Review on 100% Renewable Energy System Analyses—A Bibliometric Perspective

Abstract

Concerns related to climate change and global warming caused by anthropogenic activities and in particular fossil energy use have been increasing lately. Air pollution and volatile conventional fuel prices emphasize the need to transition the energy system towards very high shares of renewables. 100% renewable energy systems have been analyzed by many researchers starting from 1975. This bibliometric analysis reviews more than 600 scientific articles in which 100% renewable energy systems were surveyed. This study uses tools of bibliometric analysis, based on publication databases and data mining, together with review elements to understand the current status and trend of 100% renewable energy systems research. The focus of results is on quantitative parameters relating to number and publication types, collaborative links among authors, institutions, and countries. Collaborative networks provide the significant concentration of published papers within organizations and co-authorships globally. The results reveal that the dominant organizations and thus number of published papers are from Europe and the USA; however, almost all the established research organizations in the field of energy system analysis are not active in the field of 100% renewable energy systems analyses. The journals Energy and Applied Energy have the most articles, and accordingly the most citations. EnergyPLAN and LUT Energy System Transition Model have been the most active tools used to analyze 100% renewable energy systems according to numbers of articles and received citations. The topic of modeling approach indicates the term 'Energy System' has the highest frequency due to its emergence in the articles. This research provides a holistic overview on the more than four decades of research, and it reveals dynamics within the field with a compound annual growth rate of articles of 26% for the 2010s, the trend of publications, and author growth that comprises now almost 1400 authors with articles in the field.

Offshore versus onshore: The underestimated impact of onshore wind and solar photovoltaics for the energy transition of the British Isles

“…As of today, a large number of studies, summarised in [8–10], indicate that a 100% RE system can be achieved globally at low cost. Hundreds of studies show the benefit of 100% RE systems [10, 11], which is confirmed for the UK and Ireland by Meschede et al. [12].…”

“…Compared to other energy system models, it received a high overall rating. LUT‐ESTM was identified as the second most applied tool for investigations of energy system with high shares of renewables, only surpassed by EnergyPLAN [11].…”

From fossil to green chemicals: sustainable pathways and new carbon feedstocks for the global chemical industry

“…While the energy transition of energy systems to high shares of renewables is well understood, 106,108 the global transition of non-energy feedstocks to 100% renewable feedstock has not yet been investigated in an energy system model. However, it has been conceptionally added to the first energy system model, 109 and it was applied for Europe, 110 which is the only known study applying all required e-fuels and e-chemical buildings blocks for the sustainable energy-industry system transition.…”

From Smart Grids to Super Smart Grids: A Roadmap for Strategic Demand Management for Next Generation SAARC and European Power Infrastructure

“…However, just 8% of all research on 100% RE are worldwide, 18% are continental and regional evaluations, and 74% are analyses of national or sub-national 100% RE systems. As of the beginning of July 2021 [287], there are 550 recognized items that make up Figure 11. United States (45 articles), Australia (30 articles), Germany (35 articles), Denmark (39 articles), China (17 articles), Italy (10 articles), Sweden (13 articles), Finland (13 articles), Japan (13 articles), Portugal (13 articles), Croatia (11 articles), Spain (11 articles), United Kingdom (14 articles), and Greece are the nations that have been the subject of the most research (10 articles).…”