Guest editorial - Smart grid communications

"Smart Grid" refers to the modernization of electric grid to allow for more efficient generation, transmission, distribution, and usage of energy. This is becoming necessary in order to transition to a more sustainable energy generation and consumption and to reduce any adverse effects on the environment. While more advances in areas like renewable energies and network control are necessary, advances in communication technologies, data fusion and mining, as well as scheduling and optimization are also critical in order to achieve this vision. It is anticipated that the same communication technologies that have revolutionized our way of life in the past decades, ranging from sensor networks, mobile Internet, cloud computing, smart phones and many others, will have direct applicability to Smart Grid. Our objectives for this series of IEEE JSAC are focused on identifying the numerous communication challenges posed by the various aspects and functionalities of the Smart Grid and exploring research avenues for addressing them. We have received 67 papers, and after thorough review and careful deliberations, we have accepted 10 papers in this first issue. The articles in this issue can be grouped into 4 main sub-topic areas, namely, scheduling and load balancing, energy pricing, routing, and security.