The evolution of power grids toward smarter, more resilient, and digitalized models is not a future projection—it’s an ongoing transformation. In 2025, the consolidation of technologies like artificial intelligence, predictive modeling, and active demand response is redefining the foundations of the global electricity system.
The energy transition goes beyond decarbonizing generation sources. Structurally, it also entails a deep rethinking of how energy is managed, distributed, and consumed. Smart Grids are the cornerstone of this new model: electric systems capable of integrating renewable generation, adapting to demand in real time, and efficiently and securely managing distributed resources.
Digitalization and Sensorization: The New Operational Standard
One of the core technical pillars of this transformation is the intensive digitalization of electrical infrastructure. Smart grids incorporate technologies such as IoT sensors, advanced SCADA systems, real-time analytics, and automated control.
Industry leaders have already announced that by 2025, over 80% of their medium- and high-voltage networks will be smart, enabling monitoring and remote operation of key nodes. This digitalization allows for fault detection before failures occur, energy flow optimization, and faster incident response.
Sensorization also enables predictive maintenance, reducing operational costs and increasing asset availability.
Artificial Intelligence and Language Models: Toward Adaptive Grids
One of the most disruptive advances is the incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs) into grid management. These tools enable everything from analyzing large volumes of historical data to interacting in natural language with operators and users.
A recent study (arXiv, 2025) identifies over 30 practical applications of LLMs in smart grids, including load forecasting, grid stability analysis, automated regulatory reporting, and personalized demand management. These capabilities support faster, more accurate, and context-aware decision-making—even in highly uncertain environments like renewable-heavy energy markets.
Storage and Flexibility: Efficient Integration of Renewables
The need to integrate variable renewable sources such as solar and wind has placed energy storage and active demand response at the center of technical discussions.
Red Eléctrica de España has begun displaying differentiated data on generated and stored energy on its platforms, highlighting the increasing importance of storage. At the same time, Spain’s SRAD projects that the national grid will have 1,148 MW managed through demand response services in 2025. This capacity allows energy consumption to align with generation conditions, adding flexibility to the system without necessarily relying on fossil fuel generation.
The development of new battery chemistries (lithium, sodium, redox flow, etc.) and their deployment at industrial and residential scales is accelerating the technical and economic feasibility of storage as a key resource in the power system.
Microgrids and Hybrid Models: Distributed Resilience
Another key trend is the rise of microgrids and hybrid energy solutions, combining local renewable generation, storage, and intelligent control. These solutions are particularly valuable in industrial settings, critical infrastructure, and rural areas, where energy autonomy and resilience to outages are essential.
Microgrids can operate either in island mode or connected to the main grid, managing energy optimally based on load, generation, and dynamic pricing conditions. This requires advanced control algorithms, real-time energy balancing, and multivector management capabilities (electric, thermal, storage).
Standards and Data Visualization: Transparency and Governance
Finally, one emerging priority is the standardization of energy data and real-time accessibility for all system stakeholders: operators, consumers, generators, and regulators.
Platforms like those of Red Eléctrica de España are evolving to display granular information on generation, consumption, storage, and energy flows. This visibility supports systemic analysis, strategic planning, and the development of simulation models that contribute to more informed and efficient energy governance.
The convergence of digital technologies, artificial intelligence, new storage solutions, and active user participation is giving rise to an electricity grid fundamentally different from the one we knew a decade ago. Smart grids are not merely a technological evolution—they represent a conceptual reconstruction of the energy system. The technical capacity to design, operate, and adapt these networks will be critical to the success of the global energy transition.
