Sustainability in Power Systems: A Review of Grid Reliability, Power Quality, Loss Reduction, and Intelligent Monitoring

Abstract

Sustainable power systems are often discussed mainly in terms of renewable-energy adoption, yet cleaner generation alone does not guarantee reliable, efficient, and high-quality electricity delivery. The real challenge is that grid reliability, power quality, loss reduction, and intelligent monitoring are still frequently treated as separate technical issues, even though they jointly determine whether a power system can operate sustainably in practice. This review adopted a structured literature-review approach to synthesize current knowledge on sustainability in power systems. A total of 80 papers were initially identified from major academic sources, including Google Scholar, Elsevier/ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, and MDPI, using keywords related to reliability, power quality, technical losses, intelligent monitoring, and renewable integration. After screening for relevance and scope, 56 references published between 2021 and 2026 were retained and thematically analyzed. The review shows that sustainability in power systems has evolved into a multidimensional concept that extends beyond decarbonization to include resilience, voltage and frequency stability, reduced technical losses, efficient network performance, digital monitoring, and coordinated renewable integration. The findings further reveal that intelligent forecasting, smart-grid tools, asset monitoring, and storage coordination are becoming essential for sustainable operation, while key gaps remain in integrated assessment, data quality, implementation realism, and life-cycle awareness. In conclusion, sustainable power systems should be understood not merely as low-carbon systems, but as systems that are reliable, efficient, resilient, and intelligently managed. Future progress will depend on more integrated and context-aware approaches that connect technical performance with long-term sustainability outcomes.