Smart Grid Prospects and Challenges in Bangladesh; A Distribution System Operator’s Viewpoint

Distribution Service Operators (DSOs) are critical in the future distribution system’s liberalized energy market. Apart from their primary responsibility of supplying electricity to consumers, DSOs, especially in Bangladesh, are being asked to provide infrastructure to enable customer-choice energy retail. To meet this challenge, traditional power generation grids are becoming smarter by integrating new information and communication technology into their service. This results in a higher-quality, quicker, and more efficient service for the customer while also enabling massive two-way data transmission between the consumer and the delivery service provider. This article provides an overview of the present state of affairs for power distribution operators in Bangladesh after the vertical unbundling of the Bangladeshi electricity industry and the privatization of DSOs. Additionally, the current position of DSOs is clarified, as are the operational technologies (OT) in use and their convergence with information technologies (IT), which constitute the first steps toward a smart grid capable of meeting future challenges.