More and more attention has been paid to the development of renewable energy in the world. Microgrids with flexible regulation abilities provide an effective way to solve the problem of renewable energy connected to power grids. In this article, an optimization strategy of a microgrid participating in day-ahead market operations considering demand responses is proposed, where the uncertainties of distributed renewable energy generation, electrical load, and day-ahead market prices are taken into account. The results show that, when the microgrid implements the demand response, the operation cost of the microgrid decreases by 4.17%. Meanwhile, the demand response program can transfer the peak load of the high-price period to the low-price period, which reduces the peak valley difference of the load and stabilizes the load curve. Finally, a sensitivity analysis of three factors is carried out, finding that, with the increase of the demand response adjustable ratio or the maximum capacity of the electrical storage devices, the operation cost of the microgrid decreases, while, with the increase of the demand response cost, the operation cost of the microgrid increases and, finally, tends to the cost without the demand response. The sensitivity analysis reveals that the demand response cost has a reasonable pricing range to maximize the value of the demand response.

This paper proposes a hybrid model for evaluating the effectiveness of new and old kinetic energy conversion (NOKEC), China’s major strategic move aiming to transform the mode of economic growth and improvie the quality of economic development. Considering the goals of NOKEC and the supporting roles of power industry to NOKEC, this paper constructs an index system for NOKEC effectiveness evaluation from an electric power economics perspective, involving three dimensions and 17 secondary indicators. Furthermore, a hybrid evaluation model based on DEMATEL-ANP and DQ-GRA techniques is developed to accomplish the evaluation of Shandong’s NOKEC effectiveness. The results show that Shandong’s NOKEC effectiveness increased from 2015–2017, indicating that Shandong’s NOKEC policies have achieved remarkable results. According to the evaluation results, this paper puts forward the indicators that should be paid close attention to and the following work priorities in Shandong’s future NOKEC process, which has certain practical value for the promotion of Shandong’s NOKEC. In addition, the evaluation model proposed in this paper considers the interrelationships between indicators and overcomes the shortcomings of traditional GRA, showing good applicability to similar effectiveness evaluation issues. Finally, the limitations and universality of the model are discussed and the improvement direction is put forward.

The power sector is one of the major contributors to China’s carbon emissions, and its low-carbon transformation is of vital importance to China’s long-term sustainable development. This paper aims to investigate the spillover effect between the carbon emission trading (CET) market and power sector in China from a systematic perspective. We adopted the recently developed method of connectedness network and rolling window approach, and found that: (i) during our sample period, the total static spillover index and the average of total dynamic spillover indexes were 60.5735% and 57.9704%, respectively, and the spillover effect of this carbon-power system was relatively strong; (ii) there is weak bidirectional spillover effect between the CET market and the power sector, and the CET market is a net receiver of the information from the power sector; (iii) the CET market may exert a relatively high degree of impact on the power sector occasionally; (iv) for regulated power companies, their interactions with the carbon-power system may be related to its total holding installed capacity and the proportion of renewable energy installed. This study provides implications for policymakers, company managers, and market participants.