Survey of Smart Grid Concepts and Technological Demonstrations Worldwide Emphasizing on the Oman Perspective  
[PERSON]  
1 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, Al-Khoud, Muscat 123, Oman; [PERSON]_ADDRESS] (A.H.A.-B. ); [PERSON]DDRESS] (R.A.); [PERSON]DDRESS] (N.H.)  
2 Department of Mechanical Engineering College of Engineering, University of Hawaii, Manoa Campus, Honolulu, HI 96844, USA; [EMAIL_ADDRESS]  
3 Department of Electrical Engineering & Renewable Energy, College of Engineering, Oregon Tech, Klamath Falls, OR 97601, USA  
4 Oregon Renewable Energy Center (OREC), Oregon Tech, Klamath Falls, OR 97601, USA  
5 Correspondence: [EMAIL_ADDRESS]; Tel. : +1-541-885-1516  
The total primary energy utilization is expected to increase by 48% globally and the world net electricity generation is likely to increase by 69% compared to 2012 energy demand [1]. Furthermore, the use of non-conventional fuels is projected to increase at a fast rate in comparison to the consumption of fossil fuels. However, fossil fuels will still have a large share, around 78 percent, of energy use in 2040 [1]. It was stated in [2] that about 25% of the global greenhouse gas (GHG) emission occurs due to the power system network. The unavoidable losses in the current grid system with its centralized nature of generation and long ranged transmission complexity, and its inability to integrate distributed renewable resources account for the GHG emission index rising high. An aggressive approach to smart grid implementation, i.e., more extensive application of a broader range of technologies can help reducing the emission by 16% while a moderate version can decrease the emission by 5% [3]. Moreover, in the USA, electrical power outages severely affects the commercial and industrial activities, the combined cost of which is estimated to be $79 billion annually in 2002 [4]. The cost is about 32% of the total electric power market revenue of $249 billion [5]. [PERSON] et al. showed the effectiveness of SG implementation for preventing large scale cascading blackout by conducting a case study on 2003's cascading blackout of the USA [6]. Monitoring the load characteristic and energy consumption at consumer end is a troublesome job for conventional grid, SG can with its bidirectional communication feature between the utility and customers cut out such concerns. Furthermore, it has the ability to communicate to smart devices of consumers, which can help to automate adjustments according to on-peak or off-peak hours. Therefore, smart grid possesses the great potentiality in providing reliable power supply as well reducing GHG emission. The birth of the SG cannot be traced back to a certain point [7]. Smart meters appeared in 1970s [8], with Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) being the current industry standard tool and foundation for smart grid scenarios [9]. Reference [10] reported some of the past work on the smart grids for the period of 1997 to 2008. Meeting the reliability in the current grid is becoming more challenging owing to the following factors of grid congestion, larger energy transfers over longer distances, ageing infrastructure and insufficient investment on maintenance, increasing electrical energy consumption along with peak power demand, and increased utilization of the distributed resources. The shortage in electrical power has direct impact on economies, societies and in countries' development. The conventional power network is less efficient due to the insufficient investment in technology and infrastructure upgradation, and the continued use of the traditional ways of operation and maintenance. Furthermore, the detrimental environmental impacts of conventional power network are much severe due to high GHG emission from fossil fuels. It is believed that the integration of renewable power and distributed generations will reduce GHG emission by a significant amount.