Towards smart energy systems – A survey about the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on renewable energy research

The COVID-19 pandemic has a significant impact on renewable energy. This work investigates the effect of pandemic on the renewable energy research from four aspects: the regional cooperation model of renewable energy research, the research hotspots of renewable energy during the pandemic, the development trend of renewable energy research hotspots in the post-pandemic, policy recommendations for development in the post-epidemic era. Systematic literature review (SLR), latent semantic analysis (LSA), and machine learning–based analysis (principle component analysis) are used to analyze the relevant literature on the COVID-19 and renewable energy in the Scopus database. The results of geographic visualization analysis show the COVID-19 pandemic has not hindered but promoted bilateral cooperation in the field of renewable energy among the " the Belt and Road " partner countries, with China at the core. The results of visual analysis of research hotspots show the research in the field of renewable energy during pandemics is divided into two categories: “opportunities” and “crisis”, and further obtained five categories: sustainable development, environmental management, carbon emission, solar photovoltaic power, and wind power. The results of the keyword evolution map indicate the two main directions of renewable energy research in the post-pandemic: (1) Clean energy investment has become an important measure to revitalize the economy after the epidemic. (2) Energy efficiency research will effectively promote the sustainable development of renewable energy. Finally, we put forward policy suggestions on how to build a smart energy system in the post-epidemic era.