Renewable Energy Communities in Smart Cities

Dear Colleagues,

Recent developments in solar photovoltaic technology, energy storage, intelligent distribution grids and electric mobility, combined with the focus on the new generation of 5G communications and the inclusion of electrical energy production in smart cities, have led to a paradigm shift, both from an economical and a societal point of view, towards self-consumption and renewable energy communities.  Energy systems are thus undergoing a profound transformation, moving from a top-down hierarchical structure to a more decentralized model built around prosumers (e.g., homeowners with solar panels or electric vehicle bi-directional chargers), who will purchase energy as well as produce, store and sell their own energy. Electricity markets are adapting to this new reality, accommodating novel network architectures and technologies supporting this paradigm.

In renewable energy communities, prosumers can buy and sell electrical energy directly between each other in a secure and decentralized manner. These transactions, which can be mediated by distributed ledger technologies and peer-to-peer negotiation models, are based on the consumption profiles and preferences of the various users. These communities usually require a managing entity to optimize the energy balance, achieve real-time evaluation of the purchase and sale prices of electricity, make decisions about local storage and sell the produced surplus.

This Special Issue aims to publish high-quality research from both academic and industrial stakeholders and serve as an outlet for disseminating the latest breakthroughs in renewable energy communities in the context of smart cities. We seek both theoretical and empirical research papers.

The topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Transactive energy models, protocols, architectures and implementations;
• Distributed energy resources models, protocols, architectures and implementations;
• Energy systems supported by distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) and/or blockchains;
• Security and privacy, and trust models, architectures and implementations for energy systems;
• Tools, simulators and testbeds for energy systems;
• Models of peer-to-peer and smart contract energy negotiations;
• Vehicle-to-grid integration and management in energy systems;
• Energy consumption forecast, pattern analysis and modelling;
• AI/ML algorithms for energy prediction and management;
• Communication models and networks for energy systems;
• 5G for smart grids.

Prof. Dr. Joaquim Ferreira
Dr. João Almeida
Dr. Paulo C. Bartolomeu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• renewable energy communities
• smart cities
• distributed ledger technologies
• cybersecurity
• vehicle to grid
• smart grids
• artificial intelligence
• machine learning