The energy system of the future will incorporate higher levels of production from renewable sources and greater consumer flexibility. It must also be robust and reliable. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) will be used extensively to monitor, regulate and automate the grid.
Distributed generation and prosumers
Distributed generation is generation of electricity located in the distribution grid. The characteristics for distributed generation (also called DG), is that the power plants have installed low capacity related to conventional power plants. Hydro plants between 100 kW and 5 MW (and sometimes even up to 10 MW), are often denoted as "small scale".