A massive transformation of the power grid is undergoing towards the smart grid concept. Devices such as smart meters, inverter interfaced power devices, energy storage, power electronics equipment, smart appliances and other controllable devices are being incorporated in the power grid. Thus, a need has emerged to be able to control, monitor, and exploit the benefits associated with these controllable devices. In this paper, an infrastructure for optimization, control, and operation of the power system is proposed to formulate an advanced energy management system (EMS). The proposed infrastructure allows for an accurate and fast monitoring and operating of the power system over the short time planning period. Basically, the concept of distributed monitoring and control via a hierarchical structure is used to achieve these goals. A communication infrastructure consisting of advanced metering devices, satellite receivers, and data concentrators (DC), is proposed to support the EMS functions of the future. The main enabling technologies that facilitate the implementation of the proposed infrastructure are: (a) new communication infrastructure and (b) distributed state estimation (DSE). The main function of the communication infrastructure is to gather the system synchronized and nonsynchronized data, process them in Data Concentrators and create streaming data into the DSE. The DSE processes the data for the purpose of providing the real time model of the system at speeds of 60 times per seconds. The real time model provided by the DSE is used to perform the optimization and determine the controls for the power system in an autonomous fashion.