Energy Reports 8 (2022) 14072–14088

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Energy Reports
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/egyr

Review article

Artificial intelligence in renewable energy: A comprehensive

bibliometric analysis
∗
Lili Zhang a , Jie Ling b , Mingwei Lin b,c ,
a
College of Electronics and Information Science, Fujian Jiangxia University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350108, China
b
College of Computer and Cyber Security, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350117, China
c
Fujian Provincial University Engineering Research Center of Big Data Analysis and Application, Fujian Normal
University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350117, China

article info a b s t r a c t

Article history: In recent years, artificial intelligence methods have been widely applied to solve issues related to
Received 9 July 2022 renewable energy because of their ability to solve nonlinear and complex data structures. In this
Received in revised form 15 October 2022 paper, we provide a comprehensive bibliometric analysis to better understand the evolution of Artificial
Accepted 17 October 2022
Intelligence in Renewable Energy (AI&RE) research from 2006 to 2022. This study is performed based
Available online 3 November 2022
on the Web of Science Core Collection Database, and a dataset of 469 publications have been retrieved.
Keywords: This paper uses VOS viewer, CiteSpace, and Bibliometrix to perform bibliometric analysis and science
Renewable energy mapping. The analysis results show that China is the most productive and influential country/region,
Artificial intelligence with the widest range of collaborative partners. The study reveals that AI-related technologies can
Bibliometric analysis effectively solve issues related to integrating renewable energy with power system, such as solar and
Visualization
wind forecasting, power system frequency analysis and control, and transient stability assessment. In
addition, future research trends are discussed. This paper helps scholars to understand the evolution
of AI&RE research from a bibliometric perspective and inspires them to think about the field through
multiple aspects.
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND
license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Contents

1. Introduction................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 14073
2. Methodology ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 14073
2.1. Data source and retrieval strategy ................................................................................................................................................................ 14073
2.2. Bibliometric methods ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 14074
3. Results............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 14074
3.1. Performance analysis....................................................................................................................................................................................... 14074
3.1.1. Annual indicators of publications .................................................................................................................................................. 14074
3.1.2. Types and research areas of publications ..................................................................................................................................... 14075
3.1.3. Highly cited publications................................................................................................................................................................. 14075
3.2. Analysis of the countries/regions, institutions, and authors ...................................................................................................................... 14077
3.2.1. Citation analysis ............................................................................................................................................................................... 14078
3.2.2. The most productive countries/regions ......................................................................................................................................... 14078
3.2.3. The most productive institutions ................................................................................................................................................... 14079
3.2.4. The cooperation analysis of the authors ....................................................................................................................................... 14081
3.3. Burst detection analysis of authors, references, sources, countries, and institutions ............................................................................. 14081
3.4. Keyword analysis ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 14083
3.4.1. Co-occurrence analysis .................................................................................................................................................................... 14083
3.4.2. Burst detection analysis of keywords ............................................................................................................................................ 14083
3.4.3. Timeline visualization ...................................................................................................................................................................... 14083
4. Further discussion ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 14084
4.1. Current topical issues ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 14085

∗ Corresponding author at: College of Computer and Cyber Security, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350117, China.
E-mail addresses: lili_zhang@fjjxu.edu.cn (L.L. Zhang), lingjie@fjnu.edu.cn (J. Ling), linmwcs@163.com (M.W. Lin).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2022.10.347
2352-4847/© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc-nd/4.0/).
L.L. Zhang, J. Ling and M.W. Lin
4.2. Future trends and challenges .........................................................................................................................................................................
4.3. Limitations ........................................................................................................................................................................................................
5. Conclusion .....................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Declaration of competing interest..............................................................................................................................................................................
Data availability ............................................................................................................................................................................................................
Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................................................................................................
References .....................................................................................................................................................................................................................
1. Introduction
The development of society is inseparable from the usage of
energy. With the increasing global population and the develop-
ment of the economy and society, the rising demand for energy
of daily life and production is an inevitable trend (Hosseini and
Wahid, 2014). This process’s large-scale use of fossil fuel has led
to their severe depletion (Hosseini and Abdul Wahid, 2015) and
caused global warming and climate change due to their high
greenhouse gas emissions (Hosseini and Abdul Wahid, 2015). This
could bring a series of problems such as glacier melting, sea level
rising, and ecologically damaging, which would pose a significant
threat to human society (Zahraee et al., 2014). Renewable energy
is regarded as a new approach to solve the above problems and
reflects the future of energy development (Hepbasli, 2008). In
recent years, it has received a lot of attention worldwide (Wang
et al., 2018). Renewable energy (Xin-gang and You, 2018) includes
hydro, wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, etc. It has obvious ad-
vantages compared to fossil fuels, such as renewable, clean, and
low carbon (Wang et al., 2019).
However, the intermittency, chaos, and randomness proper-
ties of renewable energy make it possible to affect the stability
and reliability of the power system when it is integrated into
the distribution network on a large scale (Frias-Paredes et al.,
2017). Therefore, improving the accuracy of renewable energy
prediction is crucial for power systems (Chen et al., 2007). Var-
ious methods have been developed to improve the accuracy of
renewable energy predictions (Sobri et al., 2018; Mellit et al.,
2007; Das et al., 2018). Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a compre-
hensive high-technology discipline that studies machine intel-
ligence and intelligent machines. In recent years, mainstream
computer technologies such as multimedia, distributed AI and
multi-agent in open distributed environments, and knowledge
mining have emerged. This has led to more active AI research
and broadened the field of its research and applications. It com-
prises branches such as genetic algorithms (GA) (Gonçalves et al.,
2008), particle swarm optimization (PSO), simulated annealing
(SA) (Giannakoudis et al., 2010), artificial neural networks (ANN),
and hybrid models (Alsayed et al., 2013). Synthetic intelligence
methods are widely applied to renewable energy prediction be-
cause they can solve nonlinear and complex data structures (Sobri
et al., 2018; Daut et al., 2017). Their practical and appropriate
application leads to the development of comprehensive and valu-
able systems with better performance or distinct features, which
are unavailable with traditional methods (Bhandari et al., 2015).
Recently, Artificial Intelligence in Renewable Energy (AI&RE) has
been developing rapidly (Rita et al., 2021). AI-based technologies
have been applied to solve issues related to integrating renewable
energy with power systems, such as solar and wind forecasting.
However, there are some challenges and bottlenecks, such as
the scope and accuracy of renewable energy predictions and
the impact of specific geographical climates on the predictions.
Meanwhile, many publications have emerged, and it is essential
to summarize the existing research.
To better understand the evolution of AI&RE research and
display a broad panorama of the field, this paper draws on bib-
liometric analysis (Permana et al., 2022; Anugerah et al., 2022;
14073
Energy Reports 8 (2022) 14072–14088
14086
14086
14086
14087
14087
14087
14087
Yafetto, 2022) to visualize the research themes and trends. Bib-
liometric analysis reveals the evolution of a multidisciplinary
intersection of bibliography, intelligence, and statistics (He et al.,
2017). Also, it presents the evolution of a subject (Caputo et al.,
2021; Wang et al., 2021) or journal (Yu et al., 2019; Wang et al.,
2020a) through the analysis of relevant literature. This paper
aims to conduct a bibliometric analysis of AI&RE research, explore
existing publications and provide a comprehensive overview. The
main contributions of this paper are presented as follows:
(1) The performance analysis of relevant publications is per-
formed. The fundamental characteristics of the publications are
described in terms of annual indicators, types and research areas
of publications, and highly cited publications.
(2) Influential and highly productive items (countries/regions,
institutions and authors) of research are identified, with a thor-
ough study of the collaborative relationships in the corresponding
items.
(3) Burst detection analysis of authors, references, sources,
countries/regions, and institutions is conducted to highlight the
research frontiers over time.
(4) Identifying research topics from a perspective of keywords
and defining research hotspots, frontiers, and development trends
for the future.
(5) Deep discussions are presented from the perspectives of
current topical issues, future trends and challenges, and limita-
tions.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows: Section 2 in-
troduces the methodology, including data source, retrieval strat-
egy, and bibliometric methods. Subsequently, the details are pre-
sented in Section 3 from four aspects, and the results are shown
respectively. Furthermore, Section 4 presents a further discussion
from the perspective of current topical issues, future trends and
challenges, and limitations. Finally, Section 5 ends the paper with
some conclusions.
2. Methodology
This paper aims to provide a comprehensive bibliometric anal-
ysis of AI&RE research. First, relevant publications are retrieved in
the corresponding database following the retrieval strategy (Tran-
field et al., 2003). Next, the fundamental characteristics of the
publications are described in terms of annual indicators, types
and research areas of publications, and highly cited publications.
Afterward, influential and highly productive countries/regions,
institutions, authors, and their collaborative relationships are
studied through several complementary bibliometric methods
and tools. Meanwhile, research frontiers, hot spots, and future
trends are identified. In the end, current topical issues, future
trends and challenges, and limitations are further discussed. The
research framework of the methodology of this paper is shown
in Fig. 1.
2.1. Data source and retrieval strategy
Web of Science (WoS) is the most comprehensive informa-
tion resource globally, covering many disciplines owned by the
Thomson & Reuters Corporation (Falagas et al., 2008). It provides
L.L. Zhang, J. Ling and M.W. Lin
Fig. 1. The research framework of the methodology.
scholars with high-quality and reliable academic information and
has gradually become the mainstream data source for biblio-
metric analysis (Zhang and Liang, 2020). To retrieve and collect
reliable literatures, the WoS core collection is used as the data
source in this paper. The retrieval settings are as follows: TS =
‘‘Artificial Intelligence’’ and TS = ‘‘Renewable Energy’’, Timespan
= 1985–2022, Database = Web of Science Core Collection. As of
2022.1.7, a total of 469 publications were retrieved. The first one
was published in Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence
in 2006, entitled hybrid system for fouling control in biomass
boilers (Romeo and Gareta, 2006). Then, the relevant information
was exported in plain text format for bibliometric analysis (Ji
et al., 2021), including titles, abstracts, keywords, etc.
2.2. Bibliometric methods
Bibliometrics belongs to the discipline of scientometrics (Ling
et al., 2021), which can be applied to evaluate the scientific
activities of a field of research (Yu et al., 2017a) or a specific
journal (Yu et al., 2017b). Meanwhile, the primary characteristics
are highlighted in a structural approach (Mourao and Martinho,
2021). In this paper, the bibliometric analysis focuses on per-
formance analysis and scientific mapping analysis to reveal the
development of AI&RE research.
Performance analysis (Cobo et al., 2015) is based on activity
indicators to measure the productivity and influence of publica-
tions through item analysis (country/region, institution, author,
etc.) (Mingers and Leydesdorff, 2015). The basic characteristics
can be measured by several recognized bibliometric indicators,
including the number of publications (NP), the number of cita-
tions (NC), and the average number of citations per publication
(AC).
Scientific mapping analysis shows the knowledge structure
and dynamic organization of a particular research subject or
journal (Iwami et al., 2020). The analysis in this part mainly
involves the following aspects: citation analysis (Dabic et al.,
14074
Energy Reports 8 (2022) 14072–14088
2015; Lin et al., 2018b), co-authorship analysis (Van Eck and
Waltman, 2010), burst detection analysis (Zhou et al., 2019), co-
occurrence analysis (Kamdem et al., 2019; Luo and Lin, 2021), and
timeline analysis (Yin et al., 2020). In this paper, three powerful
visualization software tools, VOS viewer (Van Eck and Waltman,
2010), CiteSpace (Chen, 2006), and Bibliometrix (Aria and Cuccu-
rullo, 2017), are adopted to excavate and analyze the data. VOS
viewer (Lin et al., 2021) provides network and density visual-
ization for scientific mapping (Stopar and Bartol, 2019). CiteS-
pace (Chen et al., 2022) allows searching for emerging trends
and transient patterns in the scientific literature (Yu and Xu,
2017). Bibliometrics is an open-source tool for scientific mapping
analysis based on the R language.
3. Results
Based on the retrieved data and the methodologies and tools
presented, some results on the bibliometric analysis of AI&RE can
be obtained. This can be demonstrated through the following four
aspects.
3.1. Performance analysis
This section provides a performance analysis of the publi-
cations regarding annual indicators, types, and research areas,
highly cited publications, etc.
3.1.1. Annual indicators of publications
Fig. 2(a) and (b) display the annual publication and citation
of AI&RE research, respectively. As shown in Fig. 2(a), the first
related publication, entitled ‘‘Hybrid system for fouling control
in biomass boilers’’, was published in 2006, and the second one
appeared in 2008. The number of publications showed an overall
upward trend with slight fluctuations. With no more than ten
publications before 2012, AI&RE has become a popular research
direction since 2013. In particular, with the rapid growth in
L.L. Zhang, J. Ling and M.W. Lin
Fig. 2. Annual publication and citation.
Table 1
Distribution of document types.
Document Type Number Percentage
Articles 233 49.68%
Proceedings Papers 145 30.92%
Review Articles 94 20.04%
Early Access 7 1.49%
the number of publications from 1970 to 2021, more and more
scholars are paying attention to this field. Judging from the rapid
trend, the number of publications in 2022 will be no less than the
previous years.
Similarly, it is clear from Fig. 2(b) that the first citation of
AI&RE research appeared in 2008 and grew relatively slowly
before 2013. The number of citations has increased rapidly since
2014, from 482 in 2017 to 2728 in 2021. It is evident that AI&RE
has received increasingly scholarly attention in recent years.
3.1.2. Types and research areas of publications
In WoS, all publications can be categorized by different types.
It should be noted that some documents belong to two or more
types simultaneously. Therefore, the sum of the number of doc-
uments corresponding to each type is greater than the number
of documents retrieved. The distribution of document types is
shown in Table 1.
Four publication types are obtained, with Articles accounting
for the largest share (233, 49.68%). This is followed closely by
Proceedings Papers (145, 30.92%), Review Articles (94, 20.04%),
and Early Access (7, 1.49%).
Each publication addresses at least one area of research. The
top 10 research areas are presented in Fig. 3.
In Fig. 3, the most popular research areas are Engineering
(229) and Energy Fuels (216), with 48.827% and 46.055%, re-
spectively. It is followed by Computer Science (101), Science
Technology Other Topics (82), and Telecommunications (40). The
remaining five research areas are Environmental Sciences Ecology
(27), Thermodynamics (26), Automation Control Systems (20),
Chemistry (18), and Physics (18).
3.1.3. Highly cited publications
A document is recognized when it is cited by others fre-
quently. Therefore, the number of citations is an important in-
dicator for measuring the influence of a publication. Table 2
lists the top 10 highly cited publications in descending order by
the number of citations. Table 3 lists the top 10 highly average
14075
Energy Reports 8 (2022) 14072–14088
cited publications ranked in terms of the number of citations
per year. Tables 2 and 3 provide detailed information, including
source, type, year, the number of citations (NC), the number of
citations per year (AC), the number of authors (AN), the number
of institutions (IN), and the number of countries/regions (CN). On
analysis, the most influential publication was attributed to Inman
et al. with the highest NC (524). The highly cited publications
in Table 2 were published from 2013 to 2019. Except for two
articles, all of them are reviews.
Additionally, these publications primarily focus on Energy &
Fuels, Thermodynamics, Science & Technology - Other Topics, En-
gineering, and Mechanics. Interestingly, all publications are com-
pleted through collaborations. In detail, almost half are transna-
tional collaborations, while the others are domestic. This suggests
that collaboration is an effective way to make a significant contri-
bution to research, with a trend toward deepening collaboration
among countries/regions in the field of AI&RE.
Three publications in Table 3 differ from Table 2 regarding
AC indicators. Although their NC values are less prominent, they
were all published in the last three years and have high AC
values. Specifically, Wang et al. (2020b) constructed a day-ahead
PV power forecasting model by utilizing deep learning modeling
and time correlation principles under a partial daily pattern pre-
diction (PDPP) framework. In recent years, Chen and Leydesdorff
(2014) have provided a comprehensive review of classification,
evaluation indicators, and sizing methodologies for hybrid renew-
able energy systems (stand-alone and grid-connected). Grigoriev
et al. (2020) provide an overview of the state-of-the-art in wa-
ter electrolysis science and technology and a discussion of the
challenges, opportunities, and trends involved. The topics of these
publications may be novel and popular in current research on
AI&RE, and researchers could pay more attention to them in this
field.
Journals are one of the most common sources for publishing
research results. By embedding the ‘‘JCR Journal Maps’’ function
in CiteSpace and bundling the citation links together via the
Z-Sore function, the dual-map overlay of journals is shown in
Fig. 4. It visually reflects the disciplinary distribution, and cita-
tion trajectories, along with macro knowledge flows in AI&RE
research (Chen and Leydesdorff, 2014). The dual-map overlay
consists of two base maps. The left is for citing journals, and the
right is for cited journals (Hou et al., 2018). The labels on the dual-
map overlay are refined from the journal titles, corresponding
to the disciplines involved (Aryadoust and Ang, 2021). Generally,
the disciplines on the left side can be regarded as application
L.L. Zhang, J. Ling and M.W. Lin Energy Reports 8 (2022) 14072–14088

Fig. 3. The top 10 research areas.

Table 2
The top 10 highly cited publications.
Rank Title Source Type Year NC AC AN IN CN
1 Solar forecasting methods for renewable Progress in Energy and Combustion Review 2013 524 52.4 3 1 1
energy integration Science
2 A review on recent size optimization Energy Conversion and Management Review 2017 265 44.17 3 1 1
methodologies for standalone solar and wind
hybrid renewable energy system
3 Forecasting of photovoltaic power generation Renewable & Sustainable Energy Review 2018 255 51 8 3 2
and model optimization: A review Reviews
4 Review of recent trends in optimization Renewable & Sustainable Energy Review 2015 245 30.63 2 1 1
techniques for solar photovoltaic-wind based Reviews
hybrid energy systems
5 Solar photovoltaic generation forecasting Energy Conversion and Management Review 2018 242 48.4 3 2 2
methods: A review
6 On recent advances in PV output power Solar Energy Review 2016 195 27.86 3 1 1
forecast
7 A review of deep learning for renewable Energy Conversion and Management Review 2019 189 47.25 5 4 1
energy forecasting
8 Optimization of Hybrid Renewable Energy International Journal of Precision Review 2015 150 18.75 5 2 2
Power Systems: A Review Engineering and Manufacturing-Green
Technology
9 Using Artificial Intelligence to Improve Bulletin of the American Meteorological Article 2017 126 21 8 6 1
Real-Time Decision-Making for High-Impact Society
Weather
10 Long-Term Wind Speed Forecasting and IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy Article 2014 124 13.78 3 2 2
General Pattern Recognition Using Neural
Networks

*NC: the number of citations; AC: the number of citations per year; AN: the number of authors; IN: the number of institutions; CN: the number of countries/regions.

scenarios or domains, while the right side can be treated as
research theories or foundations (Li et al., 2020). Furthermore,
the links between the two base maps represent the trajectories
of citations for journals, which provides a better understanding
of how different disciplines intersect.
It is noticeable that four primary citation trajectories can
be identified on the map. They are from ‘‘Veterinary, Animal,
Science’’ to ‘‘Environmental, Toxicology, Nutrition’’ (Yellow), from
‘‘Veterinary, Animal, Science’’ to ‘‘Systems, Computing, Computer’’
(Yellow), from ‘‘Mathematics, Systems, Mathematical’’ to ‘‘Envi-
ronmental, Toxicology’’ (Red), from ‘‘Mathematics, Systems, Math-
ematical’’ to ‘‘Systems, Computing, Computer’’ (Red), respectively.
14076
Besides, the leading-edge research results are mainly distributed
in 7. Veterinary, Animal, Science, and 1. Mathematics, Systems,
Mathematical. This indicates that research in the field of AI&RE
is comparatively active in these disciplines. On the other hand,
the knowledge foundations on which frontier researchers rely
are mainly obtained from 2. Environmental, Toxicology, Nutrition,
and 1. Systems, Computing, Computer. Aside from these main-
stream citation paths, there are also other citation paths, although
they are not very closely related. It implies that AI&RE research
is moving toward a multidisciplinary direction. Furthermore, the
top 11 most productive journals and related information are
listed in Table 4.
L.L. Zhang, J. Ling and M.W. Lin Energy Reports 8 (2022) 14072–14088

Fig. 4. Dual-map overlay of journals on AI&RE research.

Table 3
The top 10 highly average cited publications.
Rank Title Source Type Year NC AC AN IN CN
1 Solar forecasting methods for renewable Progress in Energy and Review 2013 524 52.4 3 1 1
energy integration Combustion Science
2 Forecasting of photovoltaic power generation Renewable & Sustainable Review 2018 255 51 8 3 2
and model optimization: A review Energy Reviews
3 Solar photovoltaic generation forecasting Energy Conversion and Review 2018 242 48.4 3 2 2
methods: A review Management
4 A review of deep learning for renewable Energy Conversion and Review 2019 189 47.25 5 4 1
energy forecasting Management
5 A review on recent size optimization Energy Conversion and Review 2017 265 44.17 3 1 1
methodologies for standalone solar and wind Management
hybrid renewable energy system
6 A day-ahead PV power forecasting method Energy Conversion and Article 2020 97 32.33 6 5 1
based on LSTM-RNN model and time Management
correlation modification under partial daily
pattern prediction framework
7 Review of recent trends in optimization Renewable & Sustainable Review 2015 245 30.63 2 1 1
techniques for solar photovoltaic-wind based Energy Reviews
hybrid energy systems
8 A review on recent sizing methodologies of Energy Conversion and Review 2019 117 29.25 5 2 1
hybrid renewable energy systems Management
9 On recent advances in PV output power Solar Energy Review 2016 195 27.86 3 1 1
forecast
10 Current status, research trends, and challenges International Journal of Article; 2020 72 24 4 3 3
in water electrolysis science and technology Hydrogen Energy Proceedings Paper

* NC: the number of citations; AC: the number of citations per year; AN: the number of authors; IN: the number of institutions; CN: the number of countries/regions.

Table 4 In Table 4, the eleven journals are ranked according to the

Top 11 most productive journals. number of publications. As can be seen, the most productive
Rank Journal NP NC AC journal is Energies, with 46 relevant publications. Renewable &
1 Energies 46 440 9.57 Sustainable Energy Reviews follow this with 25 related publica-
2 Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews 25 1,755 70.2 tions, receiving the highest NC (1,755) and the second-highest
3 IEEE Access 24 170 7.08 AC (70.2). Besides, IEEE Access ranks third with 24 publications.
4 Energy Conversion and Management 12 1,014 84.5
It is worth remarking that Energy Conversion and Management
5 Energy 9 479 53.22
6 Applied Energy 8 96 12 ranks second in NC (1,014) and first in AC (84.5), although it has
7 Iet Renewable Power Generation 8 190 23.75 only 12 publications. This means that each of its publications is
8 Sustainability 8 45 5.63 cited by 84–85 documents on average. It can be inferred from
9 International Journal of Energy Research 7 17 2.43 Table 4 that NC and AC do not always coincide with the number
10 Energy Reports 6 25 4.17 of publications.
11 Journal of Cleaner Production 46 123 20.5

* NP: the number of publications; NC: the number of citations; AC: the average 3.2. Analysis of the countries/regions, institutions, and authors
number of citations per publication.
This section analyzes publications from three perspectives:
countries/regions, institutions, and authors. Firstly, citation anal-
ysis identifies the most influential countries/regions, institutions,
14077
L.L. Zhang, J. Ling and M.W. Lin Energy Reports 8 (2022) 14072–14088

Fig. 5. Density map of publications in different countries/regions.

Table 5
The top 10 cited Countries/Regions/Institutions/Authors of publications.
Rank Country/Region NC Institution NC Author NC
1 China 1,822 Univ Calif San Diego 556 Coimbra, carlos f.m. 524
2 USA 1,416 Univ Malaya 517 Inman, rich h. 524
3 Malaysia 1,253 Univ Tehran 404 Pedro, hugo t.c. 524
4 Australia 1,061 King Abdulaziz Univ 385 Mekhilef, saad 472
5 India 1,001 Deakin Univ 268 Al-falahi, monaaf d.a. 265
6 Saudi Arabia 672 Shenzhen Univ 267 Enshaei, h. 265
7 Iran 610 Univ Tasmania 265 Jayasinghe, s. d. g. 265
8 England 535 Islamic Azad Univ 259 Das, utpal kumar 255
9 Canada 509 Swinburne Univ Technol 257 Horan, bend 255
10 Spain 362 Natl Inst Technol 256 Idris, moh yamani idna 255

* NC: the number of citations.

and authors. In addition, the analysis is carried out from the
following aspects: the most productive countries/regions, the
most productive institutions, and the cooperation analysis of the
authors.
3.2.1. Citation analysis
The top 10 cited countries/regions, institutions, and authors
of publications and their related information are listed in Table 5.
The table is sorted by the number of citations in ascending order.
In terms of countries/regions, China has the largest NC for its
publications at 1,822. This is followed by USA (1,416), Malaysia
(1,253), Australia (1,061), and India (1,001). Besides, the remain-
ing five countries (Saudi Arabia, Iran, England, Canada, and Spain)
receive less than 1,000 citations.
From an institutional perspective, Univ Calif San Diego in the
USA ranks first in NC with 556. This is followed by Univ Malaya
in Malaya (517), Univ Tehran in Iran (404), King Abdulaziz Univ
in Saudi Arabia(385), and Deakin Univ in Australia (268). Out of
the top 10 institutions, four are from Australia. Furthermore, two
institutions are from Iran, and the remaining four institutions are
from USA, Malaya, Arabia, and China, respectively.
Concerning the authors, Coimbra, Inman, and Pedro rank first
in NC, both at 524. This is due to their co-authorship of a publi-
cation that ranks first among highly cited publications, i.e. solar
forecasting methods for renewable energy integration. This is
14078
followed by Mekhilef, Al-Falchi, Enshaei, and Jayasinghe. Within
the top 10 authors, five are from Australia, three are from the
USA, and the remaining two are from Malaysia.
3.2.2. The most productive countries/regions
The number of publications directly reflects the productivity of
a country/region on a given research topic. As shown in Fig. 5, the
density map of publications in different countries/regions visually
reflects the geographical pattern of highly productive countries.
A total of 84 countries/regions participated in the study, with the
shades of red consistent with the number of publications. The
darker the reddish color, the higher the number of publications
in the corresponding country/region.
As shown in Fig. 5, China is the most prolific country with 97
publications, while India comes in second with 61 publications.
This is followed by USA and England, with 47 and 34 publications.
In general, publications are concentrated in Asia, North America,
and Europe, with an apparent geographical aggregation of AI&RE
research.
To better understand the output and collaboration, the dis-
tribution of countries/regions in AI&RE research is obtained via
CiteSpace. The collaboration network of countries/regions is shown
in Fig. 6. Based on CiteSpace, there are 84 nodes and 263 links in
the network (with a density of 0.0754). Nodes represent coun-
tries/regions, and a link between two nodes indicates that two
L.L. Zhang, J. Ling and M.W. Lin Energy Reports 8 (2022) 14072–14088

Fig. 6. The collaboration network of countries/regions.

countries/regions have publications in collaboration. The larger Table 6

the node, the more relevant literatures are published in the The top 10 productive countries/regions.

corresponding country/region. The wider the link, the closer the Rank Country/region NP NC AC %/469 Initial year Centrality

cooperation between the two countries/regions. 1 China 97 1,822 18.78 20.682 2010 0.36
2 India 61 1,001 16.41 13.006 2012 0.10
Moreover, the larger the circle, the higher the centrality. It can
3 USA 47 1,416 30.13 10.021 2009 0.11
be shown that the top three countries/regions with the highest 4 England 34 535 15.74 7.249 2015 0.20
centrality are China, Saudi Arabia, and England. This indicates 5 Spain 28 362 12.93 5.97 2008 0.15
that these countries/regions have engaged in a great deal of 6 Australia 25 672 26.88 5.33 2009 0.15
7 Saudi Arabia 25 1,061 42.44 5.33 2010 0.23
interaction and collaboration with other countries/regions in the
8 Iran 24 610 25.42 5.117 2014 0.06
field of AI&RE. 9 Malaysia 23 1,253 54.48 4.904 2014 0.17
Table 4 lists the top 10 productive countries/regions and their 10 Canada 18 509 28.28 3.838 2012 0.10
related information. The centrality of the vast majority of coun- * %/469: percentage of P for all 469 documents; AC: the average number of
tries exceeds 0.10. This means that they can be treated as critical citations per publication.
nodes with remarkable influence. China achieves the highest
centrality (0.36), and the lowest is obtained by Iran (0.06). It
reveals that China already has widespread exchanges and cooper- shows that there is relatively close academic cooperation be-
ation with other countries/regions in the field of AI&RE, whereas tween China and USA in this field.
Iran is comparatively lacking in cooperation. It is a worthy note Besides, India, USA, and England also have strong partnerships
that China has the highest number of publications and citations. with other countries/regions. Undoubtedly, India has a relatively
This means that China is both the most prolific and the most large share of domestic collaborations, indicating that most of
influential country/region in the field. Although it ranks low in
the research is done independently. In contrast, the majority of
publications, Malaysia has the highest average number of cita-
collaborations in England are overseas collaborations.
tions. It shows that Malaysia’s research findings have revealed a
relatively high level of concern in the field (see Table 6).
Fig. 7 illustrates the overview of collaboration between coun- 3.2.3. The most productive institutions
tries/regions. Specifically, Fig. 7(a) depicts the collaboration world According to WoS, 715 institutions have published relevant
map, where the thickness of the links directly reflects the level of documents in this area. The most productive institution is Aalborg
collaboration between different countries/regions. Fig. 7(b) pro- Univ in Denmark (10 documents). This is followed by Islamic Azad
vides specific collaboration patterns and visualizes which coun- Univ in Iran (9 documents), Univ Tehran in Iran (9 documents),
tries/regions have the closest collaborative relationships in this and Huazhong Univ Sci & Technol in China (8 documents). To
area. China has the broadest range of collaborative partners. explore the collaborative network of institutions, let the mini-
Although the current situation between China and USA is com- mum number of documents and citations of an institution be
plicated in terms of politics and economics, analysis of the data one (558 institutions reached the threshold). The collaborative
14079
L.L. Zhang, J. Ling and M.W. Lin Energy Reports 8 (2022) 14072–14088

Fig. 7. The overview of collaboration between countries/regions.

Fig. 8. The collaborative network of institutions.

Fig. 9. The collaboration network of authors. . (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this
article.)

network with 558 institutions is shown in Fig. 8(a). Since some
of them are not connected, the largest connected network with
213 institutions is shown in Fig. 8(b).
As shown in Fig. 9(b), the 213 institutions from various coun-
tries/regions constitute a fairly close collaborative network clus-
tered and distinguished by different colors. Nodes indicate insti-
tutions and a node’s size indicates its TLS (total link strength)
with other institutions. Two linked nodes indicate that these
two institutions have publications on collaboration. The broader
14080
the link, the closer the collaboration between the two institu-
tions. The larger the node, the stronger the total collaboration
of this institution with others. The top 7 institutions with the
strongest collaboration relationship and their related information
are shown in Table 7.
In Table 7, the seven institutions are listed by TLS in de-
scending order. All institutions have more than 85% of their
publications collaborating with other institutions. Among them,
Tanta Univ, Aalto Univ, and King Abdulaziz Univ collaborated with
L.L. Zhang, J. Ling and M.W. Lin Energy Reports 8 (2022) 14072–14088

Table 7
The top 7 institutions with the strongest collaboration relationship.
Rank Institution NP Link TLS Total cooperation strength Main cooperators
Institution Link strength Cooperation strength
Univ Elect Sci & Technol China 1 11.11% 11.11
1 Aalborg Univ 10 17 9 90% Univ Salerno 1 11.11%
Amirkabir Univ Technol 1 11.11%
Duy Tan Univ 1 12.5%
2 Islamic Azad Univ 9 20 8 88.89%
Amirkabir Univ Technol 0.64 8%
Univ Ontario 1.25 15.63%
3 Univ Tehran 9 20 8 88.89%
Univ Tabriz 1 12.5%
4 Huazhong Univ Sci & Technol 8 11 7 87.5% Tanta Univ 3 42.86%
5 Tanta Univ 6 10 6 100% Huazhong Univ sci & Technol 3 50%
6 Aalto Univ 5 9 5 100% La Trobe Univ 1 20%
Wisma R&D Um 1 20%
7 King Abdulaziz Univ 5 17 5 100% Effat Univ 0.5 10%
Bucharest Univ Econ Studies 0.5 10%

* Link: the number of collaborators; Total cooperation strength: TLS/P, Cooperation strength: Link strength/TLS.

Table 8
The top 10 cited authors with the strongest citation bursts.

other institutions at a high rate of 100%. Aalborg Univ has the
highest number of publications and TLS, and has partnerships
with 17 institutions such as Univ Elect Sci & Technol China, Univ
Salerno, and Amirkabir Univ Technol, etc. Islamic Azad Univ and
Univ Tehran are tied for first place in the number of collabo-
rators at 20. The former cooperates closely with Duy Tan Univ,
Amirkabir Univ Technol, etc. The latter has collaborative relation-
ships with Univ Ontario, Univ Tabriz, etc. It is worth noting that
Huazhong Univ Sci & Technol has the closest collaboration with
Tanta Univ, while half of Tanta Univ’s collaboration is completed
with Huazhong Univ Sci & Technol. Furthermore, Aalto Univ has
intensive collaboration with nine institutions, such as La Trobe
Univ. King Abdulaziz Univ has partnerships with 17 institutions
such as Wisma R&D Um, Effat Univ, Bucharest Univ Econ Studies,
etc. Overall, academic institutions all over the world are deeply
collaborating to promote the development of the field.
3.2.4. The cooperation analysis of the authors
The collaboration network of authors provides a visual rep-
resentation of researchers’ connections in the field of AI&RE.
According to VOS viewer, 1681 authors have published relevant
documents. Let the minimum number of documents and cita-
tions of an author both be set to 1. A total of 1271 authors
reached the threshold. Twenty-nine of these authors constitute
the largest connected network, as shown in Fig. 9. A node rep-
resents an author, and the node’s size represents the author’s
TLS (total strength of collaboration with other authors). A con-
nection between two nodes indicates that the two authors have
collaborative publications with each other.
In Fig. 9(a), the 29 authors are divided into 4 clusters, dis-
tinguished by different colors. Clusters 1 and 2 are represented
by red and green nodes, whereas blue and yellow nodes rep-
resent clusters 3 and 4. Haupt has the highest TLS, followed
14081
by Alessandrini, Linden, Kosovic, and Dettling. Furthermore, Sue
has the greatest number of collaborators, with deep collabora-
tion relationships with Dettling, Mccandless, and Alessandrini.
Different authors’ temporal distribution of publications can be
seen in Fig. 9(b). The average year of the author’s publications
corresponds to the shade of the node color. The deeper the
color, the previous the average year of the corresponding author’s
publications. The collaboration between authors in cluster 3 is
relatively early, with an average publication year of 2020 for most
authors in clusters 1 and 2. Moreover, Haupt and key partners
collaborated more closely in 2019.
3.3. Burst detection analysis of authors, references, sources, coun-
tries, and institutions
To better understand the frontiers of research in a field over
time, it is essential to analyze authors, literature, etc. for burst
detection. Burst detection analyses are performed on cited au-
thors/references/sources and countries/regions/institutions using
CiteSpace, as shown in Table 8, Table 9, Table 10, and Table 11,
respectively.
Table 8 lists the top 10 cited authors with the strongest ci-
tation bursts from 2006 to 2022. Mellit ranked first in burst
strength (5.44), indicating that he has greatly influenced this field
since 2016. Khatib and Koutroulis follow this. In addition, the
explosion period of Liu lasts until 2022, which means that his
research outcomes are the recent research hotspots.
As far as cited references, Maleki (2014) has the highest burst
strength (3.46), followed by Tascikaraoglu (2014), Erdinc (2012),
Jha (2017), and Voyant (2017). It indicates that these references
are landmark literature in the field and are cited by scholars
frequently. In addition, the years of first appearance and the
beginning of the burst of references listed in Table 9 are after
L.L. Zhang, J. Ling and M.W. Lin Energy Reports 8 (2022) 14072–14088

Table 9
The top 10 cited references with the strongest citation bursts.

Table 10
The top 10 cited sources with the strongest citation bursts.

Table 11
The top-five countries/regions/institutions with the strongest citation bursts.

2012. It shows that the research is in a period of rapid growth, and
the achievements in recent years are of a high level. Besides, four
of these references have an explosion period lasting until 2022,
which has been frequently cited in recent years.
It can be seen from Table 10 that IEEE T Energy Conver and
Thesis are the top two, with a burst strength of 8.79 and 6.68,
respectively. The citation burst of Prog Energ Combust appeared
first. Moreover, Prog Energ Combust has the most extended burst
duration (2006–2018), followed by IEEE T Energy Conver and Sol
14082
Energy. Expert Syst Appl and IEE P-Gengr Transm D tied for fourth
in burst duration.
Table 11 lists the top-five countries/institutions with the
strongest citation bursts from 2006 to 2022. Apparently, India
ranked first with a citation burst strength of 3.32. It is followed
by Mexico (2.55), Romania (2.34) and Canada (2.26). The first
country to experience a citation burst is Algeria, and its citation
burst duration tied with India for the top spot. In addition, Ton
Duc Thang Univ has the strongest citation burst strength (1.73)
L.L. Zhang, J. Ling and M.W. Lin
Fig. 10. Visualization of the keyword co-occurrence network. . (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web
version of this article.)
from 2006 to 2022. The citation burst period of Tsinghua Univ
lasts until 2022, illustrating that its research achievements are
the recent research hotspots.
3.4. Keyword analysis
Keyword analysis contributes to the identification of topics in
a particular field. This section performs co-occurrence analysis,
burst detection analysis of keywords, and timeline visualization
to identify research hotspots, frontiers, and trends. This process
utilizes two visualization tools, namely VOS viewer and CiteSpace.
3.4.1. Co-occurrence analysis
The co-occurrence analysis of keywords facilitates understand-
ing of research hotspots in a particular field. This section performs
the keyword co-occurrence analysis of publications using VoS
viewer. The minimum number of occurrences of a keyword is
6 (out of 2611 keywords, 118 reached the threshold). The co-
occurrence network of keywords is shown in Fig. 10(a). Nodes
represent keywords, and two nodes connected means that both
keywords appear in the same publication. The larger the node,
the more frequently the keyword appears. The wider the link, the
higher the number of keyword co-occurrences.
The 118 keywords are divided into 6 clusters distinguished by
different colors. It can be seen that ‘‘system’’, ‘‘smart grid’’ and
‘‘energy’’, etc. belong to cluster 1 (red). The keywords ‘‘machine
learning’’, ‘‘model’’ and ‘‘prediction’’, etc. are included in cluster
2 (green). Cluster 3 (dark blue) has ‘‘artificial intelligence’’ as its
core. Cluster 4 (yellow) is centered on ‘‘renewable energy’’ and
‘‘optimization’’. The keywords ‘‘generation’’, ‘‘renewable energy
sources’’ and ‘‘wind’’, etc. are marked in cluster 5 (purple). The
keywords ‘‘power’’, ‘‘design’’ and ‘‘artificial neural network’’, etc.
belong to cluster 1 (light blue).
The co-occurrence overlay of keywords is shown in Fig. 10(b).
It shows the temporal distribution of keywords in different clus-
ters, and the average publication year of a keyword determines
its color shade. The darker the color, the earlier the year of publi-
cation. The research directions from 2017 to 2020 are dispersed,
with the emergence of ‘‘artificial intelligence’’ and ‘‘renewable
energy’’ as the center of research in 2018.
In addition, The top 5 keywords with the largest occurrences
are ‘‘artificial intelligence’’, ‘‘renewable energy’’, ‘‘optimization’’,
14083
Energy Reports 8 (2022) 14072–14088
‘‘machine learning’’, and ‘‘prediction’’. It can be shown that the
hotspots of this field are primarily correlated with these key-
words.
3.4.2. Burst detection analysis of keywords
To better observe the evolution of keywords over time, CiteS-
pace is used to perform a burst detection analysis of keywords
in publications. Table 12 lists the top 15 keywords with the
strongest citation bursts.
Since 2010, ‘‘artificial intelligence technique’’, ‘‘neural
network’’, ‘‘demand response’’, ‘‘artificial intelligence (ai)’’, and
‘‘simulation’’ etc. have received attention from a wide range
of scholars. It is obvious that ‘‘artificial intelligence technique’’
has the highest citation burst strength (3.69), and was cited
frequently from 2010 to 2018. ‘‘solar radiation’’ exhibited the
earliest citation burst in 2008, and it has the longest duration
of 11 years. The burst duration of the remaining keywords was
2–3 years, basically, and the burst period was more dispersed.
The citation burst period of ‘‘big data’’ and ‘‘demand response’’
last until 2022, which indicates that they have gradually become
research frontiers in the field over the years.
3.4.3. Timeline visualization
Keywords can also reflect the evolution of a field. This section
performs the timeline analysis of keywords from 2006 to 2021
through CiteSpace. The time slice is set to 1, and the timeline
review of keywords is shown in Fig. 11. The keywords are divided
into 12 clusters, and each cluster is labeled with a log-likelihood
ratio (LLR). The times at which the keywords first appeared in
each cluster determined their order in the timeline. The con-
nected curves in Fig. 11 represent the symbiotic relationship
between keywords.
As shown in Fig. 11, ‘‘photovoltaic system’’ is the first cluster,
i.e. cluster #0, and its publications range from 2006 to 2021. The
other clusters are labeled with ‘‘case study’’, ‘‘power system’’,
‘‘software tool’’, ‘‘mountainous area’’, ‘‘digital transformation’’,
‘‘using weather forecast’’, ‘‘computational intelligence’’, ‘‘recent
advancement’’, ‘‘power distribution level’’, ‘‘artificial intelligence
approach’’, and ‘‘microgrid’’ in order. The longest duration of
cluster #0 indicates that the photovoltaic system has always been
a research hotspot and trend. Cluster #11 (microgrid) ended in
2015 with the shortest duration. Cluster #0 (photovoltaic system)
L.L. Zhang, J. Ling and M.W. Lin
Table 12
The top 15 keywords with the strongest citation bursts.
Fig. 11. The timeline review of keywords.
and cluster #3 (software tool) are the clusters whose publications
appeared the earliest. The former places more emphasis on ‘‘pro-
grammable gate array chip’’, ‘‘mppt-based artificial intelligence
technique’’, ‘‘future perspective’’, ‘‘alternative energy’’, etc. The
latter focuses on ‘‘biomass boiler’’, ‘‘fouling control’’, ‘‘renewable
energy application’’, ‘‘criteria constrains models technique’’, etc.
Furthermore, except for clusters #3, #4, #9, and #11, all the
remaining clusters cover the period until 2021. In particular, the
time coverage of cluster #1 (case study) and cluster #6 (using
weather forecast) continues until 2022. It is indicative that these
clusters have gradually become a research hotspot in the field and
will prevail for some time.
The subjects and keywords are changing over time, and re-
search in relevant fields is evolving. The cluster information sum-
mary list is shown in Table 13. The Cluster ID is sorted according
to the number of keywords in each cluster. The mean year of
all the clustered keywords was between 2012–2019, and each
cluster’s label is named as the keyword with the first LLR value.
14084
Energy Reports 8 (2022) 14072–14088
The top 5 keywords with the highest LLR values are shown in
Table 13.
4. Further discussion
Previous bibliometric results have revealed several hot is-
sues. Dual-map overlay implies that AI&RE research is moving
toward a multidisciplinary direction. The leading-edge research
results are mainly distributed in ‘‘Veterinary, Animal, Science’’
and ‘‘Mathematics, Systems, Mathematical’’. And the knowledge
foundations on which frontier researchers rely are mainly ob-
tained from ‘‘Environmental, Toxicology, Nutrition’’ and ‘‘Systems,
Computing, Computer’’. Therefore, AI&RE research covers a wide
range of fields, including aspects of the environment, science, etc.
Keyword analysis shows that hotspots of AI&RE research focus
on ‘‘artificial intelligence’’, ‘‘renewable energy’’, ‘‘optimization’’,
‘‘machine learning’’, and ‘‘prediction’’. In addition, the clusters
derived from the timeline review demonstrate the prevalence to
L.L. Zhang, J. Ling and M.W. Lin
Table 13
Cluster information summary list.
Cluster ID Size
0 36
1 27
2 24
3 16
5 15
6 15
8 15
10 14
7 13
4 12
9 11
11 5 2013
some extent. This section provides a further discussion of AI&RE
research. It includes the popular issues in the current study,
trends and challenges for future research, and limitations.
4.1. Current topical issues
Current research focuses on the utilization of AI-related tech-
nologies for solving issues related to integrating renewable en-
ergy with power systems. Hua et al. studied the energy man-
agement of generalized energy internet (EI) systems and the
use of deep reinforcement learning methods to solve optimal
control problems (Hua et al., 2019). For better utilization of dis-
tributed renewable energy, scholars have proposed a data-driven
Energy Reports 8 (2022) 14072–14088
Mean (Year) Top 5 keywords ranked by LLR
Photovoltaic system
Programmable gate array chip
2015 mppt-based artificial intelligence technique
Future perspective
Alternative energy
Case study
Renewable energy
2015 Constructing decisional dna
Global solar radiation prediction
Energy system
Power system
Stability analysis
2019 Artificial intelligence framework
Multiple frequency reserve market
Energy storage system
Software tool
Biomass boiler
2012 Fouling control
Renewable energy application
Criteria constrains models technique
Digital transformation
Sustainability matchmaking
2018 Linking renewable source
Electric water heating
Renewable energy sector
Using weather forecast
Predictive model
2018 Solar radiation
Post-contingency overload
Corrective control
Recent advancement
Wind speed prediction
2018 Smart grid technology
Future prospect
Extra tree
Artificial intelligence approach
Deep learning
2019 Renewable energy forecasting
Intelligent predictor
Deterministic wind energy forecasting
Computational intelligence
Recent advance
2015 Pv output power forecast
Energy consumption prediction model
Input parameter
Mountainous area
Prediction technology
2012 New approach
Modis satellite predictor
Deployable extreme learning machine
Power distribution level
Local energy market
2017 Future research
Computational intelligence method
Bio-inspired approaches
Microgrid
Design
Voltage regulation
Electric spring
dynamic control strategy for bottom-up EI system (Hua et al.,
2021). Big data can handle large-scale datasets and extract pat-
terns to feed into deep learning models, which allow for higher
prediction accuracy than traditional models (Devaraj et al., 2021).
Geethamahalakshmiet al. determined the maximum power point
tracking (MPPT) in solar power generation by the fuzzy controller
and then used AI techniques for high accuracy power generation
prediction (Geethamahalakshmi et al., 2022).
Solar and wind energy are major alternative energy, and
accurate solar radiation and wind speed predictions are criti-
cal for the forecasting of solar and wind energy. Moazenzadeh
et al.improved the generalization capability of artificial intelligence-
based solar radiation estimator models by using a bio-inspired
14085
L.L. Zhang, J. Ling and M.W. Lin
optimization algorithm and multi-model approach (Moazenzadeh
et al., 2022). Pandu et al. developed a solar radiation predic-
tive model by combining big data analysis with an artificial
intelligence model using weather forecasts (Pandu et al., 2022).
Scholars have proposed a prediction system that integrates wind
speed forecasting with multi-objective Archimedean optimization
algorithm for effective and reliable wind speed prediction (Zhang
et al., 2021). A short-term wind speed forecasting model based
on artificial neural network and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference
system model was proposed by Amoura et al. (2021).
Frequency is the key to maintaining the stability and safety
of power systems, and frequency problems in modern power
systems are becoming increasingly challenging. Deep learning
has significant advantages in solving complex problems such
as frequency analysis and control of power systems because of
its powerful data analysis, prediction and classification capabili-
ties (Zhang et al., 2022). Shakibjoo et al. proposed a new type-2
fuzzy control method for multi-area power systems (Shakibjoo
et al., 2021). In addition, power system transient stability assess-
ment (TSA) is also necessary. A review of artificial intelligence
techniques for power system TSA was presented by Sarajcev et al.
(2022).
4.2. Future trends and challenges
AI-related technologies have been applied to solve issues re-
lated to integrating renewable energy with power systems. How-
ever, there are also some challenges and bottlenecks. For exam-
ple, the unique climate of cold regions makes it more challenging
to predict the power output of photovoltaic (PV). AI-related tech-
nologies are mainly applied to short-term solar radiation and
wind speed forecasting. Moreover, current research rarely consid-
ers the influence of power electronics on the frequency response,
and it does not address the spatial and temporal distribution
characteristics of the frequency response.
The Maximum Likelihood (ML) and AI methods can improve
the utilization of solar power. In the future, more specific regions
can be targeted to design corresponding high-performance AI/ML
PV output prediction models. In addition, reactive power com-
pensation, active power reduction and overvoltage/undervoltage
issues of solar power plants in the distribution network will also
be the future research directions.
For solar radiation and wind speed prediction, big data can
be combined with AI models using weather forecast data to
design long-term solar radiation prediction models (BDAAI-SIP).
A combination of various learning mechanisms and optimiza-
tion methods can be used for long-term wind speed forecasting.
Furthermore, AI-related techniques can also be applied to solve
issues related to other renewable energy (e.g., hydrogen, biomass,
geothermal energy, etc.).
In the field of power system frequency analysis and control,
the following areas of research can be conducted in the future.
How to solve the issues in small sample data learning techniques
from algorithmically integrating DL and logic reasoning. How
to use DL to further combine with various intelligent technolo-
gies such as reinforcement learning (RL) and transfer learning to
form more powerful advanced hybrid intelligent algorithms? In
addition, the integration of RL and TSA will also be a promis-
ing direction in the field of post-disturbance control of power
systems.
Energy storage technology plays an important role in ensuring
the stable and economic operation of power systems and promot-
ing the wide application of renewable energy technologies. In the
future, energy storage should give full play to the advantages of
AI and work in concert with existing energy storage systems to
achieve multi-objective power system optimization and control.
AI-related technologies will continue to facilitate the solution of
issues related to integrating renewable energy with the power
system.
14086
Energy Reports 8 (2022) 14072–14088
4.3. Limitations
In the field of AI&RE research, this paper provides a compre-
hensive knowledge review (Lin et al., 2018a, 2019, 2020; Luo
et al., 2022) for researchers through bibliometric analysis (Zhou
et al., 2021; Shahbaz et al., 2021; Bashir et al., 2021; Xie et al.,
2022; Zhong and Lin, 2022). However, there are still some limita-
tions. A single database source and the specific retrieval settings
may lead to the omission of some publications. Various databases
and more loosely defined terms will be considered in further
research to collect data. And this paper focuses on showing a
broad panorama of the field rather than an in-depth analysis of
the details. Further studies will build on these results and expand
on these findings. Despite these limitations, this study presents
the development of AI&RE research from multiple perspectives
and helps relevant researchers better understand the evolution
of the field.
5. Conclusion
This paper presents a bibliometric analysis of relevant publi-
cations in the AI&RE field from different perspectives, revealing
their essential characteristics, knowledge structures, hot spots,
and development trends. A performance analysis is first con-
ducted to present the basic characteristics of publications, includ-
ing annual indicators, types and research areas, and highly cited
publications. Then, the analysis is performed to determine influ-
ence and partnerships from three perspectives: countries/regions,
institutions, and authors. Next, burst detection analysis is per-
formed separately for authors, references, sources, countries, and
institutions to identify the parts the industry is concerned about
in a specific period. Furthermore, the keyword analysis is con-
ducted to predict the hot spots and trends in the field. In the end,
further discussion is performed. Based on the results of the above
analysis, the summary is as follows:
(1) The performance analysis shows an overall upward trend
in the number of publications and citations, AI&RE has received
increasingly scholarly attention in recent years. Publications are
mainly Articles (49.68%), while Engineering and Energy Fuels
are the two most popular research areas. The most influen-
tial publication was attributed to Inman et al. with the high-
est NC (524). Judging from the dual-map overlay of journals,
the AI&RE research is moving toward a multidisciplinary di-
rection. Besides, the leading-edge research results are mainly
distributed in ‘‘Veterinary, Animal, Science’’ and ‘‘Mathematics,
Systems, Mathematical’’. In addition, Energies, Renewable & Sus-
tainable Energy Reviews, and IEEE Access are the top three most
productive journals.
(2) In AI&RE research, China is the most productive and in-
fluential country/region, with the widest range of collaborative
partners. Univ Calif San Diego is the most influential institution,
while Aalborg Univ is the most productive with the highest TLS.
Academic institutions worldwide are deeply collaborating to pro-
mote the development of the field. Also, Coimbra, Inman, and
Pedro are the most influential authors. Haupt has the highest
TLS, and Sue has the greatest number of collaborators in the
collaboration network.
(3) From the burst detection analysis, Mellit has dramatically
influenced this field since 2016. Maleki (2014), Tascikaraoglu
(2014), Erdinc (2012), Jha (2017), and Voyant (2017) are land-
mark literature in the field. Prog Energ Combust was cited by
scholars frequently from 2006 to 2018. Additionally, India and
Ton Duc Thang Univ are the countries/regions and institutions
with the strongest citation bursts respectively.
L.L. Zhang, J. Ling and M.W. Lin
(4) Keyword analysis shows that hotspots of AI&RE research
focus on ‘‘artificial intelligence’’, ‘‘renewable energy’’, ‘‘optimiza-
tion’’, ‘‘machine learning’’, and ‘‘prediction’’. The keywords ‘‘de-
mand response’’ and ‘‘big data’’ have gradually become the fron-
tier direction and the latest milestone. Based on the timeline
analysis, the 12 clusters obtained can be considered the core
directions of current AI&RE research.
(5) Based on the results of all the analyzes, popular issues
in the current study, trends and challenges for future research,
and limitations are discussed. The study shows that AI-related
technologies can effectively solve issues related to integrating
renewable energy with power systems. However, there are also
some challenges and bottlenecks, and AI-related technologies and
models will be continuously optimized in the future.
This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of publications
related to the field of AI&RE from 2006 to 2022. It can help schol-
ars who are interested in AI&RE research to better understand the
evolution of the field and reflect on it from multiple perspectives.
Meanwhile, there are some limitations to this paper. A single
database source and the specific retrieval settings may lead to the
omission of some publications. And this paper focuses on showing
a broad panorama of the field rather than an in-depth analysis of
the details. Therefore, certain limitations exist in the discussion
of this paper.
In the future, we should work on studying and developing new
AI-based technologies to facilitate the solution of issues related
to integrating renewable energy with the power system. We will
consider the use of additional databases and more loosely defined
terms for data collection and alternative bibliometric methods
for analysis. In addition, more advanced methods will be further
adopted for comprehensive analysis, such as machine learning,
text mining, etc. In the future, we will continue to focus on the
development of AI&RE research.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
Data availability
Data will be made available on request.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported in part by the Fujian Provincial Natu-
ral Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 2022J01132764.
References
Alsayed, M., Cacciato, M., Scarcella, G., Scelba, G., 2013. Multicriteria optimal
sizing of photovoltaic-wind turbine grid connected systems. IEEE Trans.
Energy Convers. 28 (2), 370–379.
Amoura, Y., Pereira, A.I., Lima, J., 2021. A short term wind speed forecasting
model using artificial neural network and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference
system models. In: International Conference on Sustainable Energy for Smart
Cities. Vol. 425. pp. 189–204.
Anugerah, A.R., Muttaqin, P.S., Trinarningsih, W., 2022. Social network analysis in
business and management research: A bibliometric analysis of the research
trend and performance from 2001 to 2020. Heliyon 8 (4), e09270.
Aria, M., Cuccurullo, C., 2017. Bibliometrix: An R-tool for comprehensive science
mapping analysis. J. Informetr. 11 (4), 959–975.
Aryadoust, V., Ang, B.H., 2021. Exploring the frontiers of eye tracking research in
language studies: a novel co-citation scientometric review. Comput. Assist.
Lang. Learn. 34 (7), 898–933.
Bashir, M.F., Ma, B., Komal, B., Bashir, M.A., 2021. Others: Analysis of environ-
mental taxes publications: a bibliometric and systematic literature review.
Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. 28 (16), 20700–20716.
14087
Energy Reports 8 (2022) 14072–14088
Bhandari, B., Lee, K.-T., Lee, G.-Y., Cho, Y.-M., Ahn, S.-H., 2015. Optimization of
hybrid renewable energy power systems: A review. Int. J. Precis. Eng. Manuf.
Green Technol. 2 (1), 99–112.
Caputo, A., Pizzi, S., Pellegrini, M.M., Dabic, M., 2021. Digitalization and business
models: Where are we going? A science map of the field. J. Bus. Res. 123,
489–501.
Chen, C., 2006. CiteSpace II: Detecting and visualizing emerging trends and
transient patterns in scientific literature. J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci. Technol. 57
(3), 359–377.
Chen, F., Duic, N., Alves, L.M., Da Graça Carvalho, M., 2007. Renewislands—
Renewable energy solutions for islands. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 11 (8),
1888–1902.
Chen, C., Leydesdorff, L., 2014. Patterns of connections and movements in dual-
map overlays: A new method of publication portfolio analysis. J. Assoc.
Inform. Sci. Technol. 65 (2), 334–351.
Chen, Y., Lin, M., Zhuang, D., 2022. Wastewater treatment and emerging
contaminants: Bibliometric analysis. Chemosphere 297, 133932.
Cobo, M.J., Martinez, M.A., Gutierrez-Salcedo, M., Fujita, H., Herrera-Viedma, E.,
2015. 25 Years at knowledge-based systems: a bibliometric analysis.
Knowl.-Based Syst. 80, 3–13.
Dabic, M., Gonzalez-Loureiro, M., Harvey, M., 2015. Evolving research on expa-
triates: what is ‘known’after four decades (1970–2012). Int. J. Hum. Resour.
Manage. 26 (3), 316–337.
Das, U.K., Tey, K.S., Seyedmahmoudian, M., Mekhilef, S., Idris, M.Y.I., van De-
venter, W., Horan, B., Stojcevski, A., 2018. Forecasting of photovoltaic power
generation and model optimization: A review. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev.
81, 912–928.
Daut, M.A.M., Hassan, M.Y., Abdullah, H., Rahman, H.A., Abdullah, M.P., Hussin, F.,
2017. Building electrical energy consumption forecasting analysis using
conventional and artificial intelligence methods: A review. Renew. Sustain.
Energy Rev. 70, 1108–1118.
Devaraj, J., Madurai Elavarasan, R., Shafiullah, G.M., Jamal, T., Khan, I., 2021.
A holistic review on energy forecasting using big data and deep learning
models. Int. J. Energy Res. 45 (9), 13489–13530.
Falagas, M.E., Pitsouni, E.I., Malietzis, G.A., Pappas, G., 2008. Comparison
of PubMed, scopus, web of science, and google scholar: strengths and
weaknesses. FASEB J. 22 (2), 338–342.
Frias-Paredes, L., Mallor, F., Gaston-Romeo, M., Leon, T., 2017. Assessing energy
forecasting inaccuracy by simultaneously considering temporal and absolute
errors. Energy Convers. Manage. 142, 533–546.
Geethamahalakshmi, G., Kalaiarasi, N., Nageswari, D., 2022. Fuzzy based MPPT
and solar power forecasting using artificial intelligence. Intell. Autom. Soft
Comput. 32 (3), 1667–1685.
Giannakoudis, G., Papadopoulos, A.I., Seferlis, P., Voutetakis, S., 2010. Optimum
design and operation under uncertainty of power systems using renewable
energy sources and hydrogen storage. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 35 (3),
872–891.
Gonçalves, J.F., Mendes, J.J.M., Resende, M.G.C., 2008. A genetic algorithm for the
resource constrained multi-project scheduling problem. European J. Oper.
Res. 189 (3), 1171–1190.
Grigoriev, S.A., Fateev, V.N., Bessarabov, D.G., Millet, P., 2020. Current status,
research trends, and challenges in water electrolysis science and technology.
Int. J. Hydrog. Energy 45 (49), 26036–26058.
He, X., Wu, Y., Yu, D., Merigo, J.M., 2017. Exploring the ordered weighted
averaging operator knowledge domain: a bibliometric analysis. Int. J. Intell.
Syst. 32 (11), 1151–1166.
Hepbasli, A., 2008. A key review on exergetic analysis and assessment of
renewable energy resources for a sustainable future. Renew. Sustain. Energy
Rev. 12 (3), 593–661.
Hosseini, S.E., Abdul Wahid, M., 2015. Pollutant in palm oil production process.
J. Air Waste Manage. Assoc. 65 (7), 773–781.
Hosseini, S.E., Wahid, M.A., 2014. Utilization of palm solid residue as a source of
renewable and sustainable energy in Malaysia. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev.
40, 621–632.
Hou, J., Yang, X., Chen, C., 2018. Emerging trends and new developments
in information science: A document co-citation analysis (2009–2016).
Scientometrics 115 (2), 869–892.
Hua, H., Qin, Z., Dong, N., Qin, Y., Ye, M., Wang, Z., Chen, X., Cao, J., 2021. Data-
driven dynamical control for bottom-up energy internet system. IEEE Trans.
Sustain. Energy 13 (1), 315–327.
Hua, H., Qin, Y., Hao, C., Cao, J., 2019. Optimal energy management strategies
for energy internet via deep reinforcement learning approach. Appl. Energy
239, 598–609.
Iwami, S., Ojala, A., Watanabe, C., Neittaanmaki, P., 2020. A bibliometric approach
to finding fields that co-evolved with information technology. Scientometrics
122 (1), 3–21.
L.L. Zhang, J. Ling and M.W. Lin
Ji, B., Zhao, Y., Vymazal, J., Mander, U., Lust, R., Tang, C., 2021. Mapping the
field of constructed wetland-microbial fuel cell: A review and bibliometric
analysis. Chemosphere 262, 128366.
Kamdem, J.P., Duarte, A.E., Lima, K.R.R., Rocha, J.B.T., Hassan, W., Barros, L.M.,
Roeder, T., Tsopmo, A., 2019. Research trends in food chemistry: A biblio-
metric review of its 40 years anniversary (1976–2016). Food Chem. 294,
448–457.
Li, Q., Long, R., Chen, H., Chen, F., Wang, J., 2020. Visualized analysis of global
green buildings: Development, barriers and future directions. J. Clean. Prod.
245, 118775.
Lin, M., Chen, Y., Chen, R., 2021. Bibliometric analysis on pythagorean fuzzy sets
during 2013–2020. Int. J. Intell. Comput. Cybern. 14 (2), 104–121.
Lin, M., Chen, R., Lin, L., et al., 2018a. Buffer-aware data migration scheme for
hybrid storage systems. IEEE Access 6, 47646–47656.
Lin, M., Huang, C., Xu, Z., 2019. TOPSIS method based on correlation coefficient
and entropy measure for linguistic pythagorean fuzzy sets and its application
to multiple attribute decision making. Complexity 2019, 6967390.
Lin, M., Xu, Z., Zhai, Y., Yao, Z., 2018b. Multi-attribute group decision-making
under probabilistic uncertain linguistic environment. J. Oper. Res. Soc. 69
(2), 157–170.
Lin, M., Zhan, Q., Ze, Xu., 2020. Decision making with probabilistic hesitant fuzzy
information based on multiplicative consistency. Int. J. Intell. Syst. 35 (8),
1233–1261.
Ling, J., Li, X.M., Lin, M.W., 2021. Medical waste treatment station selection based
on linguistic q-rung orthopair fuzzy numbers. Cmes-Comput. Model. Eng. Sci.
129 (1), 117–148.
Luo, Y., Lin, M., 2021. Flash translation layer: a review and bibliometric analysis.
Int. J. Intell. Comput. Cybern. 14 (3), 480–508.
Luo, Y., Lin, M., Pan, Y., Ze, Xu., 2022. Dual locality-based flash translation layer
for NAND flash-based consumer electronics. IEEE Trans. Consum. Electron.
68 (3), 281–290.
Mellit, A., Benghanem, M., Kalogirou, S.A., 2007. Modeling and simulation of a
stand-alone photovoltaic system using an adaptive artificial neural network:
Proposition for a new sizing procedure. Renew. Energy 32 (2), 285–313.
Mingers, J., Leydesdorff, L., 2015. A review of theory and practice in
scientometrics. European J. Oper. Res. 246 (1), 1–19.
Moazenzadeh, R., Mohammadi, B., Duan, Z., Delghandi, M., 2022. Improving
generalisation capability of artificial intelligence-based solar radiation esti-
mator models using a bio-inspired optimisation algorithm and multi-model
approach. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. 29 (19), 27719–27737.
Mourao, P.R., Martinho, V.D., 2021. Choosing the best socioeconomic nutrients
for the best trees: a discussion about the distribution of portuguese trees of
public interest. Environ. Dev. Sustain. 23 (4), 5985–6001.
Pandu, S.B., Britto, A., Francis, S., Sekhar, P., Vijayarajan, P., Albraikan, A.A.,
Al-Wesabi, F.N., Al Duhayyim, M., 2022. Artificial intelligence based solar
radiation predictive model using weather forecasts. CMC-Comput. Mater.
Continua 71 (1), 109–124.
Permana, D.I., Rusirawan, D., Farkas, I., 2022. A bibliometric analysis of the
application of solar energy to the organic rankine cycle. Heliyon 8 (4),
e09220.
Rita, E., Chizoo, E., Cyril, U.S., 2021. Sustaining COVID-19 pandemic lockdown era
air pollution impact through utilization of more renewable energy resources.
Heliyon 7 (7), e07455.
Romeo, L.M., Gareta, R., 2006. Hybrid system for fouling control in biomass
boilers. Eng. Appl. Artif. Intell. 19 (8), 915–925.
Sarajcev, P., Kunac, A., Petrovic, G., Despalatovic, M., 2022. Artificial intelligence
techniques for power system transient stability assessment. Energies 15 (2),
507.
Shahbaz, M., Bashir, M.F., Bashir, M.A., Shahzad, L., 2021. A bibliometric analy-
sis and systematic literature review of tourism-environmental degradation
nexus. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. 28 (41), 58241–58257.
Shakibjoo, A.D., Moradzadeh, M., Din, S.U., Mohammadzadeh, A., Mosavi, A.H.,
Vandevelde, L., 2021. Optimized type-2 fuzzy frequency control for
multi-area power systems. IEEE Access 10, 6989–7002.
Sobri, S., Koohi-Kamali, S., Rahim, N.A., 2018. Solar photovoltaic generation
forecasting methods: A review. Energy Convers. Manage. 156, 459–497.
14088
Energy Reports 8 (2022) 14072–14088
Stopar, K., Bartol, T., 2019. Digital competences, computer skills and information
literacy in secondary education: mapping and visualization of trends and
concepts. Scientometrics 118 (2), 479–498.
Tranfield, D., Denyer, D., Smart, P., 2003. Towards a methodology for developing
evidence-informed management knowledge by means of systematic review.
Br. J. Manage. 14 (3), 207–222.
Van Eck, N., Waltman, L., 2010. Software survey: VOSviewer, A computer
program for bibliometric mapping. Scientometrics 84 (2), 523–538.
Wang, H., Lei, Z., Zhang, X., Zhou, B., Peng, J., 2019. A review of deep learning
for renewable energy forecasting. Energy Convers. Manage. 198, 111799.
Wang, H., Ruan, J., Wang, G., Zhou, B., Liu, Y., Fu, X., Peng, J., 2018. Deep learning-
based interval state estimation of AC smart grids against sparse cyber attacks.
IEEE Trans. Ind. Inform. 14 (11), 4766–4778.
Wang, X., Xu, Z., Skare, M., 2020a. A bibliometric analysis of economic research-
ekonomska istra zivanja (2007–2019). Econ. Res. Ekon. Istraživanja 33 (1),
865–886.
Wang, X., Xu, Z., Su, S.-F., Zhou, W., 2021. A comprehensive bibliometric analysis
of uncertain group decision making from 1980 to 2019. Inform. Sci. 547,
328–353.
Wang, F., Xuan, Z., Zhen, Z., Li, K., Wang, T., Shi, M., 2020b. A day-ahead PV power
forecasting method based on LSTM-RNN model and time correlation mod-
ification under partial daily pattern prediction framework. Energy Convers.
Manage. 212, 112766.
Xie, M., Liu, J., Chen, S., Lin, M., 2022. A survey on blockchain consensus
mechanism: research overview, current advances and future directions. Int.
J. Intell. Comput. Cybern. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/IJICC-05-2022-0126.
Xin-gang, Z., You, Z., 2018. Technological progress and industrial performance:
A case study of solar photovoltaic industry. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 81,
929–936.
Yafetto, L., 2022. Application of solid-state fermentation by microbial biotechnol-
ogy for bioprocessing of agro-industrial wastes from 1970 to 2020: A review
and bibliometric analysis. Heliyon 8 (3), e09173.
Yin, X., Wang, H., Wang, W., Zhu, K., 2020. Task recommendation in
crowdsourcing systems: A bibliometric analysis. Technol. Soc. 63, 101337.
Yu, D., Xu, C., 2017. Mapping research on carbon emissions trading: a co-citation
analysis. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 74, 1314–1322.
Yu, D., Xu, Z., Kao, Y., Lin, C.T., 2017a. The structure and citation landscape of
IEEE transactions on fuzzy systems (1994–2015). IEEE Trans. Fuzzy Syst. 26
(2), 430–442.
Yu, D., Xu, Z., Pedrycz, W., Wang, W., 2017b. Information sciences 1968-2016:
A retrospective analysis with text mining and bibliometric. Inform. Sci. 418,
619–634.
Yu, D., Xu, Z., Saparauskas, J., 2019. The evolution of technological and economic
development of economy : a bibliometric analysis. Technol. Econ. Dev. Econ.
25 (3), 369–385.
Zahraee, S.M., Hatami, M., Bavafa, A.A., Ghafourian, K., Rohani, J.M., 2014.
Application of statistical taguchi method to optimize main elements in the
residential buildings in Malaysia based energy consumption. Appl. Mech.
Mater. 606, 265–269.
Zhang, K., Liang, Q.M., 2020. Recent progress of cooperation on climate
mitigation: A bibliometric analysis. J. Clean. Prod. 277, 123495.
Zhang, Y., Shi, X., Zhang, H., Cao, Y., Terzija, V., 2022. Review on deep learning
applications in frequency analysis and control of modern power system. Int.
J. Electr. Power Energy Syst. 136, 107744.
Zhang, L., Wang, J., Niu, X., Liu, Z., 2021. Ensemble wind speed forecasting with
multi-objective archimedes optimization algorithm and sub-model selection.
Appl. Energy 301, 117449.
Zhong, M., Lin, M., 2022. Bibliometric analysis for economy in COVID-19
pandemic. Heliyon 8 (9), e10757.
Zhou, W., Chen, J., Huang, Y., 2019. Co-citation analysis and burst detection on
financial bubbles with scientometrics approach. Econ. Res. Ekon. Istrazivanja
32 (1), 2310–2328.
Zhou, X., Li, T., Ma, X., 2021. A bibliometric analysis of comparative research
on the evolution of international and Chinese green supply chain research
hotspots and frontiers. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. 28 (6), 6302–6323.