Transitioning From Decentralized Facilities to Intelligent Integration: A Review of Distributed Wind and Solar Energy Research

Abstract

The deployment of distributed renewable energy (DRE) is a crucial strategy for enhancing energy security and mitigating the impact of climate change. However, its development faces significant challenges related to system integration, operational management, and benefit distribution. This paper presents a bibliometric analysis of DRE literature, offering insights into key research directions, emerging trends, and frontiers in this field from both quantitative and visual perspectives. In addition, traditional content analysis methods were used to examine the development paths of DRE in five representative countries, considering the heterogeneity of their respective contexts. The results revealed that research in the DRE field is becoming increasingly interdisciplinary and diversified. Frontier studies now focus on the democratization, marketization, integration, and intelligence of the DRE. This reflects a broader trend toward transforming DRE into an integrated system. Furthermore, differences in DRE promotion paths across countries are influenced not only by resource endowments, technological capabilities, and social contexts but also by policies and market mechanisms. Based on global development trends and empirical evidence, this study suggests that future research should focus on policy and market mechanism design, technological advancement and intelligent integration, the diversification of application scenarios, and social acceptance and public participation.