Citation: Salinas-Herrera, F.; Moeini, A.; Kamwa, I. Survey of Simulation Tools to Assess Techno-Economic Benefits of Smart Grid Technology in Integrated T&D Systems. Sustainability 2022, 14, 8108. https:// doi.org/10.3390/su14138108 Academic Editors: Muhammad Imran, Zafar Ali Khan, Abdullah Altamimi and Manuel S. Alvarez-Alvarado Received: 26 May 2022 Accepted: 28 June 2022 Published: 2 July 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). sustainability Review Survey of Simulation Tools to Assess Techno-Economic Benefits of Smart Grid Technology in Integrated T&D Systems Fernando Salinas-Herrera 1, * , Ali Moeini 2 and Innocent Kamwa 1 1 Département de Génie Électrique et de Génie Informatique, Université Laval, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada; innocent.kamwa.1@ulaval.ca 2 Hydro-Québec, Montréal, QC H2Z 1A4, Canada; moeini.ali@hydroquebec.com * Correspondence: kfsah@ulaval.ca or fernando.salinas@ieee.org; Tel.: +1-581-443-7297 Abstract: In order to succeed in the energy transition, the power system must become more flexible in order to enable the economical hosting of more intermittent distributed energy resources (DER) and smart grid technologies. New technical solutions, generally based on the connection of various components coupled to the power system via smart power electronic converters or through ICT, can help to take up these challenges. Such innovations (e.g., decarbonization technologies and smart grids) may reduce the costs of future power systems and the environmental footprint. In this regard, the techno-economic assessment of smart grid technologies is a matter of interest, especially in the urge to develop more credible options for deep decarbonization pathways over the long term. This work presents a literature survey of existing simulation tools to assess the techno-economic benefits of smart grid technologies in integrated T&D systems. We include the state-of-the-art tools and categorize them in their multiple aspects, cover smart grid technology, approach methods, and research topics, and include (or complete) the analysis with other dimensions (smart-grid related) of key interest for future power systems analysis such as environmental considerations, techno-economic aspects (social welfare), spatial scope, time resolution (granularity), and temporal scope, among others. We surveyed more than 40 publications, and 36 approaches were identified for the analysis of integrated T&D systems. As a relatively new research area, there are various promising candidates to properly simulate integrated T&D systems. Nevertheless, there is not yet a consensus on a specific framework that should be adopted by researchers in academia and industry. Moreover, as the power system is evolving rapidly towards a smart grid system, novel technologies and flexibility solutions are still under study to be integrated on a large scale. This review aims to offer new criteria for researchers in terms of smart-grid related dimensions and the state-of-the-art trending of simulation tools that holistically evaluate techno-economic aspects of the future power systems in an integrated T&D systems environment. As an imperative research matter for future energy systems, this article seeks to contribute to the discussion of which pathway the scientific community should focus on for a successful shift towards decarbonized energy systems. Keywords: power system simulation; integrated T&D systems; simulation tools; techno-economic simulation; future power systems; smart grid technology; energy system planning; DERs; decarbonization; flexibility; survey 1. Introduction The socio-economic assessment of smart grids is a matter of interest for public au- thorities and utilities [1–4]. However, conventional transmission planning and generation expansion tools are not well suited to the new environment with more uncertainties in the forecast, and more flexibility constraints (including decentralized end-use flexibility assets) should be considered when planning for a future grid in a decarbonized economy. Previous studies have mainly adopted energy system planning and simulation models, e.g., OSeMOSYS [5], MESSAGE [6], IAM [7], LEAP [8], etc., to design optimal portfolios Sustainability 2022, 14, 8108. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14138108 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability