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This paper reviews alarm processing methods in electrical power systems, focusing on evolving strategies beyond traditional fault analysis to accommodate modern grid complexities. Historically, alarm processing has predominantly aimed at fault analysis, increasingly merging with technological advances in communication and computing. However, it still needs to fully meet the challenges posed by the dynamic characteristics of modern power systems. This review points out certain inadequacies in current practices, notably their limited adaptation to new grid conditions. The authors propose a novel generation of alarm processing methodologies designed for future grids, emphasizing managing rare events and enhancing operator decision-making through advanced anomaly detection and explainable artificial intelligence. This synthesis presents a prospective direction for future research and applications in alarm processing, advocating for methodologies better suited to supporting system operators amidst technological advancements.

Publicly accessible, elaborated grid datasets, i.e., benchmark grids, are well suited to publish and compare methods or study results. Similarly, developing innovative tools and algorithms in the fields of grid planning and grid operation is based on grid datasets. Therefore, a general methodology to generate benchmark datasets and its voltage level dependent implementation is described in this paper. As a result, SimBench, a comprehensive dataset for the low, medium, high and extra-high voltage level, is presented. Besides grids that can be combined across several voltage levels, the dataset offers an added value by providing time series for a whole year as well as future scenarios. In this way, SimBench is applicable for many use cases and simplifies reproducing study results. As proof, different automated algorithms for grid planning are compared to show how to apply SimBench and make use of it as a simulation benchmark.

Power grids are evolving with the aim to guarantee sustainability and higher levels of power quality for universal access to electricity. More specifically, over the last two decades, power grids have been targeted for significant changes, including migration from centralized to decentralized paradigms as a corollary of intensive integration of novel electrical technologies and the availability of derived equipment. This paper addresses a review of a disruptive vision of future power grids, mainly focusing on the use of hybrid AC/DC grids and solid-state transformers technologies. Regarding hybrid AC/DC grids in particular, they are analyzed in detail in the context of unipolar and bipolar DC grids (i.e., two-wire or three-wire DC grids), as well as the different structures concerning coupled and decoupled AC configurations with low-frequency or high-frequency isolation. The contextualization of the possible configurations of solid-state transformers and the different configurations of hybrid transformers (in the perspective of offering benefits for increasing power quality in terms of currents or voltages) is also analyzed within the perspective of the smart transformers. Additionally, the paper also presents unified multi-port systems used to interface various technologies with hybrid AC/DC grids, which are also foreseen to play an important role in future power grids (e.g., the unified interface of renewable energy sources and energy storage systems), including an analysis concerning unified multi-port systems for AC or DC grids. Throughout the paper, these topics are presented and discussed in the context of future power grids. An exhaustive description of these technologies is made, covering the most relevant and recent structures and features that can be developed, as well as the challenges for the future power grids. Several scenarios are presented, encompassing the mentioned technologies, and unveiling a progressive evolution that culminates in the cooperative scope of such technologies for a disruptive vision of future power grids.

Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) have become a key factor driving towards smart cities, which allow for higher energy efficiency and lower environmental impact across urban sectors. Industry vision for future PEV includes the ability to recharge a vehicle at a speed comparable to traditional gas refuelling, i.e. <3 min. per vehicle. Such a technology, referred to as ultra-fast charging (UFC), has drawn much interest from research and industry. However, UFC poses unprecedented challenges to existing electricity supply infrastructure due to its large power density, impulsive, and stochastic load characteristics. Planning the locations and electric capacities of UFC stations is critical to preventing detrimental impacts. In particular, efforts must be made of mitigate grid asset depreciation, grid instabilities, and deteriorated power quality. The authors first review planning methods for conventional charging stations. Next, they discuss outlooks for UFC planning solutions by drawing an analogy with renewable energy (RE) source planning. This analogy is based on the similar power density and stochastic characteristics of RE and UFC. While this study mainly focuses on UFC planning from the power grid perspective, other urban aspects, including traffic flow and end-user behaviour, are examined for feasible UFC integration within smart cities.

Building construction and operation are a significant contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions, so understanding and mitigating emissions is crucial for reliable and realistic emissions accounting. Whole-building Life Cycle Assessment (WBLCA) is an emissions accounting method that considers lifetime environmental impacts of a building during its construction, operation, and eventual end-of-life. When performing WBLCAs, emission calculations from the building’s operation over the entire building lifespan are typically based on today’s energy grid mixes. This method does not consider changes or advancements in the clean energy proportion within the grid mix and can over or under-inflate results, skewing the ratio of embodied vs. operational environmental impacts. While a variety of prediction tools estimate what future grid emissions might be, predictions can vary widely. To predict the clean energy ratio within future grid mixes and the potential impact these changes might have on WBLCA, annual data from several existing U.S. grid models was averaged and probabilistic modeling was used to extend the usable projections of shorter forecasts. Results show that clean energy sources will likely continue to increase over time, although the rate of growth varies by model. On average, by 2085, the clean energy penetration of the grid is projected to reach ∼ 81 % and renewable energy is projected to reach ∼ 71 % , although no widespread consensus is reached. To understand how the future grid mix impacts lifetime building emissions within a WBLCA context, the team analyzed two 2021 IECC-compliant all-electric residential buildings: one built from traditional materials and construction processes and the other built with carbon sequestering materials and modular assembly, with a portion of energy generated on site. The results indicate that a moderate estimate of future electricity grid mixes shows a reduction of yearly operational emissions for traditional residential buildings of 55% between 2025 and 2085, and a corresponding reduction of 48% of total emissions over a 60 year buil ding lifespan. This study offers a nuanced approach to account for the variability of future grid mix models and provides an average trend-line based on a robust collection of scenarios.

A growing body of literature has emerged that examines cities as key sites for socio-technical experimentation with a variety of initiatives and interventions to reduce carbon emissions, upgrade ageing infrastructure networks and stimulate economic development. Yet while there has been a wide survey of global initiatives and attempts to explain the wider processes driving such experimentation (Bulkeley and Castán Broto, 2013) there remains a lack of empirical case study analysis to bring the concepts into context. In this paper we use the concept of urban experimentation as a lens to discuss the political and social ramifications of one such intervention in a city’s energy infrastructure network, with an examination of the Pecan Street smart grid project in Austin, Texas. The ability for cities to manage socio-technical transitions and their inflections by specific locales has been largely neglected in social science research, yet cities around the world are facing similar problems of ageing infrastructures, pressures of resource consumption and demanding shifts towards intermittent renewable technologies. We argue that cities are key arenas for the trialling, testing and development of smart products that can help transition towards a low-carbon economy, however the 'opening up' of cities as experimental nodes is contributing to a restructuring in socio-technical urban governance, creating new spaces for private investment while delegating responsibilities for carbon control down to urban citizens.

Thermal power generation technologies are widely used for electricity production, for heat provision in district or process heating systems, and for combined heat and power generation. In most cases, thermal technologies are heat driven and electricity is produced as a by-product, thus resulting in a non-flexible behaviour of the electricity production. Modern power grids are characterised by an increasing share of renewable leading to a need for enhanced and flexible ways of controlling the power flow. To provide services to the power grid, thermal generating technologies may be used in a more efficient way, coupled to gas and heat storage systems or aggregated in virtual power plants. Several technical factors determine which technologies are suitable for flexibility provision, including power ranges, start up times and ramp rates. In this work, carried out in the frame of the MAGNITUDE H2020 project, the technical characteristics of thermal sector-coupling technologies were analysed using data from the seven real-life project's case studies. The technical suitability was determined based on the product requirements in selected European power markets for the provision of identified system services. Expected future developments and trends were highlighted well.

Electrical power grids are changing with a focus on ensuring energy sustainability and enhanced power quality for all sectors. Over the last few decades, there has been a change from a centralized to a decentralized paradigm, which is the consequence of a large-scale incorporation of new electrical technologies and resultant equipment. Considering the foreseeable continuation of changes in electrical power grids, a direction rooted in power electronics with a focus on hybrid AC/DC grids, including the support of solid-state transformers and unified systems, is presented in this paper. Converging on hybrid AC/DC grids, DC grids (structured as unipolar and bipolar) and coupled and decoupled AC configurations are analyzed. On the other hand, in the context of solid-state transformers, feasible structures are analyzed, including the establishment of hybrid AC/DC grids, and the assessment of gains for boosting power quality is presented. Unified power electronics systems are also of fundamental importance when contextualized within the framework of future power grids, presenting higher efficiency, lower power stages, and the possibility of multiple operations to support the main AC grid. In this paper, such subjects are discussed and contextualized within the framework of future power grids, encompassing highly important and modern structures and their associated challenges. Various situations are characterized, revealing a gradual integration of the cited technologies for future power grids, which are also known as smart grids.

The growth of the renewable energy industry is happening at a swift pace pushed, by the emergence of Industry 4.0. Smart technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), Big Data, the Internet of Things (IoT), Digital Twin (DT), etc. enable companies within the sector of renewable energies to drastically improve their operations. In this sectoral context, where upgraded sustainability standards also play a vital role, it is necessary to fulfil the human capital requirements of the imminent technological advances. This article aims to determine the current skills of the renewable energy industry workforce and to predict the upcoming skill requirements linked to a digital transition by creating a unified database that contains both types of skills. This will serve as a tool for renewable energy businesses, education centers, and policymakers to plan the training itinerary necessary to close the skills gap, as part of the sectoral strategy to achieve a competent future workforce.

Cyber attacks can cause cascading failures and blackouts in smart grids. Therefore, it is highly necessary to identify the types, impacts and solutions of cyber attacks to ensure the secure operation of power systems. As a well-known practice, steady-state analysis is commonly used to identify cyber attacks and provide effective solutions. However, it cannot fully cover non-linear behaviours and cascaded blackouts of the system caused by dynamic perturbations, as well as provide a post-disturbance operating point. This study presents a novel approach based on dynamic analysis that excludes the limitations of the steady-state analysis and can be used in the events of various cyber attacks. Four types of common attacks are reviewed, and their dynamic impacts are shown on the IEEE benchmark model of the Western System Coordinating Council system implemented in MATLAB Simulink. Then, recommendations are provided to enhance the security of the future smart power grids from the possible cyber attacks.