The Challenges and Risks facing ICT in the Management and Operation of the Smart Grid

Tarek Mohammed Attia

Abstract


The Smart Grid integrates the traditional electrical power grid with information and communication technologies (ICT). Such integration empowers the electrical utilities providers and consumers, improves the efficiency and the availability of the power system while constantly monitoring, controlling and managing the demands of customers. Through smart grid, the power system becomes smart by communicating, sensing, control and applying intelligence.

The Smart Grid is also kept the environment free from pollution; minimize the cost, effective operations, against all types of hazards and danger.

Smart Grid is a huge complex network composed of millions of devices and entities connected with each other through wireless communications techniques including Home Area Networks (HANs) and Wide Area Networks (WANs). Such a massive network comes with many security concerns and vulnerabilities. In this paper, we highlight the complexity of the smart grid network and discuss the comparison between heterogeneous network. We discuss then the challenges that exist in securing the smart power grid and the countermeasures and solutions applied for information and communication networks to secure Smart Power Grid. We conclude by over viewing the key functions and benefits of using the Smart Gird technology and how this impacts on human livelihood, economy and the environment.


Keywords


Smart Grid; Information and Communication Technologies; Challenges and Risks; Security and Privacy

Full Text:

PDF

References


R.M. Larik, M.W. Mustafa and S.H. Qazi. “Smart Grid Technologies in power systems: An overview.” Research Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology, vol. 11(6), pp 633-638, 2015.

M. Hossain, M. Fotouhi, and R. Hasan. “Towards an analysis of security issues, challenges, and open problems in the Internet of things.” 2015 IEEE World Congress on Services, New York, 2015, pp. 21-28.

F. Aloul, A.R. Al-Ali, R. Al-Dalky, M. Al-Mardini and W. El-Hajj. “Smart Grid Security: Threats, vulnerabilities and solutions.” International Journal of Smart Grid and Clean Energy, vol. 1, No. 1, September 2012.

J. Liu, Y. Xiao, S. Li and W. Liang. “Cyber security and privacy issues in Smart Grids.” IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, vol. 14, No. 4, Fourth Quarter, pp.981-997, 2012.

S. Elyengui, R. Bouhouchi and T. Ezzedine. “The enhancement of communication technologies and networks for Smart Grid applications.” International Journal of Emerging Trends & Technology in Computer Science (IJETTCS), vol.2, Issue 6, pp. 107-115, November-Dec.2013.

Y.S. Mohammed, N. Bashir, A. Mohammed and A.K. Benjamin. “Information and communication technology for control and management in power systems Smart Grid.” International Journal of Engineering and Innovative Technology (IJEIT), vol. 2, Issue 5, pp. 214-220, November 2012.

R. Khan, S.U. Khan, R. Zaheer and S. Khan. “Future Internet: The Internet of things architecture, possible applications and key challenges.” in 10th International Conference on Frontiers of Information Technology Proceedings, 2012, pp. 257-260.

Ye Yan, Yi Qian, H. Sharif and D. Tipper. “A survey on cyber security for Smart Grid communications.” IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, vol. 14, No. 4, pp.998-1010, Fourth Quarter 2012.

A. Pawar and S. Rahane. “Opportunities and challenges of wireless communication technologies for Smart Grid applications.” International Journal of Computer Networking, Wireless and Mobile Communications (IJCNWMC), vol. 3, issue 1, pp. 289-296, Mar 2013.

C. Lopez, A. Sargolzaei1, H. Santana1 and C. Huerta. “Smart Grid cyber security: An overview of threats and countermeasures.” Journal of Energy and Power Engineering, vol. 9, pp. 632-647, 2015.

R. Bayindir, I. Colak and K. Demirtas. “Smart Grid technologies and applications.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews (66), pp.499-516, December 2016.

F. Shrouf and G. Miragliotta. “Energy management based on IoT: Practices and framework for adoption in production management.” Journal of Cleaner Production, pp.1-12 (2015).

P. Thapa, S. K. Acharya, H.I. Chang, S. Park, H.S. Jung, O.I. Whan, G.C. Park and J. Lee. “A high-speed intelligence Smart Grid system by using MIMO channel capacity.” International Journal of Advances in Computer Networks and Its Security(IJCNS), vol. 7, issue 1, pp. 113-117, April 2017.

I. Ali, S. Sabir and Z. Ullah. “Internet of things security, device authentication and access control: A review.” International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security (IJCSIS), vol. 14, No. 8, pp.456-466, August 2016.

T. Attia. “Challenges and opportunities in the future applications of IoT technology.” 2nd MENA Regional ITS Conference, Egypt on 18 – 21 February 2019, pp.1-15.




DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.21622/resd.2019.05.1.003

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2019 Tarek Mohammed Attia

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.


Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development

E-ISSN: 2356-8569

P-ISSN: 2356-8518

 

Published by:

Academy Publishing Center (APC)

Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport (AASTMT)

Alexandria, Egypt

resd@aast.edu