Reviewing the 2018 IEEE Smart Grid Publications Efforts and Our Path Forward in 2019

By Panayiotis (Panos) Moutis and Mehrdad Rostami

Dear friends, readers and followers of the IEEE Smart Grid, on behalf of everyone working on the Newsletter and the Publications Committee, let me start with our warmest wishes for 2019 and a shout-out to all of you that have made the role of this Community as relevant as never before with your attention to our works and publications. The IEEE Smart Grid boasts the participation of world renown experts, academics and industry gurus; nevertheless, it is the traction that your interest in our activities, which has led our Community to advance its role and position at the center stage of the Smart Grid field.

And this is a reality that cannot be truer for our monthly Newsletter. In 2018 we decided to make a shift in our focus for the topics of the Newsletter articles and get a feel for the current status in the academic, industrial and policy environments. From the Paris Climate Agreement and the Dept. of Energy Report on Electricity Markets and Reliability, all the way to research publications on the advances in the mathematical and algorithmic formulations for the Optimal Power Flow problem, the timeliness of the articles could not be more current. Being up-to-date with the news meant that we also hosted an issue on how the smart grid could help in the rebuilding of the power grid in Puerto Rico and the on-going cyber-physical attacks to power system infrastructure around the world. This focus led our readers’ base to share their thoughts and comments on the views, opinions and accomplishments that are and will be shaping the Smart Grid developments and the initiatives in the shorter and longer terms.

During 2018 the Publications Committee had also the pleasure to bring to fruition a second major project of great foundational value to the field: the first volume of the Compendium of Journal Publications. The efforts of the Community in compiling this work were immense. More than four dozens of IEEE and IEEE-affiliated journals were surveyed, in order to determine the most influential, essential and forward-thinking papers ever published on the Smart Grid theory, applications and aspirations. After reviewing more than 600 manuscripts, less than 40 of them made the cut into this first of its kind Compendium. We cannot be happier for the end-result and we invite you, in case you have not done so already, to check the Table of Contents and include this work in your electronic collection as the handbook of the Smart Grid.

Concluding this brief review of the year let us express our gratitude to the IEEE The Institute magazine as also to the Smart Energy International website and magazine for acknowledging our work in the field and featuring two of the articles that have been previously published in the IEEE Smart Grid Newsletter. Both of these outlets have respectfully and eagerly collaborated with our team and the original authors to bring the work of the latter ones to an even bigger audience raising awareness and attracting attention about the Smart Grid.

In 2019 and in view of the ever rising interest in the matters of grid resilience, we will be featuring another monthly issue (that of February) on the subject, following the eight articles already published in two of 2018 issues. Halfway in the next year we will also be bringing you news on grid modernization initiatives and actions, recent concerns and advances in cyber-physical security, the way paved for the electrification of transportations as also novel views on the provision of ancillary services in the smart grid frameworks.

As always, all of us at the IEEE Publications Committee welcome your thoughts, ideas and contributions in the direction of enhancing our content, making it more relevant to your views and experiences and broadening your knowledge and understanding in our field. We will be delighted, if you reach out to us with suggestions for new publications and comments that will better our out-reach.