Smart control of energy distribution grids over heterogeneous communication networks

The expected growth in distributed generation will significantly affect the operation and control of todays distribution grids. Being confronted with short time power variations of distributed generations, the assurance of a reliable service (grid stability, avoidance of energy losses) and the quality of the power may become costly. In this light, Smart Grids may provide an answer towards a more active and efficient electrical network. The EU project SmartC2Net aims to enable smart grid operations over imperfect, heterogeneous general purpose networks which poses a significant challenge to the reliability due to the stochastic behaviour found in such networks. Therefore, the key concepts of the EU project SmartC2Net are presented in this paper targeting the support of proper smart grid control in these network environments. An overview on the required ICT architecture and its functionality is provided and a description of the External Generation Site Use Case is given together with the targeted evaluation approaches.