Cyber–physical perspective on smart grid design and operation

Abstract

Emerging computation and communication technologies ubiquitously deployed in smart grids introduce unprecedented opportunities by enabling vigorous development of innovative business models and applications that aim for improving system efficiency, reliability, resiliency, and interoperability. Smart grids are typical cyber–physical systems (CPSs). The heterogeneous and complex nature of smart grids presents significant challenges introduced by the tight coupling of computation, communication, and physical systems. Here, the authors first provide an overview of smart grids from a CPS perspective. Then, the authors discuss the opportunities and challenges in smart grid design and operation. Next, a co-design framework is introduced and used for designing wide-area damping controller as one of many CPS applications that can be abstracted from various power system layers. The authors conclude that developing a theoretical modelling framework is critical for understanding and managing the complexity and interoperability of smart grids.