Simulation and Analysis Approaches to Microgrid Systems Design: Emerging Trends and Sustainability Framework Application

Energy systems modelling and design are a critical aspect of planning and development among researchers, electricity planners, infrastructure developers, utilities, decision-makers, and other relevant stakeholders. However, to achieve a sustainable energy supply, the energy planning approach needs to integrate some key dimensions. Importantly, these dimensions are necessary to guide the simulation and evaluation. It is against this backdrop that this paper focuses on the simulation and analysis approaches for sustainable planning, design, and development of microgrids based on clean energy resources. The paper first provides a comprehensive review of the existing simulation tools and approaches used for designing energy generation technologies. It then discusses and compares the traditional strategies and the emerging trends in energy systems simulation based on the software employed, the type of problem to be solved, input parameters provided, and the expected output. The paper introduces a practical simulation framework for sustainable energy planning, which is based on the social-technical-economic-environmental-policy (STEEP) model. The STEEP represents a holistic sustainability model that considers the key energy systems planning dimensions compared to the traditional techno-economic model used in several existing simulation tools and analyses. The paper provides insights into data-driven analysis and energy modelling software development applications.</p>