Smart grid has come to mean many things, but in South Korea it’s a platform for completely rethinking the electricity grid
There is a lot of discussion of "smart grid" these days. I sometimes feel it is one of those phrases that people use for whatever suits their purposes without much substance behind it. But talking with technical staff and leadership at Korean utilities companies, I found that they have a very clear vision, and there is going to be a huge number of technical opportunities for those who can supply pieces to fulfil that vision.
Smart grid to the South Koreans is a platform for a complete rethinking of the electricity grid to make it capable for the 21st century. To the maximum extent, the "smart" is built into the grid via software rather than hardware. You might think this is more vulnerable to failure they don’t see it that way. Rather, they use software for the intelligence because it can be upgraded more regularly, can learn as demand patterns change, and can respond to new technologies more readily.