Editorial: Control, operation, and trading strategies for intermittent renewable energy in smart grids

To achieve the goal of carbon neutrality and resolve the Research Topic of the global energy crisis, large numbers of intermittent renewable energy sources, such as wind turbines and photovoltaic generators, have been widely installed in modern power grids (Van Soest et al., 2021). The stochastic nature of renewable energy production has raised significant reliability concerns and brought about significant financial risks for various decision-makers, and the use of power electronic devices in renewable energy integration also poses major challenges for power system control and operation (AlAshery et al., 2019). To mitigate the uncertainties caused by intermittent production of renewable energy, it is necessary to utilize resources and approaches promoting flexibility, such as battery storage and price-responsive demand, to explore novel market mechanisms at both wholesale and retail levels, and to investigate advanced modeling and optimization techniques (Jin et al., 2018).

The major challenges in the control, operation, and trading of intermittent renewable energy resources in smart grids are the uncertainties and complexities inherent in the power transmission, distribution, and consumption processes (Bevrani et al., 2010). Moreover, given the worldwide backdrop of power industry deregulation, decision-makers in the domain of intermittent renewables also need to consider volatile electricity prices in retail and wholesale markets, as well as the random behaviors of other strategic participants. Under these circumstances, it is necessary to develop advanced control, operational, and trading strategies for intermittent renewable energy resources based on state-of-the-art smart grid technologies.

This Research Topic reports on the latest advances in the area of control, operation, and trading of intermittent renewable energy resources in smart grids to resolve potential difficulties and challenges; more forty articles related to this area have been published. As shown in Figure 1, accurate forecasting and modeling methods could provide a foundation in the form of reliable information for the control, operation, and trading of intermittent renewable energy resources. Additionally, various other techniques, such as fault diagnosis, network design, and power flow optimization, could also increase stability and the economic efficiency of decision-making in power grids with significant dependence on renewable energy. Considering these issues, the articles published under this Research Topic can be divided into five categories: forecasting and modeling methods, control strategies, operational strategies, trading strategies, and other techniques.