Smart grid mechanism for green energy management: A comprehensive review

ABSTRACT

The smart grid is not a monolithic system, but rather is a collection of several renewable energy resources and enabling technologies in which, intelligent control is an integral part of its mechanism to improve the utilization of assets. The dynamic characteristics of a smart grid upgrade the conventional system requirements using advanced control strategies to provide continuous power to the load from intermittent renewable generation. The communication networks and control systems that enable the accommodation of distributed generation are crucial technologies in monitoring, protecting, and operating the smart grid in a centralized or decentralized manner. This paper improves the earlier published review articles by exploring the evolution of smart grids in light of renewable energy penetration with associated features. Then, the review gives an overview of notable research works in the literature aimed at developing the management and control of smart energy systems. The reader is provided with an in-depth analysis of advanced cloud computing, the internet of things, and blockchain technology with real examples for the related renewable energy projects in smart cities. Furthermore, a special interest has been paid to quantify the performance of communication technologies along with the protocols through the conceptual investigation of real cases using the optimized network engineering tools. The outcomes of the presented review can assist researchers to understand the driving mechanism of smart grid as a route to intelligently utilize renewable energy storage. It is concluded that the amalgamation of blockchain and artificial intelligence for renewable energy management is the key area where the avenue is still open for future research studies.

KEYWORDS:

• Renewable resources
• green energy management
• electric vehicle to grid
• demand response
• smart grid communication technologies

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the support of the Ministry of Higher Education (Malaysia) under the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS/1/2021/TK0/UNIMAS/02/3) and would like to thank the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak for providing all facilities to carry out this study. The authors wish also to thank the editor and reviewers for the invaluable time allotted to review this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia under the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme [FRGS/1/2021/TK0/UNIMAS/02/3].