Development and comparison of migration paths for smart grids using two case studies

Due to the energy turnaround in German politics, it is necessary to integrate more and more wind and solar energy into the existing energy system. In particular, power generation is changing from a previously centralized to a decentralized structure, which also has consequences for requirements for safe, reliable and efficient grid operation. Generation and utilization characteristics will become more dynamic and flexible in the future. Increased demand for the measurement, control and automation of voltage and electricity will require the further development of grid infrastructure, the expansion of storage capacity and the introduction of information and communication technology (ICT)-based energy management (Appelrath et al., 2012). Utilities therefore need to know what migration paths into the future of a smart energy grid could look like. And this against the background of which technologies have to be installed, in which order this can happen and which dependencies have to be considered. The aim is to create roadmaps to the modern Smart Grid for two case studies. Within the framework of the Green Access project (Projekt Green Access, 2019), and (Flore & Kumm, 2020), a maturity model and, based on this, migration paths were developed for this purpose, which describe a path from one development stage to the next. It describes the necessary development steps that have to be implemented in the context of migration paths. These migration paths have been developed for a specially designed maturity model and describe the technologies used to move from one maturity level to the next. Finally, there will be a comparison of the developed migration paths of the two case studies.