Advanced Hybrid Polygeneration Technologies

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Background

Currently sustainable development is on the top of most countries’ political agenda. Therefore, reducing the primary energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions is a very important aspect of this sustainable goal. To reach this objective, it is important to encourage significant efforts to increase both energy efficiency and renewable energy exploitation. In this context, polygeneration systems integrating renewable energy technologies (well-known as hybrid polygeneration applications), have recently attracted the interest of many researchers, thanks to their energy and environmental advantages. Indeed, the combination of polygeneration and renewable-based systems can ensure the benefits of both technologies are realized: more efficient primary energy conversion with respect to conventional systems and low environmental impact of renewable-based technologies. Moreover, the gradually declining investment cost of polygeneration and renewable-based systems is a driving force behind the wide implementation of these hybrid applications.

However, the potential of hybrid polygeneration systems is far less utilized than would be expected. For two reasons: Firstly, the operation of hybrid polygeneration plants requires a significant effort to optimize the management systems. It is necessary to ensure a high number of operating hours for polygeneration systems in order to achieve a reasonable payback period and an optimal sizing and design of energy storage devices overcoming the fluctuating availability of the renewable energy sources; secondly, the current energy policies in different countries, that drive sustainable energy development, places too much emphasis on electrification of everything, neglecting that the direct storage of electricity carries a large cost and the incentives for renewable energy sources producing electricity have caused a temporal and spatial imbalance between the supply and demand of power. Therefore, the only way to reach sustainable development is to focus on a secure and diversified energy system that makes efficient use of renewables. In this context, hybrid polygeneration technologies could have the opportunity to play an important role if optimal energy management becomes the key approach for dealing with these complex systems. In recent years some researchers have focused on these aspects, but more and more attractive research opportunities could be addressed.

Thus, this Research Topic is devoted to collecting studies aimed at investigating the performance and the optimal energy management strategy of hybrid polygeneration systems including every kind of sustainable energy source (solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, biofuels, unutilized heat recovery …) at different levels of applications (tertiary, residential, district, community, island). More precisely, the core Research Topic deals with optimal energy management strategies for designing and sizing hybrid systems, ensuring maximum realizable energy conversion efficiency of the whole system and greenhouse gas emissions reduction.

Under these premises, several investigation scenarios arise for this Research Topic, thus the submission is open for Original Research articles, Review papers, Data Reports, and Policy Briefs included but not limited to one of the following key areas:
• Advanced cogeneration and trigeneration technologies,
• Polygeneration systems fed by renewables and fossil fuels,
• Distributed generation,
• District heating/cooling networks served by hybrid polygeneration systems,
• Integration of hybrid polygeneration systems in buildings,
• Dynamic simulation,
• Advanced control strategies, optimization and IOT for energy generation and distribution.

Keywords: Polygeneration Systems, Hybrid Systems, Renewable-based Technology, Solar Energy, Wind Power, Biomass, Biofuel, Geothermal Energy, Organic Rankine Cycle, Internal Combustion Engine, Gas Turbine, Stirling Engine, Waste Heat Recovery, Advanced Control Strategies, Optimization for Energy Generation and Distribution

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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