Energy systems engineering and applications in the energy sector
The energy sector is going through an unprecedented transition period towards a less carbon-intensive end. The way human society uses and consumes energy is expected to change dramatically from the way as of today, from centralized generation and distribution to more distributed yet integrated, from fossil fuel dominated to renewable energy dominated, and from automatic energy management and control to intelligent. The transition period that we are going through is thus a rather challenging one as the energy systems need to have tremendous structural changes whilst meeting energy demands. Energy systems engineering, as a branch of process systems engineering, could facilitate this procedure with the planning, design, and operation of various energy systems. In this talk, we will illustrate how energy systems engineering concept and methods can be used in planning of the energy transition pathway of a large region, which is heterogeneous in terms of energy supply and demand, optimal design of integrated energy systems, intelligent operation of energy systems through mechanism-modelling and big data based digital twins, and flexible operation of energy systems to accommodate intermittent renewable energy.
