At "first glance", smart grids are about the communicative networking of relevant players (generators, consumers, grid operating equipment, etc.) to optimise and monitor these interconnected parts in order to achieve efficient and reliable system operation, whereby an increasing number of decentralised, renewable generators (primarily photovoltaics, wind energy and biomass) must now be integrated.

However, the problem is considerably "more difficult", because only an integrated consideration of all influencing factors, such as user acceptance, CO2 emissions or safety of this socio-technical system in the area of conflict between economic efficiency, reliability and ecological sustainability, can produce practically realisable solutions that take sufficient account of the complex interdependencies.

Energy informatics not only provides the "system intelligence" algorithms for adaptive control and continuous dynamic optimisation of the complex and very extensive (European) power supply system - but also provides the methods to create and orchestrate "overall system competence" (complexity control through decomposition and abstraction, identification of and focus on generalisable principles, search for decoupling points for effective governance, avoidance of bottlenecks, etc.).