Open Issues and Possible Future Research Directions

This chapter presents some of the open issues in the smart grid communications infrastructure and point outs possible directions for future research. In the proposed information communications technology (ICT) framework, cloud services and big data analytics will be critical components of the smart grid communication infrastructure. The quality‐of‐service (QoS) framework can be developed by identifying the specific QoS requirements and priorities for specific communication networks in the smart grid. The smart grid will be deployed on a large scale with an increasing number of customers included. In the smart grid, a higher proportion of green energy is vital for lower greenhouse gas emissions. Research focusing on better involvement of green energy needs to be addressed. Electrical vehicles (EVs) and plug‐in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) store a considerable amount of electricity. Unfortunately, utilizing such storage efficiently with proper controls still remains an open issue, because EVs/PHEVs are not regular appliances that remain in one place.