Future distribution system

Summary form only given. Many changes are going to take place in electrical energy supply system and one may speculate on how different utility medium voltage system would look like on the long term basis. Following scenarios that would influence future distribution systems are likely: photovoltaic will be cheap enough that most roof tops and many neighboring open spaces will have solar panels; large number of vehicles will be plug-in hybrid or electric charging at night; there will be electric charging stations all over the place especially in parking lots; large number of homes will be very energy efficient and along with many zero net energy consuming homes but connected to the utility system for reliability; apart from the car batteries capable of supplying power to homes when sun is down, there will be additional storage for security and load leveling in most residences; utilities will have a significant portion of wind and solar along with storage in addition to conventional coal, gas and nuclear generation; and proactive load management that would reduce peak loads. Give these scenarios, would local distribution systems be AC or DC or hybrid? Would there be numerous local micro-grids, connected or not connected to utility system. In any scenario there will be huge role for power electronics in supply systems as well as loads. The author will present his speculative thoughts around these changes.