Reinforcement Learning-Based Energy Management for Sustainable Electrified Urban Transportation with Renewable Energy Integration: A Case Study of Alexandria, Egypt

To enhance access to efficient and low-carbon public transportation, the city of Alexandria, Egypt, has introduced a fleet of electric buses. Additionally, an ongoing project aims to upgrade and electrify the existing urban railway system, which is expected to alleviate traffic congestion in this densely populated city. The implementation of electric vehicle (EV) parking facilities is also under consideration. This paper investigates the integration of photovoltaic (PV) systems and green hydrogen-powered gas turbines as components of the integrated energy system (IES). An optimal energy management strategy is proposed to maximize the benefits of incorporating renewable energy sources into the urban transportation system (UTS). The proposed energy management algorithm incorporates demand-side management (DSM) for UTS loads and EVs, increasing the complexity of the decision-making process due to the high uncertainty of decision variables. To address this challenge, a modified multi-agent reinforcement learning (MRL) approach is employed, in which uncertainty is incorporated through stochastic environment sampling. Simulation results demonstrate the economic potential of integrating renewable and sustainable energy resources into the IES of the electrified urban transportation system, achieving a 40.2% reduction in the average daily energy consumption cost.