Smart Grids (SGs) constitute the evolution of the traditional electrical grid towards a new paradigm, which should increase the reliability, the security and, at the same time, reduce the costs of energy generation, distribution and consumption. Electrical microgrids (MGs) can be considered the first stage of this evolution of the grid, because of the intelligent management techniques that must be applied to assure their correct operation. To accomplish this task, sensors and actuators will be necessary, along with wireless communication technologies to transmit the measured data and the command messages. Wireless Sensor and Actuator Networks (WSANs) are therefore a promising solution to achieve an intelligent management of MGs and, by extension, the SG. In this frame, this paper surveys several aspects concerning the application of WSANs to manage MGs and the electrical grid, as well as the communication protocols that could be applied. The main concerns regarding the SG deployment are also presented, including future scenarios where the interoperability of different generation technologies must be assured.

During the last decade, the smart grid (SG) concept has started to become a reality, mainly thanks to the technical progress achieved in telecommunications, informatics and power electronics, among other domains, leading to an evolution of the traditional electrical grid into an intelligent one. Nowadays, the SG can be seen as a system of smart systems that include cyber and physical parts from different technologies that interact with each other. In this context, intelligent buildings (IBs) constitute a paradigm in which such smart systems are able to guarantee the comfort of residents while ensuring an appropriate tradeoff of energy production and consumption by means of an energy management system (EMS). These interconnected EMSs remain the objective of potential cyber-attacks, which is a major concern. Therefore, this paper conducts a survey, from a multidisciplinary point of view, of some of the main security and privacy issues related to IBs as part of the SG, including an overview of EMS, smart meters, and the main communication networks employed to connect IBs to the overall SG. Future research directions towards a security enhancement from both technical and human perspectives are also provided.

In this work, a defective commercial module with a rounded IV characteristic is analyzed in detail to identify the sources of its malfunction. The analysis of the module includes thermography images taken under diverse conditions, the IV response of the module obtained without any shadow, and shadowing one cell at a time, as recommended by the IEC 61215 Standard. Additionally, a direct measurement of the IV characteristic and resistance of single cells in the panel has been conducted to verify the isolation between the p and n areas. In parallel, theoretical cell and module behaviors are presented. In this frame, simulations show how cell mismatch can be the explanation to the rounded IV output of the solar panel under study. From the thermal images of the module, several localized hot spots related to failing cells have been revealed. During the present study, thermal breakdown is seen before avalanche breakdown in one of the cells, evidencing a hot spot. Not many papers have dealt with this problem, whereas we believe it is important to analyze the relationship between thermal breakdown and hot spotting in order to prevent it in the future, since hot spots are the main defects related to degradation of modern modules.

As stated in the literature, Low Power Listening (LPL) duty cycle is one of the most common energy conservation solution for WSN. By using channel check mechanism, the purpose of LPL solutions is to reduce the energy consumption of the listening phase. In this paper, we propose to study the performances and limitations of this kind of solutions. Therefore, we deploy a ContikiMAC LPL on both real and simulated WSN platform to demonstrate the impact of LPL on the energy consumptions of the node radio and microcontroller but also on the application Quality of Service. Based on the obtained results, shortcomings of LPL solutions are highlighted and potential improvements are discussed such as the use of multi-parameter dynamic duty cycle.