OVERVIEW

The electric grid is an immense connected machine, an ultra-large-scale system unlike no other. Over the last hundred years the infrastructure comprising the grid – the wires, poles, and myriad of substation and transformers laying its foundation – has been built, hardened, and extended to meet the needs of the American economy. Unquestionably, the electric grid is a complex system with a specialized and extensive workforce. For anyone not deep in the weeds of the electricity industry, however, the technical terms and acronyms makes the electric grid difficult to understand. In this Technology Portfolio, we seek to provide a resource for stakeholders interested in the grid and who want to understand what specific types of technologies are needed when it is said that the grid must be modernized.