Assessing smart grid benefits and impacts : EU and U.S. initiatives

The scope of this document is to find common ground between EU and US assessment approaches on Smart Grid projects. First of all, we need to make sure we understand each other's language. We need to assess correspondences among definitions, terminology and methodological approaches, in order to clarify commonalities and differences. Secondly, we need to strengthen cooperation on assessment frameworks and on sharing data collection experiences, project results and lessons learned. The report provides a comparison of EU and US initiatives on a number of themes related to Smart Grid assessment methodologies: Smart Grid definition and conceptual framework, mapping and classification of Smart Grid projects, project impact assessment based on performance indicators, cost-benefit analysis, sharing and dissemination of project results and lessons learned. This joint work is carried out in the framework of the EU-US Energy Council, which intends to deepen the transatlantic dialogue on strategic energy issues such as policies to move towards low carbon energy sources while strengthening the on-going scientific collaboration on energy technologies. In this context, two meetings among EU and US Smart Grid experts were held in December 2010 and November 2011 to discuss Smart Grid Assessment initiatives in EU and US. The outcomes of the two meetings form the core of this report, which also is intended as a framework for further EU-US cooperation on Smart Grid assessment methodologies.