The electric power grid is a critical infrastructure that delivers electricity from power generation sources to consumers. At this time, renewable and distributed sources of electricity as well as new technologies that introduce large loads are significantly changing load profiles in low-voltage grids. This trend calls for reassessing the structure of low-voltage grids to examine if they can safely accommodate the new load profiles. The future smart grid will also rely on information and communications networks to support decentralized power distribution. The information and communications network nodes may depend on the grid for power supply, leading to bidirectional interdependence between the two types of networks that could affect the reliability of the power grid. This paper focuses on the problem of enhancing the reliability of future low-voltage grids by improving their structure and dealing with their interdependence with information and communications networks. The paper investigates the structural features of a low-voltage grid and assesses their influence on the ability of the grid to handle new load profiles. Concepts from complex networks theory are used to derive relevant structural metrics that characterize the structural properties of low-voltage grids and performance metrics are proposed to assess their operational performance. Several low-voltage networks are analyzed under various loading scenarios to observe the influence of structural metrics of a low-voltage grid on its operational metrics. Based on this analysis, a constraint programming formulation is proposed for the cost-optimal and robust structural design of a low-voltage grid. In addition, a design algorithm is proposed that considers the interdependence of information and communications network nodes on power grid nodes to increase the reliability of the grid.

Interoperability refers to the ability of two or more systems or components to exchange information and to use the information that has been exchanged. The importance of interoperability has grown together with the adoption of Digital Information Networks (DINs). DINs refer to information networks supported by telecommunication infrastructures and terminated by microprocessors. With an upcoming interest in services science and transsector business models, a stronger driver arises to further break the interoperability barriers across sectors. In this paper, we propose a novel model to address trans-sector digital interoperability, which by definition involves interoperability across different economic sectors connected by DINs. Particularly, we specify how a well known interoperability framework, the ATHENA framework, should be adapted for the economic sector plane. Based on data from the Eurostat survey on ICT usage and e-Commerce in enterprises, we illustrate how conclusions about trans-sector interoperability can be extracted and technological implications can be derived.