A Survey on IoT-Enabled Smart Grids: Emerging, Applications, Challenges, and Outlook

Abstract

Swift population growth and rising demand for energy in the 21st century have resulted in considerable efforts to make the electrical grid more intelligent and responsive to accommodate consumers’ needs better while enhancing the reliability and efficiency of modern power systems. Internet of Things (IoT) has appeared as one of the enabling technologies for smart energy grids by delivering abundant cutting-edge solutions in various domains, including critical infrastructures. As IoT-enabled devices continue to flourish, one of the major challenges is security issues, since IoT devices are connected through the Internet, thus making the smart grids vulnerable to a diverse range of cyberattacks. Given the possible cascading consequences of shutting down a power system, a cyberattack on a smart grid would have disastrous implications for the stability of all grid-connected infrastructures. Most of the gadgets in our homes, workplaces, hospitals, and on trains require electricity to run. Therefore, the entire grid is subject to cyberattacks when a single device is hacked. Such attacks on power supplies may bring entire cities to a standstill, resulting in massive economic losses. As a result, security is an important element to address before the large-scale deployment of IoT-based devices in energy systems. In this report, first, we review the architecture and infrastructure of IoT-enabled smart grids; then, we focus on major challenges and security issues regarding their implementation. Lastly, as the main outcome of this study, we highlight the advanced solutions and technologies that can help IoT-enabled smart grids be more resilient and secure in overcoming existing cyber and physical attacks. In this regard, in the future, the broad implementation of cutting-edge secure and data transmission systems based on blockchain techniques is necessary to safeguard the entire electrical grid against cyber-physical adversaries.

IoT-Enabled Smart Grid using PV panel

“…It can provide energy from different power sources, including renewables and storage [21]. Table 2 classifies and compares the widely used communication network technology in smart grid systems [22][23][24][25].…”

“…Smart grid systems integrate renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and storage into the grid system. These new power generation technologies are smaller, more widespread, greener, and able to maintain grid resilience and spread congestion points [1][2]. A smart grid uses an extensive sensor network supported by a two-way communication system to constantly monitor grid conditions.…”

Transmission and Distribution Smart Grid System Based on Self-Hailing Controllable Crowbar

“…The different feature of the smart grid over the traditional grid has been listed in Table 1 [6], [7], [8], [9]. It is worth mentioning that all kinds of faults have a direct effect on the power system generation, hence the smart grid has been proposed to give a good solution for the system under faults, in addition, the system has a good dynamic response under the dynamic change of the system wither was a fault or load change.…”

A novel hybrid optimization enabled robust CNN algorithm for an IoT network intrusion detection approach

“…Following the spread of COVID-19, it was found that 71% of security specialists believe that security vulnerabilities in IoT networks are increasing [10,11]. Some studies [12][13][14] describe the attacks and security vulnerabilities of each IoT layer and suggest ways to protect privacy [15][16][17]. Attacks on Internet of Things devices have increased and several studies have developed intrusion detection systems [18][19][20][21][22][23][24].…”

“…The inertia weight is changed in the third stage using the Eq (13). The fourth stage involves updating the position and velocity parameters in the APSO-CNN using the Eqs (11) and (12). Increase the number of iterations by one in the fifth step.…”