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Editorial

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5 pages, 184 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Electrification of Smart Cities

by Chun Sing Lai, Kim-Fung Tsang and Yinhai Wang

Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(7), 4499; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13074499 - 1 Apr 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1618

Abstract

Electrification plays a critical role in decarbonizing energy consumption for various sectors, including transportation, heating, and cooling [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrification of Smart Cities)

Research

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14 pages, 800 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Perfect Decomposition Model for Analyzing Transportation Energy Consumption in China

by Yujie Yuan, Xiushan Jiang and Chun Sing Lai

Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(7), 4179; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13074179 - 25 Mar 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2697

Abstract

Energy consumption in transportation industry is increasing. Transportation has become one of the fastest energy consumption industries. Transportation energy consumption variation and the main influencing factors of decomposition contribute to reduce transportation energy consumption and realize the sustainable development of transportation industry. This [...] Read more.

Energy consumption in transportation industry is increasing. Transportation has become one of the fastest energy consumption industries. Transportation energy consumption variation and the main influencing factors of decomposition contribute to reduce transportation energy consumption and realize the sustainable development of transportation industry. This paper puts forwards an improved decomposition model according to the factors of change direction on the basis of the existing index decomposition methods. Transportation energy consumption influencing factors are quantitatively decomposed according to the transportation energy consumption decomposition model. The contribution of transportation turnover, transportation structure and transportation energy consumption intensity changes to transportation energy consumption variation is quantitatively calculated. Results show that there exists great energy-conservation potential about transportation structure adjustment, and transportation energy intensity is the main factor of energy conservation. The research achievements enrich the relevant theory of transportation energy consumption, and help to make the transportation energy development planning and carry out related policies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrification of Smart Cities)

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22 pages, 7146 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Local Energy Market-Consumer Digital Twin Coordination for Optimal Energy Price Discovery under Thermal Comfort Constraints

by Nikos Andriopoulos, Konstantinos Plakas, Christos Mountzouris, John Gialelis, Alexios Birbas, Stylianos Karatzas and Alex Papalexopoulos

Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(3), 1798; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13031798 - 30 Jan 2023

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2870

Abstract

The upward trend of adopting Distributed Energy Resources (DER) reshapes the energy landscape and supports the transition towards a sustainable, carbon-free electricity system. The integration of Internet of Things (IoT) in Demand Response (DR) enables the transformation of energy flexibility, originated by electricity [...] Read more.

The upward trend of adopting Distributed Energy Resources (DER) reshapes the energy landscape and supports the transition towards a sustainable, carbon-free electricity system. The integration of Internet of Things (IoT) in Demand Response (DR) enables the transformation of energy flexibility, originated by electricity consumers/prosumers, into a valuable DER asset, thus placing them at the center of the electricity market. In this paper, it is shown how Local Energy Markets (LEM) act as a catalyst by providing a digital platform where the prosumers’ energy needs and offerings can be efficiently settled locally while minimizing the grid interaction. This paper showcases that the IoT technology, which enables control and coordination of numerous devices, further unleashes the flexibility potential of the distribution grid, offered as an energy service both to the LEM participants as well as the external grid. This is achieved by orchestrating the IoT devices through a Consumer Digital Twin (CDT), which facilitates the optimal adjustment of this flexibility according to the consumers’ thermal comfort level constraints and preferences. An integrated LEM-CDT platform is introduced, which comprises an optimal energy scheduler, accounts for the Renewable Energy System (RES) uncertainty, errors in load forecasting, Day-Ahead Market (DAM) feed in/out the tariff, and a fair price settling mechanism while considering user preferences. The results prove that IoT-enabled consumers’ participation in the energy markets through LEM is flexible, cost-efficient, and adaptive to the consumers’ comfort level while promoting both energy transition goals and social welfare. In particular, the paper showcases that the proposed algorithm increases the profits of LEM participants, lowers the corresponding operating costs, addresses efficiently the stochasticity of both energy demand and generation, and requires minimal computational resources. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrification of Smart Cities)

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27 pages, 12233 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Parameter Optimization and Tuning Methodology for a Scalable E-Bus Fleet Simulation Framework: Verification Using Real-World Data from Case Studies

by Mohammed Mahedi Hasan, Nikos Avramis, Mikaela Ranta, Mohamed El Baghdadi and Omar Hegazy

Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(2), 940; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13020940 - 10 Jan 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1786

Abstract

This study presents the optimization and tuning of a simulation framework to improve its simulation accuracy while evaluating the energy utilization of electric buses under various mission scenarios. The simulation framework was developed using the low fidelity (Lo-Fi) model of the forward-facing electric [...] Read more.

This study presents the optimization and tuning of a simulation framework to improve its simulation accuracy while evaluating the energy utilization of electric buses under various mission scenarios. The simulation framework was developed using the low fidelity (Lo-Fi) model of the forward-facing electric bus (e-bus) powertrain to achieve the fast simulation speeds necessary for real-time fleet simulations. The measurement data required to verify the proper tuning of the simulation framework is provided by the bus original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and taken from the various demonstrations of 12 m and 18 m buses in the cities of Barcelona, Gothenburg, and Osnabruck. We investigate the different methodologies applied for the tuning process, including empirical and optimization. In the empirical methodology, the standard driving cycles that have been used in previous studies to simulate various use case (UC) scenarios are replaced with actual driving cycles derived from measurement data from buses traversing their respective routes. The key outputs, including the energy requirements, total cost of ownership (TCO), and impact on the grid are statistically compared. In the optimization scenario, the assumptions for the various vehicle and mission parameters are tuned to increase the correlation between the simulation and measurement outputs (the battery SoC profile), for the given scenario input (the velocity profile). Improved simple optimization (iSOPT) was used to provide a superfast optimization process to tune the passenger load in the bus, cabin setpoint temperature, battery’s age as relative capacity degradation (RCD), SoC cutoff point between constant current (CC) and constant voltage charging (CV), charge decay factor used in CV charging, charging power, and cutoff in initial velocity during braking for which regenerative braking is activated. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrification of Smart Cities)

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17 pages, 7868 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Research on a Day-Ahead Grouping Coordinated Preheating Method for Large-Scale Electrified Heat Systems Based on a Demand Response Model

by Guodong Guo and Yanfeng Gong

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(21), 10758; https://doi.org/10.3390/app122110758 - 24 Oct 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1157

Abstract

In recent years, the increasing winter load peak has brought great pressure on the operation of power grids. The demand response on the load side helps to alleviate the expansion of the power grid and promote the consumption of renewable energy. However, the [...] Read more.

In recent years, the increasing winter load peak has brought great pressure on the operation of power grids. The demand response on the load side helps to alleviate the expansion of the power grid and promote the consumption of renewable energy. However, the response of large-scale electric heat loads to the same electricity price curve will lead to new load peaks and regulation failure. This paper proposes a grouping coordinated preheating framework based on a demand response model, which realizes the interaction of information between the central controller and each regulation group. The room thermal parameter model and the performance map of the inverter air conditioner/heat pump are integrated into the demand response model. In this framework, the coordination mechanism is adopted to avoid regulation failure, an edge computing structure is applied to consider the users’ preferences and plans, the grouping and parallel computing structure is proposed to improve the computing efficiency. Users optimize their heat load curves based on a demand response model, which can consider travel planning and ensure user comfort. The central controller updates the marginal cost curve based on the predicted scenario set to coordinate the regulation groups and suppress the new peaks. The simulation results show that the proposed method can promote the consumption of renewable energy through coordinated preheating and reduce the system energy consumption cost and user bills. The parallel computing structure within the regulation group also ensures the computing efficiency under large-scale loads. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrification of Smart Cities)

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19 pages, 3004 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Implementation Aspects of Smart Grids Cyber-Security Cross-Layered Framework for Critical Infrastructure Operation

by Dennis Agnew, Nader Aljohani, Reynold Mathieu, Sharon Boamah, Keerthiraj Nagaraj, Janise McNair and Arturo Bretas

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(14), 6868; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12146868 - 7 Jul 2022

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2614

Abstract

Communication networks in power systems are a major part of the smart grid paradigm. It enables and facilitates the automation of power grid operation as well as self-healing in contingencies. Such dependencies on communication networks, though, create a roam for cyber-threats. An adversary [...] Read more.

Communication networks in power systems are a major part of the smart grid paradigm. It enables and facilitates the automation of power grid operation as well as self-healing in contingencies. Such dependencies on communication networks, though, create a roam for cyber-threats. An adversary can launch an attack on the communication network, which in turn reflects on power grid operation. Attacks could be in the form of false data injection into system measurements, flooding the communication channels with unnecessary data, or intercepting messages. Using machine learning-based processing on data gathered from communication networks and the power grid is a promising solution for detecting cyber threats. In this paper, a co-simulation of cyber-security for cross-layer strategy is presented. The advantage of such a framework is the augmentation of valuable data that enhances the detection as well as identification of anomalies in the operation of the power grid. The framework is implemented on the IEEE 118-bus system. The system is constructed in Mininet to simulate a communication network and obtain data for analysis. A distributed three controller software-defined networking (SDN) framework is proposed that utilizes the Open Network Operating System (ONOS) cluster. According to the findings of our suggested architecture, it outperforms a single SDN controller framework by a factor of more than ten times the throughput. This provides for a higher flow of data throughout the network while decreasing congestion caused by a single controller’s processing restrictions. Furthermore, our CECD-AS approach outperforms state-of-the-art physics and machine learning-based techniques in terms of attack classification. The performance of the framework is investigated under various types of communication attacks. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrification of Smart Cities)

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19 pages, 4643 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fusing Local and Global Information for One-Step Multi-View Subspace Clustering

by Yiqiang Duan, Haoliang Yuan, Chun Sing Lai and Loi Lei Lai

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(10), 5094; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12105094 - 18 May 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2273

Abstract

Multi-view subspace clustering has drawn significant attention in the pattern recognition and machine learning research community. However, most of the existing multi-view subspace clustering methods are still limited in two aspects. (1) The subspace representation yielded by the self-expression reconstruction model ignores the [...] Read more.

Multi-view subspace clustering has drawn significant attention in the pattern recognition and machine learning research community. However, most of the existing multi-view subspace clustering methods are still limited in two aspects. (1) The subspace representation yielded by the self-expression reconstruction model ignores the local structure information of the data. (2) The construction of subspace representation and clustering are used as two individual procedures, which ignores their interactions. To address these problems, we propose a novel multi-view subspace clustering method fusing local and global information for one-step multi-view clustering. Our contribution lies in three aspects. First, we merge the graph learning into the self-expression model to explore the local structure information for constructing the specific subspace representations of different views. Second, we consider the multi-view information fusion by integrating these specific subspace representations into one common subspace representation. Third, we combine the subspace representation learning, multi-view information fusion, and clustering into a joint optimization model to realize the one-step clustering. We also develop an effective optimization algorithm to solve the proposed method. Comprehensive experimental results on nine popular multi-view data sets confirm the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method by comparing it with many state-of-the-art multi-view clustering methods. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrification of Smart Cities)

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19 pages, 7612 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Setting Up and Operating Electric City Buses in Harsh Winter Conditions

by Maarit Vehviläinen, Rita Lavikka, Seppo Rantala, Marko Paakkinen, Janne Laurila and Terttu Vainio

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(6), 2762; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12062762 - 8 Mar 2022

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 4216

Abstract

The city of Tampere in Finland aims to be carbon-neutral in 2030 and wanted to find out how the electrification of public transport would help achieve the climate goal. Research has covered topics related to electric buses, ranging from battery technologies to lifecycle [...] Read more.

The city of Tampere in Finland aims to be carbon-neutral in 2030 and wanted to find out how the electrification of public transport would help achieve the climate goal. Research has covered topics related to electric buses, ranging from battery technologies to lifecycle assessment and cost analysis. However, less is known about electric city buses’ performance in cold climatic zones. This study collected and analysed weather and electric city bus data to understand the effects of temperature and weather conditions on the electric buses’ efficiency. Data were collected from four battery-electric buses and one hybrid bus as a reference. The buses were fast-charged at the market and slow-charged at the depot. The test route ran downtown. The study finds that the average energy consumption of the buses during winter was 40–45% higher than in summer (kWh/km). The effect of cabin cooling is minor compared to the cabin heating energy needs. The study also finds that infrastructure needs to have enough safety margins in case of faults and additional energy consumption in harsh weather conditions. In addition, appropriate training for operators, maintenance and other personnel is needed to avoid disturbances caused by charging and excessive energy consumption by driving style. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrification of Smart Cities)

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13 pages, 2409 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Multi-Leak Identification Scheme Using Multi-Classification for Water Distribution Infrastructure

by Yang Wei, Kim Fung Tsang, Chung Kit Wu, Hao Wang and Yucheng Liu

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(4), 2128; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12042128 - 18 Feb 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1812

Abstract

Water distribution infrastructure (WDI) is well-established and significantly improves living quality. Nonetheless, aging WDI has posed an awkward worldwide problem, wasting natural resources and leading to direct and indirect economic losses. The total losses due to leaks are valued at USD 7 billion [...] Read more.

Water distribution infrastructure (WDI) is well-established and significantly improves living quality. Nonetheless, aging WDI has posed an awkward worldwide problem, wasting natural resources and leading to direct and indirect economic losses. The total losses due to leaks are valued at USD 7 billion per year. In this paper, a multi-classification multi-leak identification (MC-MLI) scheme is developed to combat the captioned problem. In the MC-MLI, a novel adaptive kernel (AK) scheme is developed to adapt to different WDI scenarios. The AK improves the overall identification capability by customizing a weighting vector into the extracted feature vector. Afterwards, a multi-classification (MC) scheme is designed to facilitate efficient adaptation to potentially hostile inhomogeneous WDI scenarios. The MC comprises multiple classifiers for customizing to different pipelines. Each classifier is characterized by the feature vector and corresponding weighting vector and weighting vector pertinent to system requirements, thus rendering the developed scheme strongly adaptive to ever-changing operating environments. Hence, the MC scheme facilitates low-cost, efficient, and accurate water leak detection and provides high practical value to the commercial market. Additionally, graph theory is utilized to model the realistic WDIs, and the experimental results verify that the developed MC-MLI achieves 96% accuracy, 96% sensitivity, and 95% specificity. The average detection time is about 5 s. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrification of Smart Cities)

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20 pages, 5078 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Solar Irradiance Forecasting Using a Data-Driven Algorithm and Contextual Optimisation

by Paula Bendiek, Ahmad Taha, Qammer H. Abbasi and Basel Barakat

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(1), 134; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12010134 - 23 Dec 2021

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 4556

Abstract

Solar forecasting plays a key part in the renewable energy transition. Major challenges, related to load balancing and grid stability, emerge when a high percentage of energy is provided by renewables. These can be tackled by new energy management strategies guided by power [...] Read more.

Solar forecasting plays a key part in the renewable energy transition. Major challenges, related to load balancing and grid stability, emerge when a high percentage of energy is provided by renewables. These can be tackled by new energy management strategies guided by power forecasts. This paper presents a data-driven and contextual optimisation forecasting (DCF) algorithm for solar irradiance that was comprehensively validated using short- and long-term predictions, in three US cities: Denver, Boston, and Seattle. Moreover, step-by-step implementation guidelines to follow and reproduce the results were proposed. Initially, a comparative study of two machine learning (ML) algorithms, the support vector machine (SVM) and Facebook Prophet (FBP) for solar prediction was conducted. The short-term SVM outperformed the FBP model for the 1- and 2- hour prediction, achieving a coefficient of determination (R²) of 91.2% in Boston. However, FBP displayed sustained performance for increasing the forecast horizon and yielded better results for 3-hour and long-term forecasts. The algorithms were optimised by further contextual model adjustments which resulted in substantially improved performance. Thus, DCF utilised SVM for short-term and FBP for long-term predictions and optimised their performance using contextual information. DCF achieved consistent performance for the three cities and for long- and short-term predictions, with an average R² of 85%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrification of Smart Cities)

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16 pages, 11116 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Transmission Line Fault-Cause Identification Based on Hierarchical Multiview Feature Selection

by Shengchao Jian, Xiangang Peng, Haoliang Yuan, Chun Sing Lai and Loi Lei Lai

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(17), 7804; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11177804 - 25 Aug 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2139

Abstract

Fault-cause identification plays a significant role in transmission line maintenance and fault disposal. With the increasing types of monitoring data, i.e., micrometeorology and geographic information, multiview learning can be used to realize the information fusion for better fault-cause identification. To reduce the redundant [...] Read more.

Fault-cause identification plays a significant role in transmission line maintenance and fault disposal. With the increasing types of monitoring data, i.e., micrometeorology and geographic information, multiview learning can be used to realize the information fusion for better fault-cause identification. To reduce the redundant information of different types of monitoring data, in this paper, a hierarchical multiview feature selection (HMVFS) method is proposed to address the challenge of combining waveform and contextual fault features. To enhance the discriminant ability of the model, an ε-dragging technique is introduced to enlarge the boundary between different classes. To effectively select the useful feature subset, two regularization terms, namely l_2,1-norm and Frobenius norm penalty, are adopted to conduct the hierarchical feature selection for multiview data. Subsequently, an iterative optimization algorithm is developed to solve our proposed method, and its convergence is theoretically proven. Waveform and contextual features are extracted from yield data and used to evaluate the proposed HMVFS. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the combined used of fault features and reveal the superior performance and application potential of HMVFS. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrification of Smart Cities)

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16 pages, 13548 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Calculation Method for Electricity Price and Rebate Level in Demand Response Programs

by Hirotaka Takano, Naohiro Yoshida, Hiroshi Asano, Aya Hagishima and Nguyen Duc Tuyen

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(15), 6871; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11156871 - 26 Jul 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2484

Abstract

Demand response programs (DRs) can be implemented with less investment costs than those in power plants or facilities and enable us to control power demand. Therefore, they are highly expected as an efficient option for power supply–demand-balancing operations. On the other hand, DRs [...] Read more.

Demand response programs (DRs) can be implemented with less investment costs than those in power plants or facilities and enable us to control power demand. Therefore, they are highly expected as an efficient option for power supply–demand-balancing operations. On the other hand, DRs bring new difficulties on how to evaluate the cooperation of consumers and to decide electricity prices or rebate levels with reflecting its results. This paper presents a theoretical approach that calculates electricity prices and rebate levels in DRs based on the framework of social welfare maximization. In the authors’ proposal, the DR-originated changes in the utility functions of power suppliers and consumers are used to set a guide for DR requests. Moreover, optimal electricity prices and rebate levels are defined from the standpoint of minimal burden in DRs. Through numerical simulations and discussion on their results, the validity of the authors’ proposal is verified. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrification of Smart Cities)

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18 pages, 1432 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fault Diagnosis Approach of Main Drive Chain in Wind Turbine Based on Data Fusion

by Zhen Xu, Ping Yang, Zhuoli Zhao, Chun Sing Lai, Loi Lei Lai and Xiaodong Wang

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(13), 5804; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11135804 - 23 Jun 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2483

Abstract

The construction and operation of wind turbines have become an important part of the development of smart cities. However, the fault of the main drive chain often causes the outage of wind turbines, which has a serious impact on the normal operation of [...] Read more.

The construction and operation of wind turbines have become an important part of the development of smart cities. However, the fault of the main drive chain often causes the outage of wind turbines, which has a serious impact on the normal operation of wind turbines in smart cities. In order to overcome the shortcomings of the commonly used main drive chain fault diagnosis method that only uses a single data source, a fault feature extraction and fault diagnosis approach based on data source fusion is proposed. By fusing two data sources, the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) real-time monitoring system data and the main drive chain vibration monitoring data, the fault features of the main drive chain are jointly extracted, and an intelligent fault diagnosis model for the main drive chain in wind turbine based on data fusion is established. The diagnosis results of actual cases certify that the fault diagnosis model based on the fusion of two data sources is able to locate faults of the main drive chain in the wind turbine accurately and provide solid technical support for the high-efficient operation and maintenance of wind turbines. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrification of Smart Cities)

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23 pages, 3763 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Coordinated Operation of Electricity and Natural Gas Networks with Consideration of Congestion and Demand Response

by Chun Sing Lai, Mengxuan Yan, Xuecong Li, Loi Lei Lai and Yang Xu

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(11), 4987; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11114987 - 28 May 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2549

Abstract

This work presents a new coordinated operation (CO) framework for electricity and natural gas networks, considering network congestions and demand response. Credit rank (CR) indicator of coupling units is introduced, and gas consumption constraints information of natural gas fired units (NGFUs) is given. [...] Read more.

This work presents a new coordinated operation (CO) framework for electricity and natural gas networks, considering network congestions and demand response. Credit rank (CR) indicator of coupling units is introduced, and gas consumption constraints information of natural gas fired units (NGFUs) is given. Natural gas network operator (GNO) will deliver this information to an electricity network operator (ENO). A major advantage of this operation framework is that no frequent information interaction between GNO and ENO is needed. The entire framework contains two participants and three optimization problems, namely, GNO optimization sub-problem-A, GNO optimization sub-problem-B, and ENO optimization sub-problem. Decision sequence changed from traditional ENO-GNO-ENO to GNO-ENO-GNO in this novel framework. Second-order cone (SOC) relaxation is applied to ENO optimization sub-problem. The original problem is reformulated as a mixed-integer second-order cone programming (MISOCP) problem. For GNO optimization sub-problem, an improved sequential cone programming (SCP) method is applied based on SOC relaxation and the original sub-problem is converted to MISOCP problem. A benchmark 6-node natural gas system and 6-bus electricity system is used to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework. Considering pipeline congestion, CO, with demand response, can reduce the total cost of an electricity network by 1.19%, as compared to −0.48% using traditional decentralized operation with demand response. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrification of Smart Cities)

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Review

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18 pages, 2340 KiB

Open AccessReview

A Systematic Review on Blockchain Adoption

by Mohammed AlShamsi, Mostafa Al-Emran and Khaled Shaalan

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(9), 4245; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12094245 - 22 Apr 2022

Cited by 92 | Viewed by 16280

Abstract

Blockchain technologies have received considerable attention from academia and industry due to their distinctive characteristics, such as data integrity, security, decentralization, and reliability. However, their adoption rate is still scarce, which is one of the primary reasons behind conducting studies related to users’ [...] Read more.

Blockchain technologies have received considerable attention from academia and industry due to their distinctive characteristics, such as data integrity, security, decentralization, and reliability. However, their adoption rate is still scarce, which is one of the primary reasons behind conducting studies related to users’ satisfaction and adoption. Determining what impacts the use and adoption of Blockchain technologies can efficiently address their adoption challenges. Hence, this systematic review aimed to review studies published on Blockchain technologies to offer a thorough understanding of what impacts their adoption and discuss the main challenges and opportunities across various sectors. From 902 studies collected, 30 empirical studies met the eligibility criteria and were thoroughly analyzed. The results confirmed that the technology acceptance model (TAM) and technology–organization–environment (TOE) were the most common models for studying Blockchain adoption. Apart from the core variables of these two models, the results indicated that trust, perceived cost, social influence, and facilitating conditions were the significant determinants influencing several Blockchain applications. The results also revealed that supply chain management is the main domain in which Blockchain applications were adopted. Further, the results indicated inadequate exposure to studying the actual use of Blockchain technologies and their continued use. It is also essential to report that existing studies have examined the adoption of Blockchain technologies from the lens of the organizational level, with little attention paid to the individual level. This review is believed to improve our understanding by revealing the full potential of Blockchain adoption and opening the door for further research opportunities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrification of Smart Cities)

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