Performance evaluation of microgrids: Unraveling trends through bibliometric analysis and thematic quantification

The catastrophic impacts of climate change and the ever-increasing energy demand have spurred the rapid development of microgrids in recent decades. This paper addresses the evolving field of microgrid systems, focusing on performance evaluation, which is a subject of great academic interest. To augment existing knowledge, our study presents an overview and a thorough analysis of microgrid performance evaluation. The evaluation encompasses two primary themes: bibliometric analysis and thematic quantification. Utilizing a targeted search of the Scopus database in January 2024, we identified relevant articles between 2015 and 2024, resulting in 3932 relevant publications. A subsequent screening process narrowed the selection to the top 200 papers based on citations, and a detailed full-text analysis further refined our sample to 189 articles. Bibliometric research reveals patterns in the dynamics of publications, productive authors, active journals, geographical distribution and collaboration, and key subject categories. Additionally, we present a network analysis of co-authorship patterns among countries, frequently used keywords, and the most cited articles. We also examined the policy citations of the selected articles. Thematic quantification of selected papers systematically categorizes content into various themes, comprising frequently employed sources/renewable energy resources, control techniques, common bus and load types, types of studies and themes, and microgrid locations. Our findings offer valuable insights into the current landscape of this continually evolving field, shedding light on trends and providing recommendations for future research directions. • Iran emerged as the leading contributor with 40 publications in this field. • Top keywords include microgrid, renewable energy source, and energy storage. • Hybrid sources and grid-connected mode of operation are the prominent themes. • MATLAB emerged as the dominant software tool. • A combination of policy citation and bibliometric analysis is required for comprehensive research impact.