A case study research on interoperability improvement in Smart Grids: state-of-the-art and further opportunities

Abstract

With the topic of Smart Grids taking up momentum, challenges to integrate systems from various vendors’ at large scale in a critical infrastructure have arisen. This issue is usually tackled utilizing standards and, therefore, agreements between the various parties. However, the aspect of the interoperability between systems is not only defined by physical connections, but has a multi-faceted dimension which needs to be dealt with at all layers in order for a semantic and cost-efficient integration. Within this contribution, we motivate the need for a procedural way to deal with interoperability in Smart Grids, show the theoretical foundations and the approach taken and present case studies that cover the problem in scope. Based on these case studies, results are critically reflected and conclusions are drawn.

Smart metering interoperability issues and solutions: Taking inspiration from other ecosystems and sectors

“…Note that the benefits of interoperability profiling and testing have also been recognised in the energy sector (Gopstein et al, 2021;Schütz et al, 2021;SGCG, 2012aSGCG, , 2012b) and related methods have been researched and demonstrated (Gottschalk et al, 2018;Papaioannou et al, 2018).…”

“…The experiences in these sectors have been documented by several authors, whom we refer to in this paper. For the electricity sector, we rely on Schütz et al (2021), who compare different methods for achieving interoperability in the energy sector, Gopstein et al (2021), who focus on smart grid interoperability standards, and Papaioannou et al (2018), who developed a method for interoperability profiling and testing. For the public administration sector, we refer to Wimmer et al (2018), who review interoperability governance models at the EU and national levels in the public administration and healthcare sectors, and Gottschalk (2009), who proposes a maturity model for interoperability in digital government.…”

The (still unexplored) social side of smart grid development

“…Due to the challenging integration of renewable energy resources from heterogeneous stakeholders into the power system, the GridWise Architecture Council (GWAC), a team of people from industry and academia from sectors such as energy, IT, or security, developed guiding principles and architectures for intelligent energy systems [32]. The GWAC not only explains the technical and informational interfaces of different actors and their systems, in particular, their interoperability but also highlights the importance of organizational alignment between them [7,33,34].…”

“…Finally, the Organisational level entails interoperability on a political level, which means that the stakeholders have the same economic and, regulatory framework as well as the business procedures and objectives. The GWAC stack shows that the interoperability levels start at the bottom with a simple technical connection, and end at the top level with organizational and regulatory agreements to establish plug-and-play between the systems [33].…”

Smart Metering Interoperability Issues and Solutions: Taking Inspiration from Other Ecosystems and Sectors

“…The experiences in these sectors have been documented by several authors, whom we refer to in this paper. For the electricity sector, we rely on Schütz et al (2021), who compare different methods for achieving interoperability in the energy sector, Gopstein et al (2021), who focus on smart grid interoperability standards, and Papaioannou et al (2018), who developed a method for interoperability profiling and testing. For the public administration sector, we refer to Wimmer et al (2018), who review interoperability governance models at the EU and national levels in the public administration and healthcare sectors, and Gottschalk (2009), who proposes a maturity model for interoperability in digital government.…”