{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,10]],"date-time":"2026-02-10T21:35:03Z","timestamp":1770759303503,"version":"3.50.0"},"posted":{"date-parts":[[2026]]},"group-title":"SSRN","reference-count":27,"publisher":"Elsevier BV","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"abstract":"<jats:p>Digital Twin (DT) technologies are increasingly central to the decarbonisation of energy systems, enabling close coupling between physical infrastructures and continuously updated virtual models. Through real-time data exchange, simulation, and predictive analytics, DTs support advanced monitoring, optimisation, and control of distributed renewable resources. This paper reviews the evolution of DT applications in the energy domain, tracing their development from asset-level simulations and supervisory control systems to hybrid, community-scale architectures that integrate multiple energy vectors, stakeholders, and governance layers. Drawing on recent literature published between 2022 and 2025, the review identifies key conceptual, computational, and institutional shifts underpinning this transition, including hybrid physics\u2013data modelling, edge\u2013cloud orchestration, co-simulation, and artificial-intelligence-assisted forecasting, alongside growing attention to interoperability, privacy, and social legitimacy. The analysis is anchored in the SMART (SMart transition to renewAble eneRgy communiTies) project, implemented within the Culatra2030 Sustainable Energy Community in southern Portugal. SMART is presented as an application-oriented DT framework that addresses persistent gaps in the literature, notably the limited long-term validation of DTs, the weak integration of participatory governance, and the misalignment between technical optimisation and community values. The proposed architecture conceptually couples distributed photovoltaics, energy storage, and electrified mobility with cooperative governance mechanisms. It integrates interoperable individual energy management systems, a central smart monitoring and control platform, and a web-based user interface that enables both operational coordination and citizen engagement. The paper argues that DTs are evolving into socio-technical infrastructures mediating technical performance, institutional design, and human behaviour, positioning renewable energy communities as living laboratories for energy transitions.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.2139\/ssrn.6176868","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,4]],"date-time":"2026-02-04T12:39:06Z","timestamp":1770208746000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Digital Twins for Renewable Energy Communities: From Energy System Modelling to Real-World Strategic Implementation"],"prefix":"10.2139","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8340-0629","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Andr\u00e9","family":"Pacheco","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0329-2507","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"J\u00f3ni","family":"Dos Santos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8310-2595","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Jailson","family":"Carvalho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4946-0465","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Cristiano","family":"Cabrita","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8497-4798","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Hugo","family":"Pinto","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4203-1679","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"J\u00e2nio","family":"Monteiro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"78","reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1016\/j.erss.2020.101774","article-title":"Intersectionality and energy transitions: a review of gender, social equity and low-carbon energy","volume":"70","author":"O W Johnson","year":"2020","journal-title":"Energy Research & Social Science"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-319-38756-7_4","article-title":"Digital Twin: Mitigating Unpredictable, Undesirable Emergent Behavior in Complex Systems","author":"M Grieves","year":"2017","journal-title":"Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Complex Systems"},{"key":"ref3","author":"A Pacheco","year":"2022","journal-title":"Energy transition process and community engagement on geographic islands: The case of Culatra Island"},{"key":"ref4","first-page":"700","volume":"184","author":"Energy"},{"issue":"3","key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.12688\/digitaltwin.17435.2","article-title":"Digital twins and their use in future power systems","author":"P Palensky","year":"2022","journal-title":"Digital Twin"},{"key":"ref6","author":"M M H Sifat","year":"2023","journal-title":"Towards electric digital twin grid: Technology and framework review. 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