In recent times, there has been a significant shift from centralized energy systems to decentralized ones. These systems aim to satisfy local energy needs using renewable resources within the community. This approach leads to decreased complexity and costs, improved efficiency, and enhanced local resilience and supports energy independence, thereby advancing the transition toward zero carbon emissions. Community energy plays a pivotal role globally, particularly in European countries, driven by citizen engagement in generating power from renewable sources. The European Union, known for its focus on social innovation and citizen participation, recognizes the essential role of energy communities in its latest energy strategy. The concept for creating local energy communities or community-based energy projects has gained worldwide attention, demonstrating the economic, environmental, and efficiency benefits for using renewable energy sources. However, there is a noticeable gap in research covering all the updated aspects of renewable energy communities. This article provides an in-depth review of energy communities, especially renewable energy communities, exploring their concepts, scope, benefits, and key activities. It also sheds light on their progress by presenting results and analyses. Some countries have shown significant advancement, others are in the initial stages, and a few have partially adopted REC implementation according to the Renewable Energy Directive II. Additionally, it discusses the main challenges and potential recommendations to enhance the growth of renewable energy communities. This work is a valuable resource, emphasizing the importance of citizen involvement and offering insights into various aspects of community energy for sustainable energy transition. It also provides practical insights and valuable information for policymakers, researchers, industry professionals, and community members who are keen on promoting sustainable, community-driven energy systems.

A significant growth in solar photovoltaic (PV) installation has observed during the last decade in standalone and grid-connected power generation systems. The solar PV system has a non-linear output characteristic because of weather intermittency, which tends to have a substantial effect on overall PV system output. Hence, to optimize the output of a PV system, different maximum power point tracking (MPPT) techniques have been used. But, the confusion lies while selecting an appropriate MPPT, as every method has its own merits and demerits. Therefore, a proper review of these techniques is essential. A “ Google Scholar ” survey of the last five years (2015-2020) was conducted. It has found that overall seventy-one review articles are published on different MPPT techniques; out of those seventy-one, only four are on uniform solar irradiance, seven on non-uniform and none on hybrid optimization MPPT techniques. Most of them have discussed the limited number of MPPT techniques, and none of them has discussed the online and offline under uniform and hybrid MPPT techniques under non-uniform solar irradiance conditions all together in one. Unfortunately, very few attempts have made in this regard. Therefore, a comprehensive review paper on this topic is need of time, in which almost all the well-known MPPT techniques should be encapsulated in one paper. This article focuses on classifications of online, offline, and hybrid optimization MPPT algorithms, under the uniform and non-uniform irradiance conditions. It summarizes various MPPT methods along with their mathematical expression, operating principle, and block diagram/flow charts. This research will provide a valuable pathway to researchers, energy engineers, and strategists for future research and implementation in the field of maximum power point tracking optimization.

The grid integration of microgrids and the selection of energy management systems (EMS) based on robustness and energy efficiency in terms of generation, storage, and distribution are becoming more challenging with rising electrical power demand. The problems regarding exploring renewable energy resources with efficient and durable energy storage systems demand side management and sustainable solutions to microgrid development to maintain the power system’s stability and security. This article mainly focuses on the overview of the recent developments of microgrid EMS within the control strategies and the implementation challenges of the microgrid. First, it provides energy management strategies for the major microgrid components, including load, generation, and energy storage systems. Then, it presents the different optimization approaches employed for microgrid energy management, such as classical, metaheuristic, and artificial intelligence. Moreover, this article sheds light on the major implementation challenges of microgrids. Overall, this article provides interactive guidelines for researchers to assist them in deciding on their future research.

The paradigm for energy systems has shifted in the last several years from non-renewable energy sources to renewable energy sources (RESs). Leveraging RESs seeks to meet local demand while reducing complexity, expense, and inefficiencies and promoting energy independence, local resilience, and the transition to zero CO2 emissions. One of the RES technologies that could help create clean, dependable, scalable, and reasonably priced energy is solar energy. This article offers a detailed analysis of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology. It examines the distinct qualities and developments of the three generations of solar PV technologies: first-generation crystalline silicon, second-generation thin-film, and third-generation developing technologies including perovskite and organic cells. The study also looks at the many diverse applications of solar photovoltaics, such as energy communities, microgrids, transportation systems, telecommunications, and agriculture. Moreover, it highlights the deployment of the solar PV system in Italy by overseeing the installed capacity, electricity generation, and energy consumption with different types of energy sources after focusing on global and European scenarios. From the data, it is seen that China, USA, and India have led the world in capacity growth for solar PV, while Europe continues to lead the way in policy-driven solar adoption. Italy has made great growth in Europe after Germany in 2023 as compared to previous years. Apart from this, the challenges are also seen which could result the hindrances in the deployment of solar PV growth. So, the article also offers recommendations for the future like the establishment of a balanced policy environment for distributed PV, encouragement of off-grid electrification system adoption, maintenance of the solar PV cost reduction trajectory, and encouraging the creation of more intelligent inverter systems to help with balance-of-system cost reductions and grid integration, friendly relation with community and supportive policies in the country.