Performance evaluation of integrated smart energy solutions through large-scale simulations

The information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure that will empower the Smart Grid with real-time management of power flows, bidirectional metering, and more effective integration of renewable energy sources is both large and complex, involving many different sensing, measurement, and control devices. The analysis of such large-scale distributed systems together with the possible communications network technologies can be extremely difficult, not least because many modeling techniques tend to analyze individual components, rather than the relationships and interactions between components, and their impact on the system. In this paper, we describe the CLEVER simulator—a discrete-event simulator developed specifically for evaluating the performance of the ICT infrastructure of smart energy solutions at very large scales. This paper also presents results from simulation experiments comparing the impact of various access technologies on the performance of a smart metering infrastructure. Finally, an outline of ongoing work is provided, and directions for future work are identified.