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As the demand for electricity and the need for power systems flexibility grow, it is crucial to exploit more reliable and clean sources of energy to produce electricity when needed most. Tidal lagoons generate renewable electricity by creating an artificial head difference between water levels on the seaside, driven by tides, and water levels inside the basin, controlled by flow through the structure. Depending on the level of seawater, power generation from a tidal lagoon can be controlled, i.e. shifting power generation in time. This paper aims to investigate the operation of a tidal lagoon in response to fluctuating electricity prices. By developing an optimal operation model of a tidal lagoon, its schedule in the day-ahead wholesale electricity market was optimized to achieve maximum revenue. The Swansea Bay tidal lagoon was used as a case study. It was demonstrated that by exploiting the flexibility offered by the tidal lagoon, it can achieve a higher revenue in the day-ahead market, although their total electricity generation is reduced.

Governments' net zero emission target aims at increasing the share of renewable energy sources as well as influencing the behaviours of consumers to support the cost-effective balancing of energy supply and demand. These will be achieved by the advanced information and control infrastructures of smart grids which allow the interoperability among various stakeholders. Under this circumstance, increasing number of consumers produce, store, and consume energy, giving them a new role of prosumers. The integration of prosumers and accommodation of incurred bidirectional flows of energy and information rely on two key factors: flexible structures of energy markets and intelligent operations of power systems. The blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) are innovative technologies to fulfil these two factors, by which the blockchain provides decentralised trading platforms for energy markets and the AI supports the optimal operational control of power systems. This paper attempts to address how to incorporate the blockchain and AI in the smart grids for facilitating prosumers to participate in energy markets. To achieve this objective, first, this paper reviews how policy designs price carbon emissions caused by the fossil-fuel based generation so as to facilitate the integration of prosumers with renewable energy sources. Second, the potential structures of energy markets with the support of the blockchain technologies are discussed. Last, how to apply the AI for enhancing the state monitoring and decision making during the operations of power systems is introduced., Comment: Accepted by Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews on 21 Feb 2022