This paper reviews how next‑generation wireless networks can support a more modern electric grid, often called the Smart Grid (SG). The authors bring together the electricity side and the communications side instead of treating them as separate topics. They identify new grid tasks—such as smart distributed voltage control, real‑time fault detection and self‑healing, autonomous monitoring, and predictive maintenance—and they give concrete service targets for those tasks, for example requirements for latency (delay) and availability (how often services must work).

To reach those targets the paper presents a unified SG architecture that follows the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) view and that includes distributed energy resources (DERs), microgrids, storage, and cybersecurity layers. The authors map specific grid use cases to communication key performance indicators (KPIs) such as time synchronization and message size. They also name novel scenarios like AI/ML‑based Falling Conductor Detection and Proactive Climate Resilience and quantify the strict performance benchmarks those scenarios need.

On the communications side, the survey compares features of fifth‑generation (5G) and sixth‑generation (6G) systems. It notes concrete 5G targets such as peak data rates up to 20 gigabits per second, latencies as low as 1 millisecond, and support for up to 1 million Internet of Things (IoT) devices per square kilometer. Looking ahead to 6G (often projected around 2030), the paper highlights aims such as terahertz links, integrated sensing and communication (ISAC), and AI‑native networking. Key enabling technologies discussed include network slicing (creating virtual networks for different needs), edge computing (processing data close to where it is produced), digital twins (virtual copies of physical systems), and Open‑Radio Access Network (O‑RAN) for more flexible radio infrastructure.