Smart Transmission Grid: Vision and Framework

TLDR

Modern power grids must become smarter to deliver affordable, reliable, and sustainable electricity, yet most current initiatives focus on distribution and demand, leaving the transmission grid’s role in smart grids largely undefined. The paper proposes a distinct vision that identifies the key features of future smart transmission grids. The vision models a smart transmission grid as an integrated system of smart control centers, transmission networks, and substations, detailing each component’s features, functions, and enabling technologies.

Abstract

A modern power grid needs to become smarter in order to provide an affordable, reliable, and sustainable supply of electricity. For these reasons, considerable activity has been carried out in the United States and Europe to formulate and promote a vision for the development of future smart power grids. However, the majority of these activities emphasized only the distribution grid and demand side leaving the big picture of the transmission grid in the context of smart grids unclear. This paper presents a unique vision for the future of smart transmission grids in which their major features are identified. In this vision, each smart transmission grid is regarded as an integrated system that functionally consists of three interactive, smart components, i.e., smart control centers, smart transmission networks, and smart substations. The features and functions of each of the three functional components, as well as the enabling technologies to achieve these features and functions, are discussed in detail in the paper.