Guest editorial introduction to the special issue on "advanced signal processing techniques and telecommunications network infrastructures for smart grid analysis, monitoring, and management"

Electrical power systems are undergoing a radical change in structure, components, and operational paradigms, and are progressively approaching the new concept of smart grids (SGs). Future power distribution systems will be characterized by the simultaneous presence of various distributed resources, such as renewable energy systems (i.e., photovoltaic power plant and wind farms), storage systems, and controllable/non-controllable loads. Control and optimization architectures will enable network-wide coordination of these grid components in order to improve system efficiency and reliability and to limit greenhouse gas emissions. In this context, the energy flows will be bidirectional from large power plants to end users and vice versa; producers and consumers will continuously interact at different voltage levels to determine in advance the requests of loads and to adapt the production and demand for electricity flexibly and efficiently also taking into account the presence of storage systems. This evolution of power distribution networks involves also an increasingly complex and performing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure. An increasing and continuous flow of information will be exchanged among the various levels of such systems in order to ensure an optimized operation of the network and an efficient management of distributed resources. Then, SGs operate with two-way flows of both electricity and information. The necessary communication resources heavily depend on the choices related to the required signal processing for analysis, monitoring, and management of the network.