The energy industry is changing; for a centralised fossil fuel run industry to a decentralised renewable energy industry. The use of electrical energy is also quickly increasing thru the emergence of new technologies like electrical transportation. This means that our nation’s electric power grid which has served us well for many years is rapidly running up against its limitations.

This calls for a change in the way the grid is constructed and operated. However the lifetime of grid component is usually 50 years or more. This makes rapidly changing the topology of the grid challenging. On the other hand it becomes easier to implement sensors in the grid and gain more insight into the actual performance of the grid and control the power flows within the grid.

This session will show how these complications and opportunities give rise to the smart grid concept and how this concept can be introduced in the existing grid.