Unleashing the benefits of smart grids by overcoming the challenges associated with low-resolution data

Smart meters have been widely deployed worldwide, but there is an often-overlooked problem that remains unresolved: the data collected from these meters is of relatively low time resolution, hindering the realization of smart grid benefits. This perspective unfolds the roadblocks to achieving high-resolution data from a smart metering infrastructure. We highlight the loss of critical information, essential for many smart grid applications, due to low-resolution readings of residential consumer data. We then outline the main reasons behind the lack of high-resolution data, the tetralemma on balancing data collection, transmission, warehousing, and privacy concerns. Finally, we hypothesize a framework for data collection, maintenance, communication, and storage of smart utility meters data to obtain high-resolution records by tackling the challenges using a dictionary-based compression method and separately maintaining the compressed products at the user ends and data center.