Evolution in Computing Paradigms for Internet of Things-Enabled Smart Grid Applications

The excessive number of connected devices and the unprecedented large volumes of data have triggered significant advancements in computing technologies to leverage the collected data for establishing novel services. Accordingly, cloud, edge, and fog notions have been developed to provide data processing, storage, and networking to fulfill the ever-changing application requirements. Recent efforts have attempted to push data processing closer to the edge of the network, where potential data producers and consumers reside. The evolving paradigm of computing methods has enabled innovative data-based solutions in health-care, industry, transportation, and energy domains for societal, economic, and productivity enhancements. Along with the computational shifts, power systems are undergoing transformative changes. Extensive penetration of non-dispatchable generation resources, electric vehicles (EVs), and storage systems is occurring at various levels of power systems, particularly at the edge of the grid. In response to such changes, distributed frameworks have been widely proposed to enable the management and alignment of consumer-owned energy resources to maintain the secure and reliable provision of electricity. The emerging computing paradigms have substantially contributed to a seamless interface between the conventional power systems and the future grid that is realized under the smart grid paradigm. In this talk, we discuss the chronological transformations in computing schemes and their contributions to power systems. Accordingly, the concepts of cloud, edge, and fog/edge are put forth. Moreover, quantum computing is discussed as a line of future research that can massively impact the energy sector, albeit in a different manner.