As innovative energy-related technologies are fast developing, new elements -such as unpredictable renewable energies (RE), plug-in electric vehicles (EV), smart electrical home appliances, energy efficient homes/buildings, distributed energy storage- are populating the electrical power grid. All these elements induce paradigm shifts in power grids, from producer-controlled structures to large, distributed and customer-interactive ones, enhancing the coupling between the physical and the information layers. In order to be effectively employed on a large scale, all these elements must rely on automation, as well as on optimization methods for efficient management and consumption of energy resources in variable and stochastic conditions. Driven by these emerging technological changes, power grids will become complex and large-scale platforms with a growing need for automation and optimal energy management services.
The goal of this special section is to provide a forum of interaction between researchers and practitioners in the area of automation and optimization for energy systems. We invite original papers with novel contributions in all aspects of automation and optimization for energy systems. 

All accepted papers, that will be part of the conference proceedings, are expected to be included in IEEE Xplore and will be indexed by EI.