  A number of governments and organizations around the world agree that the
first step to address national and international problems such as energy
independence, global warming or emergency resilience, is the redesign of
electricity networks, known as Smart Grids. Typically, power grids have
broadcast power from generation plants to large population of consumers on a
sub-optimal way. Nevertheless, the fusion of energy delivery networks and
digital information networks, along with the introduction of intelligent
monitoring systems (Smart Meters) and renewable energies, would enable two-way
electricity trading relationships between electricity suppliers and electricity
consumers. The availability of real-time information on electricity demand and
pricing, would enable suppliers optimizing their delivery systems, while
consumers would have the means to minimize their bill by turning on appliances
at off-peak hours. The construction of the Smart Grid entails the design and
deployment of information networks and systems of unprecedented requirements on
storage, real-time event processing and availability. In this paper, a series
of system architectures to store and process Smart Meter reading data are
explored and compared aiming to establish a solid foundation in which future
intelligent systems could be supported.
