Everything-to-Grid (X2G): Emerging Technologies for Intelligent Grid Coordination

Frontiers in Energy Research is a contributor to the 2026 Top 10 Emerging Technologies Report launched at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Dalian in June 2026. This Research Topic highlights one of the featured technologies, The Everything-to-Grid (X2G) Paradigm: Extending Intelligent, Carbon Aware Coordination Across Distributed Energy Assets, and aims to foster community collaboration around its development and real-world impact.The global transition to high penetration renewable energy is transforming electricity systems from passive delivery networks into active, multidirectional coordination platforms. The X2G concept extends the familiar Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) idea to include every grid interactive endpoint such as electric vehicles, stationary batteries, smart buildings, datacenters, industrial loads and distributed generators. Together, these assets create a programmable, carbon aware flexibility resource that enhances stability, enables local energy markets and supports system level decarbonisation. Building on insights from the 2026 WEF Emerging Technologies Report, researchers recognise that unlocking the potential of this paradigm requires advances in artificial intelligence, control systems, market mechanisms and integrated planning across the digital and power domains.Recent research has delivered progress in several of these areas. AI driven grid orchestration approaches are advancing real time coordination of distributed energy resources. Grid forming power electronics are improving stability in inverter dominated systems. Carbon aware scheduling frameworks are beginning to align operational decisions with real time carbon intensity signals. Yet, significant challenges remain in interoperability, lifecycle optimisation, peer to peer market design and integrating digital platforms with physical energy systems. Addressing these issues effectively will require stronger collaboration between research institutions, industry partners and policymakers to ensure technical innovation translates into practical, scalable solutions for next generation grids.This Research Topic seeks to accelerate progress towards realising the Everything-to-Grid ecosystem by connecting technical advances with deployment feasibility, system resiliency and measurable carbon outcomes. It encourages submissions that explore orchestration, control and market dimensions necessary to operationalise distributed flexibility. Studies that use real or simulated grid data, propose scalable algorithms or demonstrate pilot scale implementations are especially welcome. The overall goal is to identify viable pathways from current proof of concept experiments to integrated, data driven flexibility platforms that support global energy resilience and decarbonisation objectives.To gather further insights into next generation grid intelligence and flexibility, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:o Machine learning and AI orchestration for real time distributed energy coordination;o Grid forming power electronics and control strategies for weak or islanded networks;o Battery lifecycle modelling and optimisation for bidirectional applications;o Peer to peer and local energy markets for flexibility pricing and exchange;o Carbon aware dispatch and integration of dynamic emissions signals in operation;o Grid interactive data centers and computational demand flexibility;o Quantum and hybrid quantum classical approaches to grid planning and optimisation; Topic editors: ZhaoYang Dong, Hugo Morais, Ningyi DAI, Hao Wang Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/82463/everything-to-grid-x2g-emerging-technologies-for-intelligent-grid-coordination