Sustainability of Distributed Generation through Virtual Power Plant

Dear Colleagues,

Conventional power plants supply capacity when needed and also deliver a range of grid-stabilizing ancillary services, from voltage stabilization to frequency response. Recently, the integration of distributed generation (DGs) into electric power systems has been accompanied by new facility operation strategies. Thus, it has become increasingly important to enhance management capabilities in this regard through different kinds of virtual power plants (VPPs). These include the formulation of the model, techniques for solving mathematical problems, participation in different types of markets, and the applicability of the proposed models to real case studies. It is also important to exploit their ability to participate in electricity markets to maximize operating profits. Microgrids comprise of a mix of distributed renewable power sources, energy storage, flexible demand and fossil-fuel plants. On the other hand, VPPs are usually integrated into the grid. In other words, microgrids are intended to be islanded or grid-connected so they can continue working self-sufficiently. The developed practices and functionalities are implemented through a service-oriented design and control scheme of the VPPs for the determination of feasible economic and technical solutions in the energy market and for power system operations. This Special Issue concerns up-to-date research efforts related to the development, design, control, modeling, etc., of VPPs and microgrids along with traditional power systems.

This Special Issue (SI) aims at presenting novel research on power systems operation, planning, and control; in particular, in the case of integrating renewable energy sources to conventional power grids. This SI represents a venue for contributors and researchers to share their up-to-date research and interesting results. The key subjects of interest comprise of, but are not limited to, the following:

1. All categories of renewable energy sources and support of energy storage systems
2. Grid integration of renewable sources
3. Various kind of connections in regard to distributed generations
4. Frequency and voltage stability
5. Smart grids and virtual power plants
6. Low inertia remedial actions
7. Classical, optimal and model predictive control of power systems
8. Artificial intelligence applied to energy systems
9. Protection of microgrids
10. Smart grid mitigation measures
11. Virtual power plants
12. Demand response
13. Optimization technologies utilizing IoT and AI
14. Vehicle-to-grid

Prof. Dr. Attia El-Fergany
Prof. Dr. Mahmoud El-kholy
Prof. Dr. Mohamed El-Hameed
Guest Editors

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