Information Systems for a Smart Electricity Grid: Emerging Challenges and Opportunities

The drive for sustainability as evidenced by the Paris Accords is forcing a radical re-examination of the way electricity is produced, managed, and consumed. Research on sustainable smart electricity markets is facilitating the emergence of sustainable energy systems and a revolution in the efficiency and reliability of electricity consumption, production, and distribution. Traditional electricity grids and markets are being disrupted by a range of forces, including the rise of weather-dependent and distributed renewable sources, growing consumer involvement in managing their power consumption and production, and the electrification of transport. These changes will likely bring about complex and dynamic smart electricity markets that rely on analysis of information to inform stakeholders, and on effective integration of stakeholders' actions. We outline a research agenda on how advances in information-intensive processes are fundamental for facilitating these transformations, describe the roles that such processes will play, and discuss Information Systems research challenges necessary to achieve these goals. These challenges span public policy, privacy, and security; market mechanisms; and data-driven decision support. The diverse challenges we outline also underscore that the diverse IS research perspective is instrumental for addressing the complexity and interdisciplinary nature of this research.