Worldwide Technological Revolutions and Its Challenges under Smart Grid Paradigm: A Comprehensive Study

—Smart Grid (SG) is one of the biggest challenges at plantery level that grab the attention of whole world. It is an umbrella term used for a set of technologies that are being developed as a substitution to old conventional power grid in context of future requirements. However, there exist differences in understanding and implementing the concept of smart grid in different countries. Power grid enterprises and organizations comprehend the concept of smart grid variously under different development environment and political requirement. Until now, there is no clear agreement worldwide on the smart grid related technologies. With a growing demand for sustainable electricity, the need for such a grid is vital that works more efficient, reliable with affordable maintenance, able to accommodate more renewable energy sources. Based on a vast amount of relevant documents on smart grid, the aim of this paper is to highlight the importance and needs of SG by providing an overview of the essentials of a progressive smart grid paradigm with different concepts in context with old grid. The key focus is on to shed some light for better understanding the concept and characteristics of SG according to different countries’s vision. Additionally, future foreseeable challenges/issues in designing of SG are also categorized and addressed in this article.