road-map for smart grids and electricity systems integrating renewable energy sources

The vision of smart grids and electricity systems elaborated in this road-map was drawn up on the basis of consultation and talks with a group of experts from industry (EDF, AREVA, GDF-Suez), public research bodies (SUPELEC, Ecole des Mines, INES, universities), grid operators (ERDF, RTE), local authorities' groups (FNCCR) and ADEME. In the course of these working sessions the experts expressed their opinions intuitu personae. The views outlined in this road-map are not to be assimilated with the official positions of the corporations or research organisations to which the members of the group belong. The visions of smart electricity grids and systems integrating renewable energies in 2020 and in 2050 are in sharp contrast. This contrast was deliberately sought out, for two reasons: - to offer the most exhaustive panorama possible of imaginable futures; - to avoid neglecting a critical technological, organisational or socioeconomic bottleneck that might be associated with a possible scenario left out of the discussion. Accordingly, in seeking contrasting visions the group arrived at extreme representations and even caricatures of the future, which nonetheless help define the outer limit of possibilities, and the scope within which the actual situation will most likely be situated in 2020 and in 2050