Integrated Regional Energy Planning towards Sustainable Development

Dear Colleagues,

Due to the warming climate, the efficient use of energy, energy supply, and issues of demand have received widespread attention. Furthermore, the need to realize the sustainable use of energy and to deal with the relationship between the integrated consideration of energy and economic and environmental protection has become a consensus. Integrated energy systems include various types of resources such as electricity, natural gas and heat, covering all aspects of energy production, transmission and consumption. With the help of advanced information, communication and energy conversion technologies, such systems realize complementary and optimized operation and cooperative management among various energy sources, such that the energy system in the whole region can meet the electricity, heat and gas load demand of users with high comprehensive energy efficiency and reliability. Integrated energy system planning is an important way to develop clean energy for the whole society, support efficient energy use, save energy, and reduce emissions.

This Special Issue focuses on a regional integrated energy system planning. As a coupled system of cooling, heating and power, an integrated energy system is characterized by a complex structure, complex operation mechanism, the co-existence of multiple laws, interactions, multiple parameters (variables), strong coupling, non-linearity, uncertainty, a multi-level nature, etc. An integrated energy system source–grid–load–storage synergistic planning should accurately analyze the characteristics of different loads. Among these, the system’s multi-energy complementary coupling mechanism and tapping of the active regulation role of multiple loads and composite energy storage are the keys to fundamentally improving the integrated energy system’s ability to consume renewable energy and achieve the efficient and safe operation of the system. Through the planning and research of regional integrated energy systems, the selection and design of various distributed energy types and capacities, system topology, etc., within the system can be scientifically realized under the premise of meeting the required power supply reliability of differentiated users, deeply exploiting the complementary substitution ability of different energy sources, increasing the utilization rate of clean energy, reducing carbon emissions, and promoting sustainable energy utilization.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following: (1) integrated regional energy; (2) integrated energy planning; (3) renewable energy utilization; and (4) integrated energy demand response.

Prof. Dr. Yongli Wang
Prof. Dr. Ling Ji
Guest Editors

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• energy planning
• renewable energy utilization
• low carbon
• multi-energy coupling
• sustainable development
• integrated energy system