[en] With the rapid development of high-speed carrier communication technology, high-speed carrier communication technology has become a new choice for power information acquisition systems. High-speed carrier communication technology achieves excellent application results in the construction of power information acquisition system by virtue of its high communication rate, high real-time communication, support for automatic networking and real-time routing, support for phase identification and station identification. Therefore, the power line carrier communication technology in the smart grid has become more and more important. This paper introduces the key technologies of power line broadband carrier communication in detail, analyzes and studies the design difficulties, and studies the smart grid power line broadband communication system through practical application. It provides powerful technical support for smart grid power line broadband communication. (paper)

[en] Based on the analysis of smart grid features and business requirements and using the existing research results of heterogeneous networks for reference, this paper designs a heterogeneous network model and functional architecture that adapt to the smart grid environment. Based on this, according to different network resource status, the paper analyzes and compares the network discovery, network selection and connection management mechanism in multi-network environment which includes multi-level, heterogeneous network environment to support the transmission diversity common link layer processing technology; and business multi-network collaborative bearer technology to improve the flexibility of access to a variety of services in power communications. (paper)

[en] Highlights: • Definition of state-of-the-art co-simulation and provision of recent trends. • Review of 26 different Smart Grid simulation frameworks and their applications. • Analysis of several parameters: research topic, computational effort & problem size. • Correlation of different application, showing trends in simulation tools. Smart Grids consist of multiple actors and physical phenomena, which are often difficult to capture in one single simulation framework. Therefore, researchers increasingly couple distinct simulators to form novel “co-simulations”. In this paper we present a literature survey of 26 smart grid co-simulation frameworks. First of all, we present our understanding of a co-simulation. We then classify the 26 frameworks on multiple characteristics, such as simulation tools, synchronization methods and research topics. Finally, we present correlations between different key characteristics, analyze possible research gaps and discuss possible trends and future development areas in the field of smart grid co-simulations.

[en] Cities are currently undergoing a transformation into the Smart concept, like Smartphones or SmartTV. Many initiatives are being developed in the framework of the Smart Cities projects, however, there is a lack of consistent indicators and methodologies to assess, finance, prioritize and implement this kind of projects. Smart Cities projects are classified according to six axes: Government, Mobility, Environment, Economy, People and Living. (Giffinger, 2007). The main objective of this research is to develop an evaluation model in relation to the mobility concept as one of the six axes of the Smart City classification and apply it to the Spanish cities. The evaluation was carried out in the 62 cities that made up in September 2015 the Spanish Network of Smart Cities (RECI- Red Española de Ciudades Inteligentes). This research is part of a larger project about Smart Cities’ evaluation (+CITIES), the project evaluates RECI’s cities in all the axes. The analysis was carried out taking into account sociodemographic indicators such as the size of the city or the municipal budget per inhabitant. The mobility’s evaluation in those cities has been focused in: sustainability mobility urban plans and measures to reduce the number of vehicles. The 62 cities from the RECI have been evaluated according to their degree of progress in several Smart Cities’ initiatives related to smart mobility. The applied methodology has been specifically made for this project. The grading scale has different ranks depending on the deployment level of smart cities’ initiatives. (Author)

[en] Smart grids (SGs) have been widely recognized as an enabling technology for delivering sustainable energy transitions. Such transitions have given rise to more complex government-utility-consumer relationships. However, these stakeholder relationships remain largely under-researched. This paper critically examines and explains the role of incumbent utilities in sustainable energy transitions, using SG developments in China as a case study. We have three major findings. First, China has developed an incumbent-led model for deploying SGs. Second, two incumbents, the major-state-owned grid companies, act as enablers of SG deployment. They are strategic first-movers and infrastructure builders of SGs. They have also developed five types of networks as they increasingly reach out to other state actors, businesses, and electricity consumers. Thirdly, these two grid companies also act as a fundamental block to structural changes in socio-technical regimes. Disincentives to these large existing grid companies coupled with excessive reliance on them to provide public goods have resulted in major weaknesses in China’s incumbent-led model. Our findings have clear policy implications. Innovation in regulating incumbents is needed in order to provide sufficient regulatory incentives for advancing SG developments in China. - Highlights: • We identify an incumbent-led model for SG development in China. • Two state-owned grid companies act as first-movers and infrastructure builders. • They demonstrate incumbent advantages such as financial strength and networks. • But they also act as a fundamental block to realize higher-order SG developments. • Problems include disincentives, inertia, and limited expertise in new services.

[en] Smart energy grids and smart meters are commonly expected to promote more sustainable ways of living. This paper presents a conceptual framework for analysing the different ways in which smart grid developments shape – and are shaped by – the everyday lives of residents. Drawing upon theories of social practices and the concept of informational governance, the framework discerns three categories of ‘information flows’: flows between household-members, flows between households and energy service providers, and flows between local and distant households. Based on interviews with Dutch stakeholders and observations at workshops we examine, for all three information flows, the changes in domestic energy practices and the social relations they help to create. The analysis reveals that new information flows may not produce more sustainable practices in linear and predictable ways. Instead, changes are contextual and emergent. Second, new possibilities for information sharing between households open up a terrain for new practices. Third, information flows affect social relationships in ways as illustrated by the debates on consumer privacy in the Netherlands. An exclusive focus on privacy, however, deviates attention from opportunities for information disclosure by energy providers, and from the significance of transparency issues in redefining relationships both within and between households. - Highlights: • Smart grids generate three key new information flows that affect social relations. • Practice theory can reveal the ways in which households handle/govern information. • Householders show ambivalence about the workings of the different information flows. • Policies should account for the ‘bright’ as well as the ‘dark’ sides of information

[en] A 1996 European directive put an end on power production and dispatching monopolies in Europe. The distribution grids became essential structures opened to all power producers and suppliers in exchange for the payment of a fee set by an independent regulatory commission. These grids and networks that are strongly interconnected at the European scale have to play with the specificities of each country. For instance the French power demand is strongly correlated with the temperature as most buildings relies on electricity for heating. Another specificity is that each country is free to choose its energy mix and its production means so German mix relies mainly on coal and lignite while France chose nuclear power. Today's grids are challenged because they have to absorb a growing part of renewable energies and they face also the development of auto-consumption. The solution that is looming is the coexistence of large interconnected European grids with small networks whose meshing is at the district scale to satisfy collective production and auto-consumption. (A.C.)

[en] The new energy markets in Europe and the modern technology development leads to dramatic changes in the power markets. Further decentralized developments can be expected looking at the cost development of small-scale generation technologies. Sector coupling with electric transport and electric heating leads to additional opportunities both for self-generation and for grid connected electricity.(author).

[en] Highlights: • Propose optimal scheduling scheme for smart residential community. • Classify smart residential loads into different categories according to different demand response capabilities. • Reduce the peak load and peak-valley difference of residential load profile without bringing discomfort to the users. • Provide support for the decision of electricity pricing strategy under electric power market development. - Abstract: With the reformation of electric power market and the development of smart grid technology, smart residential community, a new residential demand side entity, tends to play an important role in demand response program. This paper presents a demand response scheduling model for the novel residential community incorporating the current circumstances and the future trends of demand response programs. In this paper, smart residential loads are firstly classified into different categories according to various demand response programs. Secondly, a complete scheduling scheme is modeled based on the dispatch of residential loads and distributed generation. The presented model reduces the cost of user’s electricity consumption and decreases the peak load and peak-valley difference of residential load profile without bringing discomfort to the users, through which residential community can participate in demand response efficiently. Besides, this model can also provide support for the decision of electricity pricing strategies under power market development.

[en] The computational complexity and problem sizes of power grid applications have increased significantly with the advent of renewable resources and smart grid technologies. The current paradigm of solving these issues consist of inhouse high performance computing infrastructures, which have drawbacks of high capital expenditures, maintenance, and limited scalability. Cloud computing is an ideal alternative due to its powerful computational capacity, rapid scalability, and high cost-effectiveness. A major challenge, however, remains in that the highly confidential grid data is susceptible for potential cyberattacks when outsourced to the cloud. In this work, a security and cloud outsourcing framework is developed for the Economic Dispatch (ED) linear programming application. As a result, the security framework transforms the ED linear program into a confidentiality-preserving linear program, that masks both the data and problem structure, thus enabling secure outsourcing to the cloud. Results show that for large grid test cases the performance gain and costs outperforms the in-house infrastructure.