Guest Editorial: Energy storage for green transition of electrical grids

Energy storage systems (ESSs) are needed in the smart grids both at the generation, transmission, and distribution levels, and different types of ESSs have widely different characteristics and are suitable for different tasks and situations. In recent years, the smart grid concept has been dramatically developed in different applications, such as islands, shipboards, aircraft, microgrids and grid integration of renewables. With the wide application of ESS in smart grids, significant technical challenges remain along with the enhancement of smart grid operations and services. These challenges can be categorised as control of ESS, optimal operation, and energy management systems, optimal design of hybrid ESS, protection of ESS, and power electronics for ESS connections. This necessitates suitable design and control of the interfaces between ESSs in smart grids, as well as consideration of different applications of smart grid systems. This special issue of IET smart grid is focused on research ideas, articles, and experimental studies related to ‘Energy Storage for Green Transition of Electrical Grids’ from contributors in universities, industries, and research laboratories to develop and propose novel solutions on applications of ESS in smart grids.