Study on the cloud computing architecture for smart grid application

In view of the increasing demands of data storage, information process, interoperability and so on in smart grid construction, this paper presents the cloud computing architecture for smart grid application, based on introducing of the cloud computing technology which has strong capability of distributed computing and storage. And the aim of the paper is to overcome the drawbacks of traditional power grid information platform in computation, storage, information process, etc., and promote the smart grid development. First of all, the essential connotation and performance demands of smart grid are described. Second, the development process and main properties of cloud computing are summarized in the paper. Then, the feasibility of constructing cloud computing architecture for smart grid application is analyzed and discussed. Based on that, the structure composition of the architecture is proposed, and the main functions of each part are discussed in detail. It shows that the architecture can effectively implement amalgamation and interoperability among physical layer, information process and application system, as well as the power energy, information stream and business flow in smart grid are highly integrated, which can offer support for smart grid construction. Finally, the related conclusions are drawn, and some future research directions are given.