Application of IoT in Smart Grid: Challenges and Solutions

The prevailing development in energy grids and emersion of new energy players along with the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) lead available energy systems (e.g., smart electricity grid) toward “energy internet” concept. The expansion of an electrical power grid, because of its unique features, has caused this system to be converted to the central core of the energy ecosystem over the past decades. This process has also been preserved in the IoT in such a way that the presence of this technology increases the ability of evolutionary development in the power industry. IoT applications in smart grid (IoT-SG) have lots of advantages such as expenditure reduction, save of time, and smartness of grid equipment. Nevertheless, the disadvantages pertaining to IoT-SG should not be neglected. For instance, one of the most significant drawbacks and ahead challenges of IoT-SG is security and big data issues. In IoT-SG, each connected device can be a probable port to the IoT's infrastructure with personal data. Concerns about security and data privacy are indispensable, but with the entrance of complexity, safety weaknesses, and probable vulnerabilities, in cases such as interoperability and autonomous decision-making, possible risks of IoT have reached new levels. This paper mostly focuses on the IoT-SG investigations, advantages and ahead challenges, plus effective solutions to these challenges are being discussed. Furthermore, according to some key challenges such as safety and big data, general conclusions for confronting and dealing with these challenges have been made.