Current power networks and consumers are undergoing a fundamental shift in the way traditional energy systems were designed and managed. The bidirectional peer-to-peer (P–P) energy transactions pushed passive consumers to be prosumers. The future smart grid or the internet of energy (IoE) will facilitate the coordination of all types of prosumers to form virtual power plants (VPP). Khizir Mahmud and Jayashri Ravishankar discuss this growing area of research by accumulating and summarizing the significant ideas of the integration of distributed prosumers and small-scale VPP to the internet of energy (IoE). 

Images courtesy of Khizir Mahmud and Jayashri Ravishankar

Image courtesy of interviewee