Editorial Special Issue on Sustainable Energy Systems Integration

Abstract

Today, more sustainable and renewable energy sources are being integrated into power systems to address the increasing concerns of energy costs, energy security, and greenhouse gas emissions. For these sustainable and renewable energy-based power generation systems, the grid-interfacing power electronics are critical links that essentially integrate the energy source, energy storage, or even small networks (e.g., microgrids) to the main grid. As this sustainable energy integration (especially for dispersed and small capacity sources) is mostly at the distribution level, the wide adoption of grid-interfacing converters also brings unprecedented opportunities for more active and flexible distribution systems in the future with both ac and dc networks. To operate such a system with high penetration of sustainable and renewable energy sources, a number of power electronics technologies are essential: the topology and pulsewidth modulation (PWM) of grid-interfacing power electronics, voltage/current control strategies, power flow regulation, energy management, power quality control, and so on. If designed and controlled properly, the sustainable energy systems can also help to provide ancillary functions to the power systems. The main objective of this Special Edition is to collect the latest developments in sustainable energy integration technologies.