Overview of innovations and recommendations for efficient operation of RES-based power plants

RES-based electricity production is currently developing at an unprecedented pace. Scientists from various countries are working intensively to further improve the most important indicators of power plants using renewable energy resources. Solar, wind and hydropower plants already have the three first lowest levelled costs of electricity (LCOE) and the best environmental performance among power generation technologies. The goal of this article is to review the latest scientific and technical publications on the measures applied to increase the efficiency of these power plants, reduce the cost of the energy produced, and contribute to the broader dissemination of information and progress in this field. This article mainly reviews the already tested and published innovations in the area of solar, wind, and hydropower plants. Microgrids, green hydrogen and heat pumps are included in this review too because they are closely related to RES-based power generation and usage. They are contributors to solving the challenges of fossil fuels phase-out and the climate crisis. During the first decades of the 21st century, scientists and inventors proposed a pretty number of valuable innovations and recommendations. The abundance of valuable innovations gives hope that the volumes of green power production will continue to increase and that the mentioned problems will be solved successfully. A review of information sources showed that solar and wind power plants, according to all forecasts, will definitely be the first in the field of electricity production after a few years. Electricity needs will grow at least 2–3 times over the next 25 years as it will be used not only in factories, buildings and the illumination of streets but also in transport, hydrogen production, agriculture and elsewhere.