Demand-Side Management in the Smart Grid: Information Processing for the Power Switch

Over the course of several decades after their introduction, power systems merged into large interconnected grids to introduce redundancy and to leverage on a wider pool of generation resources and reserves. As the system grew in size and complexity, a cyberphysical infrastructure was progressively developed to manage it. Traditionally, general-purpose computing and communication resources have been used in power systems, specifically to serve two needs: 1) that of monitoring the safe operation of the grid and logistics of power delivery, and 2) that of gathering information required to dispatch the generation optimally and, later on, to operate the energy market.