Microgrid Energy Management

In IEEE Standards, a Microgrid is defined as a group of interconnected loads and distributed energy resources with clearly defined electrical boundaries, which acts as a single controllable entity with respect to the grid and can connect and disconnect from the grid to enable it to operate in both grid-connected or island modes.
Together with distributed resources, such as renewable energy power plants and storage systems, and loads that actively contribute to the operation of such systems, an increasingly complex and performing ICT-relevant infrastructure characterizes these new electrical systems. A Microgrid must meet several needs and expectations from customers and from the various stakeholders involved in the electrical energy chain, with the consequence that optimal energy management is required to address a variety of different targets related to efficiency, power quality, resiliency, and affordability; moreover, new technologies and services have to be introduced to obtain these targets. Energy management systems should also carefully operate distributed energy resources and loads to avoid line overloading and critical voltage profiles inside the Microgrids. In this context, this Special Issue focuses on innovative strategies for the management of the Microgrids and, in response to the call for papers, six high-quality papers were accepted for publication. Consistent with the instructions in the call for papers and with the feedback received from the reviewers, four papers dealt with different types of supervisory energy management systems of Microgrids (i.e., adaptive neuro-fuzzy wavelet-based controls, cost-efficient power-sharing techniques, and two-level hierarchical energy management systems); the proposed energy management systems are of quite general purpose and aim to reduce energy usages and monetary costs.
In the last two papers, the authors concentrate their research efforts on the management of specific cases, i.e., Microgrids with electric vehicle charging stations and for all-electric ships. I would like to thank the Energies journal for hosting this important topic and the press production team for their support along the way. We also thank the authors for their valuable contributions and the reviewers for their critical analysis and feedback. We do hope that the papers in the Special Issue will be a stimulus to all people working in the Microgrids area to understand the need for integrating theoretical studies with field applications and to understand the difficulties associated with the practical implementation of energy management systems.