Applications and Requirements of Smart Grid

Abstract

The electricity delivery infrastructure—consisting of power plants, transmission lines, and distribution systems—is known as the power grid. The power grid in its present form is one of the most remarkable engineering developments. The grid infrastructure has played a critical role in making electric power reach the common people in a reliable and economic way. The National Academy of Science, USA, has ranked the power grid as the most beneficial engineering innovation of the twentieth century. Power grid is a complicated and highly meshed network. The complexity of the grid has been ever increasing with the increase in electricity demand. The high reliability and power quality requirement for the digital society are challenging. The smart grid is a power grid that uses real-time measurements, two-way communication, and computational intelligence. The smart grid is expected to be safe, secure, reliable, resilient, efficient, and sustainable. Measuring devices like phasor measurement units (PMUs) can radically change the monitoring way of the grids. However, there are several challenges like deployment of sufficient number of PMUs and managing the huge amount of data. Two-way communication is an essential requirement of the smart grid. A communication system that is secure, dedicated, and capable of handling the data traffic is required. The integration of renewable sources will alter the dynamics of the grid. This situation calls for better monitoring and control at the distribution level.