The Path of the Smart Grid

Smart grid that allows pervasive control and monitoring is emerging as a convergence of information and communication technology with power system engineering. A smart grid accommodates a wide variety of generation options such as central, distributed, and mobile empowering consumers to interact with the energy management system to adjust energy use and reduce energy costs. A smart grid is a self-healing system that predicts looming failures and takes corrective action to avoid problems. A smart grid uses IT to continually optimize the use of its capital assets while minimizing operational costs. A smart microgrid network can operate in both grid-tied as well as islanded modes integrating the components including that it incorporates power plants capable of meeting local demand as well as feeding the unused energy back to the electricity grid and makes use of local and distributed power-storage capability. The advent of these smart microgrids and the degree of their interplay and integration will play vital role in rapidly escalating smart grid capabilities and requirements.