Smart grid IT infrastructure selection: A T3SD Fuzzy DEA approach

Abstract

While the smart grid dream is likely to be revisited, we are witnessing a convergence of Information Technology (IT) with power system engineering. This convergence should be managed tactfully, to obtain a consistent architecture for the smart grid. Due to the complex nature of the both IT and power systems, a higher degree of complexity emerges through the smart grid. Therefore, selection of the right IT infrastructure for the smart grid is a complicated decision making problem. However, many of these decisions are made based on personal expertise, ad hoc methods and heuristic rules. They not only are highly suspected of not being optimal, but also are prone to serious mistakes. This mandates a consistent decision making method for the selection of the IT infrastructure in the smart grid. In this paper, Wymorian Tricotyledon Theory of Systems Design (T3SD) and Fuzzy Data Envelopment Analysis (FDEA), as a variation of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and being capable of handling uncertainty, are employed as a decision supporting tool, to encompass the real world selection and decision issues which is presented as T3SD Fuzzy DEA method.