Virtual power plants in coastal environments: a comprehensive review of technical challenges and mitigation approaches

• Coastal VPP battery degradation is 3.89 times faster than inland. • Integrated mitigation strategies achieve a 43 per cent reduction. • Ensemble forecasting cuts RMSE by 52 to 58 per cent for renewables. • MPC optimization achieves 62.8 per cent self-sufficiency in VPP. • Review identifies critical gaps in marine VPP resilience research. Coastal virtual power plants offer significant potential for harnessing marine renewable energy, yet their deployment faces unique environmental challenges compared to inland systems. This paper presents a comprehensive review based on 230 peer-reviewed publications from 2010 to 2024, examining battery degradation mechanisms, renewable energy forecasting methods, and optimization strategies for tropical marine conditions characterised by salt spray corrosion, 75–95% relative humidity, and monsoon-driven variability. Two critical barriers to the viability of coastal virtual power plants are identified: accelerated battery degradation driven by synergistic marine environmental stressors, and heightened forecast uncertainty arising from complex ocean–atmosphere interactions. Synthesis of the reviewed literature indicates that coastal battery degradation is approximately 3.89 times faster than that of inland installations, reducing operational lifetimes from 22.2 to 5.7 years under unprotected conditions. An integrated mitigation approach combining hermetic sealing, climate-controlled enclosures, and marine-grade materials achieves 43% degradation reduction, extending service life to 11–14 years. Advanced ensemble forecasting approaches reported in the literature achieve 52 to 58% reductions in root mean square error across renewable sources. A computational simulation case study of a 100 MW multi-resource virtual power plant in Mangalore, India, integrating offshore wind, solar photovoltaic, wave, and tidal energy with hybrid storage, demonstrates practical applicability. The simulation, parameterized from reviewed literature, shows that model predictive control with stochastic programming achieves 62.8% energy self-sufficiency, with techno-economic assessment indicating net savings of ≈3.23 Crore Indian Rupees over a 20-year lifecycle. This review provides actionable guidelines and identifies research priorities for advancing coastal renewable energy integration