Smart grid, a secure, integrated, reconfigurable, electronically controlled system used to deliver electric power that operates in parallel with a traditional power grid. Although many of its components had been developed, and some implemented, during the early 21st century, as of 2016 no smart grid was yet fully complete. This article therefore describes the possibilities and promise of the smart grid as conceptualized at that time.

Dr. Massoud Amin, IEEE and ASME Fellow, is a professor of electrical & computer engineering (ECE), and a University Distinguished Teaching Professor Award Recipient, at the University of Minnesota. Professor Massoud Amin is widely credited as being the father of the smart electric power grid.

Dr.   Massoud Amin, IEEE and ASME Fellow, is a professor   of electrical & computer engineering (ECE),   and a University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Minnesota. He is   currently on leave from the Technological Leadership Institute (TLI.umn.edu), where Professor Massoud Amin served as the Director and the Honeywell/H.W.   Sweatt Chair in Technological Leadership (during March 2003 – Oct. 2018), in   part, to complete his forthcoming book on “Powering Progress and Fueling   Prosperity: Resilience & Sensitivity in Face of Chaos,” to continue his   R&D in this area and to develop/deliver training, simulations, and new   courses with a focus on proactive resilience and security of Complex   Interdependent Networks/Systems.