Changes

==Traditional grids==

Traditionally, energy systems from power generation to homes are one-directional and based on more predictable, controllable and centralised power generation, looking something like this:

* Electrical power is increasingly substituted for other forms of energy. Electricity demand will increase in the future (notably because of new needs in transport and heat sectors), although it is currently stagnant, mainly because of the economic crisis. Unless a major alternative energy source is discovered, electricity will become the central energy pillar in the long term.

* Electricity production remains uncertain and will depend on numerous factors: the growth of renewable energy and decentralised energy, the renewal of old power generation capacities, increased external dependency, CO2 charges, etc. This increases the demand for electricity networks that are more reliable, more efficient, and more flexible.

* Europe’s current electricity networks are ageing, and, as already indicated by the International Energy Agency, many of them will need to be modernized or replaced in the decades to come.

* The growing impact of energy trading also needs to be taken into account. <ref name=egmont>Egmont Institute, Tania ZGAJEWSKI, [http://www.egmontinstitute.be/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/new-egmont.papers.74.U2334_16x24.pdf Smart electricity grids: A very slow deployment in the EU]</ref>

==Links for further research==

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