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Energy policies accompanying the transition towards a sustainable development process must be supported by technical analyses in which future energy scenarios are modeled and evaluated. This paper analyzes possible decarbonization scenarios in Italy for the year 2050. They envisage high electrification of transports and residential buildings, high use of renewable energies, and a modal shift towards public transport. The energy scenarios are evaluated using a software program, EnergyPLAN, starting from a reference model developed for the year 2014. Special attention has been given to the modeling of data that are unavailable in the literature, such as the time profile of heating and cooling demands, obtained with the degree-days method and validated by elaborating the results of the modeling of the residential building stock, this latter was dynamically simulated in TRNSYS. The results show that to obtain a significant decrease of greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel consumption, it is necessary not only to promote a deeper penetration of renewable sources, but also their integration with other technologies (cogeneration, trigeneration, power-to-heat systems, thermal storage, vehicle-to-grid operations). In fact, renewables technologies alone can raise some critical issues, such as excess and/or shortage of electricity production and non-sustainable exploitation of biomass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This short paper gives some perspectives on the recent development in the concept of Smart Energy Systems while introducing the contents of selected papers from the 5th International Conference on Smart Energy Systems, 4th Generation District Heating, Electrification, Electrofuels and Energy Efficiency – SESAAU2019. All of the papers elaborate on or contribute to the theoretical scientific understanding on how to design and implement an energy efficient green transition with an emphasis on system integration and sector-coupling. Low-temperature 4th generation district heating and its possibilities of providing flexible demand is particularly emphasized in the papers presented. However, in order to reach 100% renewability in the energy system, further research is required particularly on the transformation of the transport and industrial sectors. Methods for accommodating increased levels of renewable energy sources, while maintaining proper load-balancing capability and security of supply, should also be further investigated – an area where smart energy systems play an important role. • Recent studies related to the development of Smart Energy Systems are presented. • Studies are divided in 6 categories, each contributing to the green transition. • The overall development is discussed, and perspectives on this research is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]