Planning the deployment of energy storage systems to integrate high shares of renewables: The Spain case study

The intermittent nature of the renewable energy sources with the greater potential, wind and solar, requires dealing with temporary mismatches between demand and supply. The object of this study is to assess the Spanish energy plan from a system perspective regarding the energy storage requirements to meet electricity demand with high...

Frontier ocean thermal/power and solar PV systems for transformation towards net-zero communities

Ocean thermal and power energy systems are promising driving forces for seashore coastal communities to achieve net-zero energy/emission target, whereas energy planning and management on ocean thermal/power and distributed building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems are critical, in terms of serving scale sizing and planning on...

Contested transition? Exploring the politics and process of regional energy planning in Indonesia

Transitioning to low carbon energy involves policies, institutions, and actors across different scales of governance. Indonesia's aspiration for a transition to low carbon energy is occurring in the dynamics of the re-scaling of environmental governance through decentralization processes. This article examines the interplays of actors at the...

Solar energy data analytics: PV deployment and land use

EU targets for sustainable development call for strong changes in the current energy systems as well as committed protection of environmental resources. This target conflicts if a policy is not going to promote the compatible solutions to both the issues. This is the case of the additional renewable energy sources to be exploited for...

Energy Potential Mapping: Open Data in Support of Urban Transition Planning

Cities play a key role in driving the transition to sustainable energy. Urban areas represent between 60% and 80% of global energy consumption and are a significant source of CO2 emissions, making energy management at the urban scale an important area of research. Urban energy systems have a strong influence on the environment, economy, social...

Classification and challenges of bottom-up energy system models - A review

This paper reviews the classification schemes used for bottom-up energy system modelling and proposes a novel one as re-elaboration of the previous schemes. Moreover, this paper identifies that the main challenges of this research field rotate around the concept of resolution. A matrix of challenges in which four main fields are identified:...

Open data and energy analytics

This pioneering Special Issue aims at providing the state-of-the-art on open energy data analytics; its availability in the different contexts, i.e., country peculiarities; and at different scales, i.e., building, district, and regional for data-aware planning and policy-making. Ten high-quality papers were published after a demanding peer...

Analysing the institutional setting of local renewable energy planning and implementation in the EU: A systematic literature review

Due to the liberalisation of the European Union's (EU) electricity sector, stakeholders' roles and responsibilities in local energy planning and implementation are not well-defined in legislation anymore. To investigate what local energy planning and implementation processes look like in the post-liberalisation era we conduct a systematic...

Data Analysis of Heating Systems for Buildings: A Tool for Energy Planning, Policies and Systems Simulation

Heating and cooling in buildings is a central aspect for adopting energy efficiency measures and implementing local policies for energy planning. The knowledge of features and performance of those existing systems is fundamental to conceiving realistic energy savings strategies. Thanks to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)...

Energy contribution of OFMSW (Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste) to energy-environmental sustainability in urban areas at small scale

Urban waste management is one of the most challenging issues in energy planning of medium and large cities. In addition to the traditional landfill method, many studies are investigating energy harvesting from waste, not as a panacea but as a foreseeable solution. Thermo-chemical conversion to biogas, or even bio-methane under certain...

Institutional Settings of Local Renewable Energy Planning: A Systematic Literature Review

A paradigm shift has taken place in energy markets and energy policy. Developments like diffusion of renewable energy technologies and institutional restructuring have made local energy planning in Europe more complex and call for new forms of governance for energy provision at the local level. Through a systematic literature review we addressed...

Successful Development of Decentralised District Heating: Application of a Theoretical Framework

One of the most important goals for energy transition is to reduce CO2 by turning to renewable energy, such as solar and wind energy. However, the production of renewable energy is not always an integral part of the energy system. Instead, it may have a decentralized basis, even up to the household level. In the Netherlands, this decentralizing...

The city-zen approach for urban energy master plans addressing technical opportunities + non-technical barriers

Approaches in local energy planning: Examples from a Swedish region

This paper presents a study in which ten small local authorities were asked how they would like to approach local stakeholders in their energy-planning. Based on the answers this paper discusses participation in an energy-planning context and shows how goals and methods may differ according to the different target groups the local authorities...