Smart Grid - The New and Improved Power Grid: A Survey

The Smart Grid, regarded as the next generation power grid, uses two-way flows of electricity and information to create a widely distributed automated energy delivery network. In this paper, the authors survey the literature till 2011 on the enabling technologies for the Smart Grid. They explore three major systems, namely the smart infrastructure system, the smart management system, and the smart protection system. They also propose possible future directions in each system. Specifically, for the smart infrastructure system, they explore the smart energy subsystem, the smart information subsystem, and the smart communication subsystem. For the smart management system, they explore various management objectives, such as improving energy efficiency, profiling demand, maximizing utility, reducing cost, and controlling emission.