New participants in SmartGrids and associated challenges in the transition towards the grid of the future

Different concepts for the long term evolution of electricity networks have been proposed. Visions of large scale, continent-wide interconnections, local scale independent distribution network cells and networks integrating other forms of energy have emerged. The inclusion of new classes of network participants, e.g. prosumers, services providers, transportation applications, regulators and the increase of the number of distributed generators is a common feature of all these frameworks. A series of challenges result from this evolution: the need to coordinate distributed participants, the need to harmonize standards and procedures, as well as the need to overcome a series of obstacles to change. This contribution reviews emerging network concepts and the associated challenges. Series compensation, reconfigurable power electronic systems and wide-scale use of phasor measurement units are early examples for these emerging solutions.