March 12, 2013 – Three global partners with an interest in smart grids—International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) and VDE (a European technical and scientific association)—have joined forces to deliver the first World Smart Grid Forum, being held in September in Berlin.

Smart grids are key to future energy security, say the partners, because without them, “existing power networks will become increasingly unreliable [and] will not be able to integrate renewable energy sources or decentralized power generation”. Organizers insist smart grids are “still failing to move beyond the project stage”, because of a lack of “intricate human decision-making”.