What Are Smart Grids? Epistemology, Interdisciplinarity and Getting Things Done

The social dynamics of smart grids : On households, information flows & sustainable energy transitions

“…The application of ICT enables two-way communication between suppliers and consumers of energy. Yet, beyond this basic sensitivity that a smart grid involves ICT and facilitates information exchange, there is no unified or agreed-upon definition (Beaulieu, 2016;Christensen et al, 2013;Wolsink, 2012). Organisations and scholars seem to emphasise different aspects depending on their specific interests and background (Blumsack and Fernandez, 2012;Clastres, 2011;Tuballa and Abundo, 2016).…”

“…Organisations and scholars seem to emphasise different aspects depending on their specific interests and background (Blumsack and Fernandez, 2012;Clastres, 2011;Tuballa and Abundo, 2016). Some specify a limited number of core features, while others provide a long list of functionalities (Beaulieu, 2016). To discuss features of smart grids the definition provided by the European Smart Grid Task Force is helpful as a point of reference (European Commission, 2011a: p2):…”

“…The smart grid is perceived as an infrastructure that integratesand presumably interacts with, responds to, and depends on -the things that users do. Technical notions of smart grids frequently simplify, marginalise or leave out the role(s) of users (Beaulieu, 2016;Christensen et al, 2013). The passage on BigThink at the start of this chapter, for instance, marginalises the role of end-users by assuming that they simply "come to depend on it".…”

Chapter IX.54: A legal framework for smart grids

“…'smart grid' means an electricity network that can integrate in a cost efficient manner the behaviour and actions of all users connected to it, including generators, consumers and those that both generate and consume, in order to ensure an economically efficient and sustainable power system with low losses and high levels of quality, security of supply and safety. 16 12 Beaulieu (2016); Muench, Thuss and Guenther (2014) 82.…”