Reflections about the Philosophy of Technology in the Emerging Smart Power Systems

Abstract

Researchers and Engineers devoted to power systems studies face nowadays challenges that may change the way customers and utilities interact. This is because the advent of smart grids and microgrids enables one to consider the possibility of a customer playing as a provider, depending on the system condition. This raises the concept of "prosumers", when an entity may become, depending on the operating condition, a generator or a source. This brings new concerns, since the operating and learning processes must be adapted to this new reality. At the same time, ethical aspects need also to be addressed. This chapter presents the operation of power systems of the future under a holistic point of view. For this sake, besides placing some theoretical concepts regarding basic philosophy, an example of ethical reflections of this new hopefully smart market is discussed.