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The digital revolution of the past few decades has increased the demand for electric power with higher reliability and quality than is typically delivered via the conventional centralized power system. As modern economies move into the 21st century, this requirement for high security, quality, reliability, and availability (SQRA) of an electric power supply will increase as more manufacturing processes and service industries become dependent on digital devices. In the future, all power users, whether they are commercial, industrial, or residential, are expected to demand more reliability from the electric power-delivery system than ever before. The future of the power industry will require the continued development and integration of two infrastructures, not just one: both power delivery and communications. Significant investments in the bulk-supply system and customer-side equipment will be needed to determine optimal solutions to digital end users' SQRA requirements, but it is not clear at this stage what balance of investment in the supply side versus the customer side is required to most cost effectively meet the needs of the growing digital-power market. The ideal approach will be location dependent, based on the characteristics of the existing power system and nature of the load at each specific site. Only through collaboration can the resources and commitment be marshaled to reach these goals.
Gellings et al. (Wed,) studied this question.