Quantitative assessment of barriers to innovation in smart grids in Europe

The implementation of smart grids enables the modernization of the electricity system, providing several benefits in grid resilience, environmental impact, and ease of management. Development in smart grids is being slowed by economic, technological, regulatory, organizational, and human barriers. This paper analyses these barriers in detail, based on an in-depth literature review. An exploratory quantitative analysis of the barriers is presented, highlighting the situation in five European countries. The data were obtained within the scope of the European BRIGHT project, in which, after defining a univocal metric survey, five round tables were held involving 26 relevant stakeholders from different European countries.