ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the possible configurations that may lead researchers and practitioners to stimulate thinking about evolving improved power systems resulting in a smart grid. The world's electricity infrastructure, consisting of various sources of generation, a set of transmission networks and a variety of distribution systems, has evolved through time. The perfect device-level power system has many advantages: Eventually device-level power systems may need to be connected to building integrated or distributed power systems for bulk energy supply. The Galvin Research Team selected the following nodes of innovation that will be critical for developing the perfect electric energy systems described in the previous section. It was this belief that once those systems had evolved, the perfect fully integrated configuration would literally self-organize. Power system engineers continue to debate the best approach to optimizing existing electric infrastructures in the developed world and planning and deploying new infrastructures in developing countries.
