Abstract
How smart grids are understood and defined will influence the kinds of smart grids users will encounter in the future and their potential impacts. Practitioners and policymakers largely perceive smart grids as technological interventions. However, a number of social, financial and governmental interventions can also make grids smart, i.e., more efficient, more responsive, more inclusive and more robust. Drawing on qualitative research done using elite interviews, site visits and document analysis of eight micro-grids in India, this paper provides concrete examples of what could be understood as social, financial and governmental smartness, and in doing so, broadens the knowledge on smart grids beyond the technical understanding.This paper argues that social, financial and governmental interventions are central to ‘smartness’, and that multifaceted and relational sociotechnical approaches will build cheaper, just, more democratic and sustainable smart grids. The paper observes that smart grids are not conceived as smart grids but rather develop incrementally. An incremental approach, rather than pushing a premeditated set of ideas and technologies, reduces adoption of non-contextual interventions as well as unnecessary investments in new technologies. The paper recommends that policymakers and practitioners should understand and develop smart grids as sociotechnical and incremental grids.
Highlights
The European Commission’s description of smart grids cites notions of automation, adjustment, consumption, adaptation and prices [1]
Practitioners and policymakers often see smart grids as interventions centred on using information communication technologies (ICTs) to enhance the efficiency, responsiveness, and resilience of electricity grids [4,5]
This paper contributes to the existing knowledge on smart grids in two ways
Summary
The European Commission’s description of smart grids cites notions of automation, adjustment, consumption, adaptation and prices [1] While these elements encompass technical, social, financial and governmental aspects, technological thinking predominantly drives the smart grids design and implementation. As this section has explained, and the paper demonstrates further through case studies, smart is about making electricity grids ‘better’ than before: more efficient in operation, more responsive to consumer needs, more socially inclusive and more financially robust. The paper elaborates how some micro-grids in India achieve these through nontechnical means and provides technical examples that potentially make micro-grids worse for vulnerable people. Because of these reasons, if a transition to smart grids is to happen, smart should encompass social, financial and governmental.
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