Challenges in Smart Grid Reliability Studies

Abstract—There are diverse visions on how to go about achieving reliability, energy conservation and efficiency with environmental compliance through the inter-disciplinary integration of information and communication technology (ICT) and power system technologies to facilitate the modernization of grids. The paradigm of Smart Grid has been brought forward and is being continually improvised to cater to the energy demands of the 21st century. However, the term ‘reliability’ used in invariably defining and outlining the characteristic features of Smart Grids seems to be in a generic context, and more often than not qualitative. The aim of this paper is to appraise the challenges presented by the envisioned transformation towards Smart Grids in terms of capturing the anticipated adequacy benefits and the need for allied reliability-related studies. Index Terms—ICT, Reliability, Use-cases, Smart Grids