The increasing impact of climate change and rising occurrences of natural disasters pose substantial threats to power systems. Strengthening resilience against these low-probability, high-impact ...events is crucial. The proposition of reconfiguring traditional power systems into advanced networked microgrids (NMGs) emerges as a promising solution. Consequently, a growing body of research has focused on NMG-based techniques to achieve a more resilient power system. This paper provides an updated, comprehensive review of the literature, particularly emphasizing two main categories: networked microgrids’ configuration and networked microgrids’ control. The study explores key facets of NMG configurations, covering formation, power distribution, and operational considerations. Additionally, it delves into NMG control features, examining their architecture, modes, and schemes. Each aspect is reviewed based on problem modeling/formulation, constraints, and objectives. The review examines findings and highlights the research gaps, focusing on key elements such as frequency and voltage stability, reliability, costs associated with remote switches and communication technologies, and the overall resilience of the network. On that basis, a unified problem-solving approach addressing both the configuration and control aspects of stable and reliable NMGs is proposed. The article concludes by outlining potential future trends, offering valuable insights for researchers in the field.
•To adopt low-cost strategies to mitigate the risk of infection disease transmission•The impact of barrier heights on the spread of aerosol particles investigated•The barriers (a 70 cm height) can ...reduce the risk of infection by 72%•A barrier height of at least 60 cm above the desk surface to prevent virus transmission
During the normalized phase of COVID-19, droplets or aerosol particles produced by infected personnel are considered as the potential source of infection with uncertain exposure risk. As such, in densely populated open spaces, it is necessary to adopt strategies to mitigate the risk of infection disease transmission while providing sufficient ventilation air. An example of such strategies is use of physical barriers. In this study, the impact of barrier heights on the spread of aerosol particles is investigated in an open office environment with the well-designed ventilation mode and supply air rate. The risk of infection disease transmission is evaluated using simulation of particle concentration in different locations and subject to a number of source scenarios. It was found that a barrier height of at least 60 cm above the desk surface is needed to effectively prevent the transmission of viruses. For workstations within 4 m from the outlet, a 70 cm height is considered, and with a proper ventilation mode, it is shown that the barriers can reduce the risk of infection by 72%. However, for the workstations further away from the outlet (beyond 4 m), the effect of physical barrier cannot be that significant. In summary, this study provides a theoretical analysis for implementing physical barriers, as a low-cost mitigation strategy, subject to various height scenarios and investigation of their effectiveness in reducing the infection transmission probability.
Although renewable technologies are progressing fast, there are still challenges such as the reliability and availability of renewable energy sources and their cost issues due to capital intensity ...that hinder their broad adoption. This research aims at developing a configuration-sizing approach to enhance the cost efficiency and sourcing reliability of renewable energies integrated in microgrids. To achieve this goal, various technologies were considered, such as solar PV, wind turbines, converters, and batteries for system configuration with minimization of net present cost (NPC) as the objective. Grid connection scenarios with up to 100% renewable contribution were analyzed. The results show that the integration of renewable technologies with some grid backup could reduce the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) to about half of the price of the electricity that the university purchases from the grid. Also, different kinds of solar tracker systems were studied. The outcome shows that by using a vertical axis solar tracker, the LCOE of the system could be reduced by more than 50 percent. This research can help the decision-maker to opt for the best scenarios for generating reliable and cost-efficient electricity.
Microgrids (MGs) can be used as a solution to ensure resilience against power supply failures in electricity grids caused by extreme weather conditions, unavailability of generation capacities, and ...problems with transmission components. The literature is rich in research focusing on strengthening the planning of microgrids based on overall load demand. In this study, a critical load demand indicator will be calculated and used to identify optimum operation strategies of microgrids in a power failure mode. An urban microgrid with a large educational building is selected for the case study. Operation dispatch scenarios are developed to reinforce the system’s resiliency in severe conditions. A mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) approach is employed to identify global optimum dispatch solutions based on a next 48 h plan for different seasons to formulate a whole-year operational model. The results show that the loss of power supply probability (LPSP), as an indicator of resiliency, could be lowered to near zero while minimizing operational cost.
A significant share of the total primary energy belongs to buildings. In many buildings, the energy usage can be significantly reduced by adopting passive strategies. These methods might not need ...additional capital investment. For instance, an integrated building renovation approach, in which passive methods are implemented, can reduce the energy consumption of building, compensating the additional cost of new technologies. This paper strives to make a technical review of the passive measures in buildings. A categorization of passive energy measures is provided. The review explores several types of insulation materials along with their selection criteria. Application of thermal mass as a redeemable energy technique is also discussed. In addition, performance of different techniques including heating and cooling flow control, optimum place and thickness of insulation, air transport control, water vapour control, natural heating, cooling, and lighting are presented. Advancements in these techniques including the naturally-ventilated envelope, Trombe walls, sunspaces, natural daylighting, sun shading, fenestration, glazing materials and framing, are also discussed. It is concluded that despite their performance in decreasing energy consumption, implementing the most effective combination of these passive technologies, with respect to the characteristics of the buildings, has remained a big challenge for building designers/managers.
This study presents a review of the state-of-the-art literature on water pipe failure predictions, assessment of water losses risk, optimal pipe maintenance plans, and maintenance coordination ...strategies. In addition, it provides a categorization of water main (WM) failures as well as a taxonomy of WM maintenance strategies. In particular, predictive and prescriptive analytics are highlighted with the investigation of their contributions and drawbacks from methodological and application perspectives. This review aims at providing a review of failure analytics developed recently in water mains domain either for prediction of failure or identification of optimal maintenance strategies conjointly. Future research directions and challenges are elaborated in advancing the understanding about the mechanisms leading to failures. The existing gaps between theory and practice in managing assets across water distribution networks ensuring cost-effectiveness and reliability are discussed. As knowledge about the state of the water mains and related areas is crucial, thus, this review provides an state-of-the-art update from recent studies, and accordingly, presents and discusses avenues for future research.
•Economic viability and environmental effects of a biomass-powered tri-generation system.•Developing a methodology for incorporating reliability, availability, and maintainability (RAM) analysis with ...optimization techniques.•A flexible modular design strategy adjustable to various types of energy inputs for hydrogen, heat, and electricity generation.•Incorporation of other operational criteria such as mean time for logistics, mean time to preventive maintenance.•Establishment of a platform for extending the integrated RAMS optimization approach to other phases of the project other than design.
For green hydrogen energy systems driven by renewables, despite the complexities in design and operations, uncertainties related to availability of infrastructures or seasonality of resources are significant as well as the uncertainties in technical side such as adoption of technologies for energy generation, conversion, and storage. Such uncertainties put the economy and sustainability of these systems under shadows. Consequently, it has been attempted to balance and offset the impacts of uncertainties by means of providing the side products such as hydrogen. An enviro-economic optimization considering reliability, availability, and maintenance of a biomass-gasification-driven combined heating, hydrogen, and electricity system is considered in this study. The emission penalty cost as well as the electricity and hydrogen generation revenues are also pinpointed as part of the objective function which is the total cost. Such costs incorporate capital cost for purchase and installation of all modules, primary fuel (High Heat Value Woods) purchase, and transportation costs. Probabilistic approach using Weibull function is used for modeling reliability for the whole system. The most optimal values for total cost, hydrogen and electrical modules incomes, rated capacities, utilization times, reliability and maintainability indicators such as mean time to failure and maintenance intervals for modules are derived and compared. The sensitivity to performance parameters and sizing characteristics of those three modules are also investigated. The results support this notion that if there are opportunities to sell hydrogen, it is advantageous to integrate hydrogen module to the heating and power co-generation. The results show that minimum cost is obtained by devoting less rated capacities and utilization times to electricity modules in favor of increasing the hydrogen module utilization times and flow rates.
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The design, operational planning, and integration of wind power plants with other renewables and the grid face challenges attributed to the intermittent nature of wind power generation. Addressing ...this issue necessitates the development of a smart wind power (and in particular wind speed) forecasting approach. This is a complex task due to substantial fluctuations in wind speed. To overcome the inherent stochastic nature of wind speed and mitigate related challenges, traditionally, numerical weather prediction (NWP) models are employed for wind speed forecasting. However, the applicability of NWP models is limited to short-term forecasting due to their computational constraints. In this study, a hybrid AI-based approach is proposed to improve forecast accuracy over a 48 h horizon for the city of Montreal. The results demonstrate that by integrating the probability distribution of wind speed with a deep learning model, the forecasted values align closely with the observed values in terms of seasonality and trend, exhibiting enhanced accuracy. Evaluation metrics reveal a substantial reduction in the root mean squared error (13–31%) across three prediction horizons (summer, fall, and winter) compared to a single long, short-term memory model. Furthermore, integrating the improved model with the numerical weather prediction model yields increased accuracy and decreased error compared to the LSTM–Weibull model.
Reducing dependency on fossil fuels and mitigating their environmental impacts are among the most promising aspects of utilizing renewable energy sources. The availability of various biomass ...resources has made it an appealing source of renewable energy. Given the variability of supply and sources of biomass, supply chains play an important role in the efficient provisioning of biomass resources for energy production. This paper provides a comprehensive review and classification of the excising literature in modeling of biomass supply chain operations while linking them to the wider strategic challenges and issues with the design, planning and management of biomass supply chains. On that basis, we will present an analysis of the existing gaps and the potential future directions for research in modeling of biomass supply chain operations.
•An extensive review of biomass supply chain operations management models presented in the literature is provided.•The models are classified in line with biomass supply chain activities from harvesting to conversion.•The issues surrounding biomass supply chains are investigated manifesting the need to novel modeling approaches.•Our gap analysis has identified a number of existing shortcomings and opportunities for future research.
This paper analyzes a moving grate biomass boiler operating with three alternative waste fuels, including biomass pellets, wood waste, and refuse-derived fuel (RDF) from a combination of thermal, ...economic, and environmental perspectives. The focus of this paper is on system functionality adaptation to retrofit the current systems operational conditions. A one-dimensional numerical bed model integrated with a black-box overbed model was developed to carefully investigate the fuel bed’s thermal characteristics, as well as the boiler’s output. According to the results, the system operates more efficiently under the biomass pellets feeding and annually generates 548 GJ heat, while it drops significantly in other scenarios. The system was economically evaluated based on a 25-year life cycle cost analysis. Subsequently, an internal rate of return (IRR) of 36% was calculated for biomass pellets, while the value reduced by 50% and 27% regarding wood waste and RDF, respectively. The fuel cost was identified as the main contributor to the total life cycle cost of the heating system, regardless of which feeding fuel was utilized. A long-term environmental impacts assessment of the boiler operation emerged, to show how plant-based fuels can significantly decrease the impacts of climate change that have originated from fossil fuel usage. The current study concludes that all the proposed scenarios are feasible to different degrees, and can extensively benefit a diverse set of energy sectors.
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