IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v18y2025i9p2239-d1644495.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Thematic Review of AI and ML in Sustainable Energy Policies for Developing Nations

Author

Listed:
  • Hassan Qudrat-Ullah

    (School of Administrative Studies, York University, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada)

Abstract

The growing global energy demand and the pursuit of sustainability highlight the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in energy systems. This thematic review explores their applications in energy generation, transmission, and consumption, emphasizing their role in optimizing renewable integration, enhancing operational efficiency, and enabling data-driven decision-making. By employing a thematic approach, this study categorizes and analyzes key challenges and opportunities, including economic considerations, technological advancements, and social implications. While AI/ML technologies offer significant benefits, their adoption in developing nations faces challenges, such as high upfront costs, skill shortages, and infrastructure limitations. Addressing these barriers through capacity building, international collaboration, and adaptive policies is critical to realizing the equitable and sustainable integration of AI/ML in energy systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Hassan Qudrat-Ullah, 2025. "A Thematic Review of AI and ML in Sustainable Energy Policies for Developing Nations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-26, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:9:p:2239-:d:1644495
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/9/2239/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/9/2239/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daniel Icaza-Alvarez & Nestor Daniel Galan-Hernandez & Eber Enrique Orozco-Guillen & Francisco Jurado, 2023. "Smart Energy Planning in the Midst of a Technological and Political Change towards a 100% Renewable System in Mexico by 2050," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-26, October.
    2. Zhilun Jiao & Chenrui Zhang & Wenwen Li, 2025. "Artificial Intelligence in Energy Economics Research: A Bibliometric Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-30, January.
    3. Gustavo Adolfo Gómez-Ramírez & Carlos Meza & Gonzalo Mora-Jiménez & José Rodrigo Rojas Morales & Luis García-Santander, 2023. "The Central American Power System: Achievements, Challenges, and Opportunities for a Green Transition," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-20, May.
    4. Li, Lingxiao & Wen, Jun & Li, Yan & Mu, Zi, 2025. "Supply chain challenges and energy insecurity: The role of AI in facilitating renewable energy transition," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    5. Prince Waqas Khan & Yongjun Kim & Yung-Cheol Byun & Sang-Joon Lee, 2021. "Influencing Factors Evaluation of Machine Learning-Based Energy Consumption Prediction," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-22, November.
    6. Pasquale Marcello Falcone, 2023. "Sustainable Energy Policies in Developing Countries: A Review of Challenges and Opportunities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-19, September.
    7. Asensio, F.J. & San Martín, J.I. & Zamora, I. & Saldaña, G. & Oñederra, O., 2019. "Analysis of electrochemical and thermal models and modeling techniques for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1-1.
    8. Sun, Siyang & Yang, Qiang & Ma, Jin & Ferré, Adrià Junyent & Yan, Wenjun, 2020. "Hierarchical planning of PEV charging facilities and DGs under transportation-power network couplings," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 356-369.
    9. Sergiusz Pimenow & Olena Pimenowa & Piotr Prus, 2024. "Challenges of Artificial Intelligence Development in the Context of Energy Consumption and Impact on Climate Change," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-34, November.
    10. Andrea A. Eras-Almeida & Miguel A. Egido-Aguilera & Philipp Blechinger & Sarah Berendes & Estefanía Caamaño & Enrique García-Alcalde, 2020. "Decarbonizing the Galapagos Islands: Techno-Economic Perspectives for the Hybrid Renewable Mini-Grid Baltra–Santa Cruz," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-47, March.
    11. Elomari, Youssef & Mateu, Carles & Marín-Genescà, M. & Boer, Dieter, 2024. "A data-driven framework for designing a renewable energy community based on the integration of machine learning model with life cycle assessment and life cycle cost parameters," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 358(C).
    12. Jin-Li Hu & Nhi Ha Bao Bui, 2024. "The Future Design of Smart Energy Systems with Energy Flexumers: A Constructive Literature Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-32, April.
    13. Takele Ferede Agajie & Ahmed Ali & Armand Fopah-Lele & Isaac Amoussou & Baseem Khan & Carmen Lilí Rodríguez Velasco & Emmanuel Tanyi, 2023. "A Comprehensive Review on Techno-Economic Analysis and Optimal Sizing of Hybrid Renewable Energy Sources with Energy Storage Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-26, January.
    14. Zhang, Xiaojing & Khan, Khalid & Shao, Xuefeng & Oprean-Stan, Camelia & Zhang, Qian, 2024. "The rising role of artificial intelligence in renewable energy development in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    15. David Mhlanga, 2023. "Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Energy Consumption and Production in Emerging Markets: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-17, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yasin Khalili & Sara Yasemi & Mahdi Abdi & Masoud Ghasemi Ertian & Maryam Mohammadi & Mohammadreza Bagheri, 2025. "A Review of Integrated Carbon Capture and Hydrogen Storage: AI-Driven Optimization for Efficiency and Scalability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-40, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pagnini, Luisa & Bracco, Stefano & Delfino, Federico & de-Simón-Martín, Miguel, 2024. "Levelized cost of electricity in renewable energy communities: Uncertainty propagation analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 366(C).
    2. Daniel Icaza & David Vallejo-Ramirez & Mauricio Siguencia & Luis Portocarrero, 2024. "Smart Electrical Planning, Roadmaps and Policies in Latin American Countries Through Electric Propulsion Systems: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-41, December.
    3. Xia, Chunxun & Balsalobre-Lorente, Daniel & Raza Syed, Qasim, 2025. "Electricity generation from renewable and non-renewable energy sources in China: The role of environmental policy stringency, FDI, and economic growth," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 318(C).
    4. Zhu, Qingyuan & Sun, Chenhao & Xu, Chengzhen & Geng, Qianqian, 2025. "The impact of artificial intelligence on global energy vulnerability," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 15-27.
    5. Islam, Md. Monirul & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Ahmed, Faroque, 2024. "Robot race in geopolitically risky environment: Exploring the Nexus between AI-powered tech industrial outputs and energy consumption in Singapore," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    6. Tzelepis, Stefanos & Kavadias, Kosmas A. & Marnellos, George E. & Xydis, George, 2021. "A review study on proton exchange membrane fuel cell electrochemical performance focusing on anode and cathode catalyst layer modelling at macroscopic level," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    7. Liu, Yang & Zhang, Yuchen & Zhao, Xiaoli & Farnoosh, Arash & Ma, Ruoran, 2024. "Synergistic effect of environmental governance instruments embedded in social contexts: A case study of China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    8. Chaikumbung, Mayula, 2025. "The influence of national cultures on preferences and willingness to pay for renewable energy in Developing countries: A meta-analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    9. Janaina Melo Franco Domingos & Diego Gouveia Marques & Valquíria Campos & Marcelo Antunes Nolasco, 2024. "Analysis of the Water Indicators in the UI GreenMetric Applied to Environmental Performance in a University in Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-19, October.
    10. Nazir, Kashif & Memon, Shazim Ali & Saurbayeva, Assemgul, 2024. "A novel framework for developing a machine learning-based forecasting model using multi-stage sensitivity analysis to predict the energy consumption of PCM-integrated building," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 376(PA).
    11. Izabela Rojek & Dariusz Mikołajewski & Marek Andryszczyk & Tomasz Bednarek & Krzysztof Tyburek, 2025. "Leveraging Machine Learning in Next-Generation Climate Change Adaptation Efforts by Increasing Renewable Energy Integration and Efficiency," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-22, June.
    12. Marina Bertolini & Gregorio Morosinotto, 2023. "Business Models for Energy Community in the Aggregator Perspective: State of the Art and Research Gaps," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-26, June.
    13. Arévalo, Paúl & Cano, Antonio & Jurado, Francisco, 2022. "Mitigation of carbon footprint with 100% renewable energy system by 2050: The case of Galapagos islands," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    14. Geovanna Villacreses & Diego Jijón & Juan Francisco Nicolalde & Javier Martínez-Gómez & Franz Betancourt, 2022. "Multicriteria Decision Analysis of Suitable Location for Wind and Photovoltaic Power Plants on the Galápagos Islands," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-23, December.
    15. Mariusz Reczulski & Włodzimierz Szewczyk & Michał Kuczkowski, 2023. "Possibilities of Reducing the Heat Energy Consumption in a Tissue Paper Machine—Case Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-15, April.
    16. Barra, Cristian & Falcone, Pasquale Marcello, 2024. "Environmental performance of countries. Examining the effect of diverse institutional factors in a metafrontier approach," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    17. Barbara Wyrzykowska & Hubert Szczepaniuk & Edyta Karolina Szczepaniuk & Anna Rytko & Marzena Kacprzak, 2024. "Intelligent Energy Management Systems in Industry 5.0: Cybersecurity Applications in Examples," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-22, November.
    18. FU, Yunyun & SHEN, Yongchang & SONG, Malin & WANG, Weiyu, 2024. "Does artificial intelligence reduce corporate energy consumption? New evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 548-561.
    19. Takele Ferede Agajie & Armand Fopah-Lele & Isaac Amoussou & Ahmed Ali & Baseem Khan & Om Prakash Mahela & Ramakrishna S. S. Nuvvula & Divine Khan Ngwashi & Emmanuel Soriano Flores & Emmanuel Tanyi, 2023. "Techno-Economic Analysis and Optimization of Hybrid Renewable Energy System with Energy Storage under Two Operational Modes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-31, July.
    20. Daniel Icaza Alvarez & Fernando González-Ladrón-de-Guevara & Jorge Rojas Espinoza & David Borge-Diez & Santiago Pulla Galindo & Carlos Flores-Vázquez, 2025. "The Evolution of AI Applications in the Energy System Transition: A Bibliometric Analysis of Research Development, the Current State and Future Challenges," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-31, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:9:p:2239-:d:1644495. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.