Sometimes I like to take a breather and set pure Smart Grid security to the side for a moment, and look at some of the new technologies being developed that may have a significant impact on what the grid of the future looks like.
Living just across the Charles River from the MIT campus, I've been lucky to have great access to lots of early energy tech breakthroughs and announcements. While this most recent one, a radical revision to the flow battery concept, is still too early in its development to know whether it can ultimately prove commercial viability, it sure is thought provoking.
For me, electric vehicle adoption and grid-scale energy storage are two of the biggest drivers of the future Smart Grid that supports a higher percentage of renewables (centralized and distributed) in its generation portfolio. And of course, as we always say, the more we build it, the more 2-way comms, intelligent devices and sensors we add, the more we come to enjoy its many new capabilities, the more we've got to make sure it's secure.
Here's a nice light intro to the goo-based battery from Discovery Tech that focuses on the EV potential, while CNET gives you a bit more technical detail and points to grid applications as well.
Photo credit: Lunchbox Photography on Flickr.com