IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2015 - 35

that will be necessary for the further development of the as an integrated group moving toward a truly sustainable, secure,
electricity system from 2020 to 2035 and beyond. Smart grid and economic electricity system.
The transmission and distribution research areas deal
research for 2035 has to discover solutions that go beyond
the EU's political decisions for 2020: since an 80% reduction with the grid-related research needed to meet the needs
of emissions has been envisioned by 2050, Europe's electric of all stakeholders for designing, building, operating, and
energy generation will have to be nearly carbon-free by that maintaining a secure, sustainable, and economic electricity
date. Smart grid research through 2035 must consider the system by 2035, including the interactions between transmisincreased impact of renewable energy-based electricity gen- sion and distribution. Both areas include research related to
eration, which is expected to make up approximately 34% interfaces to other energy carriers and storage devices. The
of the total electrical energy consumption by 2020 and will optimal integration of all electricity grid-related areas to create the core energy system by 2035 is the primary goal. Both
have gone well beyond that level by 2035.
Smart grid research for 2035 must also consider the increased areas also include research related to ICT integration needs
stress of maintaining the high quality level of the electricity sup- for smart distribution and transmission.
Due to the increased importance of the active role of the
ply, ensuring the security of the electric system in the face of
an increased participation of distributed electricity generators, consumer in a smart grid system by 2035 and thereafter, a
and creating a more controllable and intelligent overall system, new research area has been established that identifies the
as well as promoting efficient electricity consumption and inte- retail and consumer sectors as key stakeholders (labeled RC
grated energy storage that is available to consumers. The costs in Figure 2). This research area, smart retail and consumer
of such a system as well as the associated market prices of systems, includes research designed to meet the specific
products and services will change. This will lead to economic needs of the retail businesses and consumers affected by
pressures on all parts of the electricity value chain beyond 2020. smart grids.
In addition to these four core technology-oriented SRA
New actors and stakeholders will emerge, and they will have
to perform new tasks related to new business models. While 2035 research areas, another area, socioeconomic and
SRA 2035 mainly concentrates on technological issues, it also ecosystems (labeled SE in Figure 2) is seen as important
highlights the economic and institutional options, market bound- for overall smart grid developments. This area deals with
aries, and grid regulations that will be necessary for the imple- research related to socioeconomic and ecosystem barriers
mentation of smart grid-based electricity systems by 2035. SRA and opportunities in smart grid deployment.
2035 intends to serve as input to the
EU's Horizon 2020 R&I program, as
well as other smart grid R&D initiaSmartGrids Research Area IS
tives, on both the national and Euro(Integrated Truly Sustainable, Secure, and Economic Electricity Systems)
pean levels. The smart grid research
areas identified in SRA 2035 are
shown in Figure 2.
The dashed white lines in Figure 2 indicate research topics that
Research Area D:
Research Area T:
T&D
clearly overlap two affected areas.
Smart Electricity
Smart Electricity
This means that research in the two
Distribution Systems
Transmission Systems
areas cannot be fully separated. The
area covering both transmission (labeled T) and distribution (labeled D)
SE: SocioEconomics and
is labeled T&D and has been speciEcosystems
fied as a subarea with its own explicit, free-standing goals.
Research Area RC:
The research area for integrated
Smart Retail and Consumer Systems
systems (labeled IS in Figure 2)
deals with all issues where a special
separation is not possible among distribution, transmission, consumers,
and other stakeholders, such as genOther Research Areas Contributing to the SmartGrids SRA 2035:
erators, wholesale traders, groups
European Energy Platforms for Wind, PV, CSP, CCS, Bioenergy,
responsible for balancing, service
Fuel Cells, Hydrogen, Smart Cities
providers, and aggregators. Exploration in the IS area is necessary to
satisfy the needs of all stakeholders figure 2. The smart grid research areas identified in SRA 2035.
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2015