of hedging tools analyzed in this thesis, four main types of hedging strategies are developed, including the application of ESS, financial tools, DR management, and pricing strategy. Several benchmark test systems have been applied to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed risk-hedging strategies. Comparative studies of existing risk hedging approaches in the literature, where applicable, have also been conducted. The real applicability of the proposed approach has been verified by simulation results