A critical societal SystemA set of Components that are formally related together by a ... that, in the case of GW-scale grids, exists to provide safe, reliable, and efficient ElectricityA form of Energy and set of physical phenomena that result f... services to millions of CustomersThe human individuals, families, organisations, institutions....
The supply chain of a conventional Power System incorporates the Bulk Power SystemThe large-scale Generation Plant and other Energy Resources ..., Transmission NetworksThe High Voltage (HV) network that transports Power over lon... and Distribution NetworksA network that transports Electricity from the Bulk Supply P... supported by the related Energy Retail functions.
A GW-scale Power System is best understood as a ‘Super-system’ of structures. This is because a modern GridA generic term used to describe either the Power System as a... consists of a complex web of seven distinct, inter-dependent structures as follows:
a) Electricity Infrastructure (Power Flows)Infrastructures and subsystems that provide for the generati...;
b) Digital Infrastructure (Information/Data Exchange, Storage, and Processing)Infrastructures and subsystems that provide for all informat...;
c) Operational Coordination StructureInfrastructures and Subsystems that support the systematic o...;
d) Transactional StructureInfrastructures, Subsystems and formal processes that provid...;
e) Industry / Market StructureThe range of Entities involved in operating an end-to-end Po...;
f) Governance / Regulatory StructureThe range of Entities involved in the governance and regulat...; and,
g) Sector Coupling Structures (Gas, Water, Transport, etc)As decarbonisation advances, the proactive management of Int....
Many of these cyber-physical-transactional structures are functionally interdependent, which means that changes to one structure will have both intended and unintended impacts on the function of other structures.