Digital Twin-Enabled Smart Microgrids: Techinal Architecture and Regulatory Challenges for Energy Security, Net-Zero Mandates and Utility Governance

The use of digital twin technology has become more central to smart microgrids, which provides high-tech monitoring and predictive maintenance and optimization features. The current paper critically assesses digital twinbased microgrids concerning their technical architecture, cybersecurity issues, regulatory as well as future research directions. The real-time state estimation, fault diagnosis, and low-latency optimization are based on a multilayer architecture which combines Internet of Things sensors, machine learning algorithms, cloud services, and edge-fog computing architectures. However, the increase in the attack surfaces requires effective cybersecurity measures, such as blockchainbased transactions and AI-controlled anomaly detection systems. The dominating lack of harmonised regulatory and governance mechanisms forms an essential hinder hence the need to have standardised practice, adaptive policy formulations, and equitable financial instruments that can create resilient and sustainable microgrid ecosystems.