Smart Grid in China, EU, and the US: State of Implementation

Abstract

Depletion of fossil fuel deposits is the main current issue related to the world’s power generation. Renewable energy sources integrated with energy efficiency represent an effective solution. The electrification of end-use coupled with renewable power generation integration is considered as an important tool to achieve these tasks. However, the current electric power system does not currently have the suitable features to allow this change. Therefore, in the future, it has to allow two-way direction power flows, communication, and automated controls to fully manage the system and customers. The resulting system is defined as the smart grid. This article analyses the smart grid state of play within China, the US, and the EU, assessing the completion state of each smart grid technology and integrated asset. The analysis related to these countries presented here shows that the smart grid overall state of play in China, the US, and the EU are equal to 18%, 15%, and 13%, respectively, unveiling the need related to further efforts and investments in these countries for the full smart grid development.