ABSTRACT
Smart grid programs will incorporate advanced applications to harness the full set of demand-side options, communications options, information management, advanced metering infrastructure, and automated control technologies. Smart grid visions seek to bring together these technologies to make each grid element, from the customer’s circuit to the bulk power grid, self-healing, more reliable, safer, and more efficient. Newton-Evans Research Company, Inc. recently developed a smart grid-related market outlook through 2015 based on insights gathered from dozens of recently completed industry and utility surveys and secondary research activities. The growth and evolution of the electric power industry over the past century has been, in part, a story of continuous technological innovation. The integration of relatively large-scale new generation and active load technologies into the electric grid introduces real-time system control and operational challenges around reliability, security of the power supply, and customer resource options. The pace of economic growth throughout the world will also impact the pace of smart grid realization.
