Modeling resilient multi-energy systems for rural, remote, and disadvantaged communities: A review

To foster emerging research at the intersection of resilience and equity for decarbonized futures, this paper reviewed literature on the physical systems, applications, and modeling approaches for multi-energy systems (MES). Systematically refined from 2420 documents, we analyzed 211 documents in detail, including categorical and statistical methods.

The results found that papers including equity were statistically more likely to involve fully renewable energy systems, while middle income countries tended to adopt renewable/carbon-producing energy systems more frequently than high income countries. Equity-focused papers more likely involved sector coupling and multiple storages than resilience-focused papers. Future studies should include low-income communities, extreme climates such as tropical and polar regions, and evaluate risk-cost trade-offs. Focus should also be on studies of the recovery stage, as well as cascading, targeted, and malicious faults, when considering resilience.

In conclusion, the findings indicated that equity extremes (remoteness, low income) encourage renewable, diverse, and highly interconnected MES, while illuminating critical research gaps for achieving equitable and resilient systems.