Abstract—The increasing penetration of renewable energy into modern power grids necessitates the development of innovative grid architectures capable of hosting higher volumes of renewable energy and seamlessly interacting with resources, both generators and loads, to deliver operational resilience. This paper introduces a conceptual framework for a digital grid, positioned as a cyber-physical system (CPS) within smart city environments. A reference architecture and modular implementation approach are proposed. The implementation strategy focuses on developing a modular and flexible digital business technology platform (DBTP) built on services-based principles and architecture [1],[2], which systematically integrates with the physical assets of the power grid. This integration forms a comprehensive CPS that seamlessly interacts with other Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSS) within the smart city, facilitating an interconnected intelligent urban ecosystem. The modular approach simplifies the design, understanding, troubleshooting, maintenance, and security of the grid, supporting integration across various electricity sector domains—including customers, markets, service providers, operations, generation (including distributed energy resources), transmission, and distribution—and ensuring interoperability with other CPSS in smart city intelligent urban ecosystem (e.g., smart mobility systems).
