Power grid complex network evolutions for the smart grid

The shift towards an energy grid dominated by prosumers (consumers and producers of energy) will inevitably have repercussions on the electricity distribution infrastructure. Today the grid is a hierarchical one delivering energy from large scale facilities to end-users. Tomorrow it will be a capillary infrastructure at the medium and low voltage levels that will support local energy trading among prosumers. We investigate how different network topologies and growth models facilitate a more efficient and reliable network, and how they can facilitate the emergence of a decentralized electricity market. We show how connectivity plays an important role in improving the properties of reliability and path-cost reduction. Our results indicate that a specific type of evolution balances best the ratio between increased connectivity and costs to achieve the network growth. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.