Promising concepts and technologies for future power delivery systems

The transition from a conventional delivery system to a suitable robust distribution system is emerging to adapt with different possible scenarios of future development. This paper gives a particular vision of future grid with its main requirements. An investigation of suitable concepts and technologies which draw out attentions at the present has been carried out. They are discussed regarding mentioned requirements of sustainability, efficiency, flexibility and intelligence. Active network is then introduced as the backbone of the future power delivery system. Besides, multi- agent system (MAS) is described as a potential technology to cope with anticipated challenges of future grid operation. The research described is under the framework of the Electricity Infrastructure of the Future (EIT) project carried out by cooperation of TU/e, KEMA and ECN (www.futurepowersystems.nl).