By Lauren Felton

The electric grid delivers electricity from points of generation to consumers, and the electricity delivery network functions via two primary systems: 1. The transmission system which delivers electricity from power plants to distribution substations 2. The distribution system which delivers electricity from distribution substations to consumers Simply put the smart grid involves using technology to make the electric system more efficient.

The grid also encompasses large areas of local area networks that use distributed energy resources to serve local loads and/or to meet specific application requirements for remote power, village or district power, premium power, and critical loads protection.

National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), have identified the following characteristics or performance features of a smart grid: Self-healing from power disturbance events Enabling active participation by consumers in demand response Operating resiliently against physical and cyber attack Providing power quality for 21st century needs Accommodating all generation and storage options Enabling new products, services, and markets Optimizing assets and operating efficiently

These and other OE R&D activities, organized below under four key Technology Areas, will directly contribute to achieving the performance features of a smart grid: Architecture & Communication Standards Architectural framework and components to enable interoperability of all components and systems in the nation's power grid including existing legacy systems Monitoring & Load Management Technologies Fault detection, localization, prediction and power quality monitoring with integration of communication, analysis, and control techniques; Monitoring and control of industrial/commercial/residential loads for demand-side management Advanced Components & Operating Concepts Interconnection technologies, substation and equipment advancements, advanced system operating concepts (intentional islanding, Microgrids, etc.) Modeling & Simulation Planning and operational support for contingencies and disturbance events, including integration with disparate databases, reconfiguration, restoration, and optimization of grid performance.

The Smart Grid is going to change more in the power industry, in the next 10 years than it has in the last 100. "With more and more renewable energy continually being added to the regional power mix it requires the need to manage the intermittency of wind and solar resources" "The smart grid is a vital part of the solution to that challenge."