Multi-scale Modeling for Optimal Design, Operation and Integration of Power Generation and Storage Systems

The demand for energy is expected to increase for the foreseeable future as the human population increases, the average standard of living improves, and electronics and automation find more applications in our daily life. While fossil energy resources are greatly in demand, sustainability concerns have motivated energy generation from renewable and reusable energy resources, and the use of more efficient energy-converting and energy-consuming systems. Consequently, for the past decade there have been major advances in harvesting energy from renewable and reusable resources and in improving the efficiency of energy-consuming and energy-converting systems. This paper focuses on these advances in renewable power generation and storage systems, highlighting how multi-scale first-principles mathematical modeling can contribute to systematic optimal design, operation, and integration of these systems. It puts in perspective how multiscale mathematical modeling has contributed to advances in solar cells, fuel cells, flow batteries and rechargeable batteries, and in the integration of these systems with power grids.