Glossary · Energy and utilities automation
Smart grid
Also known as: Intelligent power grid
German: Smart Grid
In power systems, a smart grid is an electricity network that uses digital communication, sensing and control to coordinate generation, storage, network operation and consumption, including distributed and renewable sources, for reliable, efficient and flexible supply.
- Energy
In one sentence
A smart grid uses digital communication, sensing and control to coordinate generation, storage, grid operation and consumption of electricity.
Example
A factory's energy management system receives price signals from the grid operator and shifts cooling loads to periods with high wind generation.
How it applies
- Engineering: Industrial sites participate through controllable loads, on-site generation, storage and charging infrastructure, connected to grid or market signals through defined interfaces.
- Operation: Flexible operation, such as Load management, can reduce costs, but process constraints and product quality set limits.
- Security: Grid connectivity adds communication paths into plant systems; they need the same security zoning and controls as other external connections, for example following IEC 62443.
- Documentation: Documentation should describe which signals a system accepts, how it reacts, how operators override it and which loads are never shed. Smart grid functions should be described with their preconditions, not as a general promise of savings.
Smart grid vs. microgrid
A smart grid refers to the digitalized public network as a whole. A microgrid is a local network, such as an industrial site, that can coordinate its own sources and loads and may be able to operate islanded from the main grid.