Prosumer Flexibility: A Comprehensive State-of-the-Art Review and Scientometric Analysis

A Critical Review of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) Use in Architecture and Urbanism: Scientometric and Bibliometric Analysis

In recent years the use of UAVs (Unmanned aerial vehicles) have proliferated in the civil sector for purposes such as search and rescue, remote sensing or real-time monitoring of road traffic, among others. In the architecture, engineering and construction fields (AEC) UAVs have demonstrated to be an ideal technology due to their optimal performance in terms of time, precision, safety and cost. Given the rapid growth of interest in this technology, this research presents a critical review of the literature on the use of UAVs in architecture and urbanism to define the most widely used techniques and delimit the fields of application based on the experimentation published by the scientific community. A scientific mapping was carried out in two stages using the VOSviewerTM software: a scientometric and a bibliometric analysis. This technique allowed us to analyse a large body of literature and bibliographic data to obtain trends, patterns and directions of this domain of knowledge. Then, a literature review was presented, highlighting the relevant information identified in the previous analysis. The fields of application of UAVs were delimited and the most commonly used payload types and the most appropriate post-processing techniques were specified, depending on the aerial mission objective. The fields of application identified included different techniques related to the generation of 3D models, land mapping, construction site monitoring, building surveying to detect structural damage and energy losses and urban remote sensing. The literature review showed that UAVs provide a useful multi-tasking tool at any stage of an architectural project. These techniques can be applied to buildings or public spaces from the design and construction processes when the project is initiated to the later stages of maintenance and inspection of the building during its life cycle.

Real-Time Validation of Power Flow Control Method for Enhanced Operation of Microgrids

This paper describes a control methodology for electronic power converters distributed in low-voltage microgrids and its implementation criteria in general microgrid structures. In addition, a real-time simulation setup is devised, implemented, and discussed to validate the control operation in a benchmark network. Considering these key aspects, it is shown that operational constraints regarding the power delivered by sources, flowing through network branches, and exchanged at the point of connection with the main grid can generally be fulfilled by the presented control approach. The control is performed considering a cost function aiming at optimizing various operation indexes, including distribution losses, current stresses on feeders, voltage deviations. The control system allows an enhanced operation of the microgrid, specifically, it allows dynamic and accurate power flow control enabling the provision of ancillary services to the upstream grid, like the demand–response, by exploiting the available infrastructure and the energy resources. Then, the validation of the approach is reported by using a real-time simulation setup with accurate models of the power electronic converters and related local controllers, of the grid infrastructure, of the power flow controller, and of the communication network used for data exchange. It is also shown that the implemented platform allows to fully reproduce, analyze, and finally validate all the relevant steady-state and dynamic behaviors related in the considered scenario.

Grid Integration as a Strategy of Med-TSO in the Mediterranean Area in the Framework of Climate Change and Energy Transition

The paper presents a survey on the situation in terms of solutions for grid integration throughout the Mediterranean area in the framework of climate change and energy transition. The objective of the study is focused on Mediterranean region connectivity initiatives in the context of the broader vision of an interconnected European–Mediterranean (Euro–Med) power system for a future low-carbon energy system as the fundamental objective of Med-TSO, the Association of the Mediterranean Transmission System Operators (TSOs) for electricity. The analysis examines how the power grid connectivity evolves from now on to 2030, describing the progress made to date in integrating the power grids of the Mediterranean region as well as the future possibilities for a more integrated power grid covering the whole region. The research, conducted within Mediterranean Project II of Med-TSO, includes an overview on the current situation of the interconnections and the proposal for the 2030 interconnections Master Plan, coherent with the national development plans (NDPs) and shared energy scenarios for the whole region at the same horizon of 2030. It conducts an assessment of the gap between the current and the 2030 expected situation, taking into account the energy transition toward 2030 objectives resulting from the achievements of climate change pledges, local governmental policies and EU strategy for neighboring countries and Africa. The solutions survey includes technical solutions, procedures and rules to improve systems’ integration and increase regional electricity exchanges in Med-TSO countries, and is aimed at achieving a higher quality of services and better efficiency of energy supply in Med-TSO member countries in the framework of the expected energy transition. The main scope is to present solutions that will be made available due to maturity and experience in the coming decade, specifically: high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission technologies, energy storage, sectors coupling, smart grid technologies and services, inter-TSO and transmission–distribution cooperation platforms, etc. The article presents two case studies: the island paradigm and a new cross-border interconnection project of common interest. Finally, the post-pandemic core role of TSOs, which has become more relevant than ever, is transformed into a key-enabler of energy transition towards a sustainable, resilient and innovative climate-neutral recovery.

Demand Response Programs in Multi-Energy Systems: A Review

A key challenge for future energy systems is how to minimize the effects of employing demand response (DR) programs on the consumer. There exists a diverse range of consumers with a variety of types of loads, such as must-run loads, and this can reduce the impact of consumer participation in DR programs. Multi-energy systems (MES) can solve this issue and have the capability to reduce any discomfort faced by all types of consumers who are willing to participate in the DRPs. In this paper, the most recent implementations of DR frameworks in the MESs are comprehensively reviewed. The DR modelling approach in such energy systems is investigated and the main contributions of each of these works are included. Notably, the amount of research in MES has rapidly increased in recent years. The majority of the reviewed works consider power, heat and gas systems within the MES. Over three-quarters of the papers investigated consider some form of energy storage system, which shows how important having efficient, cost-effective and reliable energy storage systems will be in the future. In addition, a vast majority of the works also considered some form of demand response programs in their model. This points to the need to make participating in the energy market easier for consumers, as well as the importance of good communication between generators, system operators, and consumers. Moreover, the emerging topics within the area of MES are investigated using a bibliometric analysis to provide insight to other researchers in this area.

A Heuristic to Create Prosumer Community Groups in the Social Internet of Energy

Contrary to the rapid evolution experienced in the last decade of Information and Communication Technologies and particularly the Internet of Things, electric power distribution systems have remained exceptionally steady for a long time. Energy users are no longer passive actors; the prosumer is expected to be the primary agent in the Future Grid. Demand Side Management refers to the management of energy production and consumption at the demand side, and there seems to be an increasing concern about the scalability of Demand Side Management services. The creation of prosumer communities leveraging the Smart Grid to improve energy production and consumption patterns has been proposed in the literature, and several works concerned with scalability of Demand Side Management services group prosumers to improve Demand Side Management services scalability. In our previous work, we coin the term Social Internet of Energy to refer to the integration between devices, prosumers and groups of prosumers via social relationships. In this work, we develop an algorithm to coordinate the different clusters we create using the clustering method by load profile compatibility (instead of similarity). Our objective is to explore the possibilities of the cluster-by-compatibility heuristic we proposed in our previous work. We perform experiments using synthetic and real datasets. Results show that we can obtain a global reduction in Peak-to-Average Ratio with datasets containing up to 200 rosumers and creating up to 6 Prosumer Community Groups, and imply that those Prosumer Community Groups can perform load rescheduling semi-autonomously and in parallel with each other.