Semantics-based explanation of (unusual) events in energy systems

As energy systems increase in complexity during their transition towards smart grids, providing transparency in terms of explanations of anomalies and (unusual) events becomes ever more challenging. Yet, such transparency is important both for end-users and grid-operators to understand the reasons behind unusual system behaviour and, subsequently, implement effective countermeasures, while ensuring understandability and trust even in these increasingly complex systems. In this paper, we provide examples of energy system use cases where explanations are needed and explore in detail the benefits of such explanations for several stakeholders in the energy system domain. We also briefly describe a solution to explainability in smart grids that explores the benefits of Semantic Web technologies.