The New Frontier of Smart Grids

The power grid is a massive interconnected network used to deliver electricity from suppliers to consumers and has been a vital energy supply. To minimize the impact of climate change while at the same time maintaining social prosperity, smart energy must be embraced to ensure a balanced economical growth and environmental sustainability. Therefore, in the last few years, the new concept of a smart grid (SG) became a critical enabler in the contemporary world and has attracted increasing attention of policy makers and engineers. This article introduces the main concepts and technological challenges of SGs and presents the authors views on some required challenges and opportunities presented to the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society (IES) in this new and exciting frontier. © 2011 IEEE.