Global warming problem caused by greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels has caused wide public concern all over the world. This paper bases on renewable energy smart grid development as the background; the microgrid, power demand response, and vehicle to grid technologies are analyzed, and the basic structures and control strategies are also described. In order to transmit power from large-scale offshore wind farms and promote the utilization of renewable generation, the multi-terminal direct current (MTDC) based on voltage source converter (VSC) and solid state transformer are analyzed in detail, and the typical topologies and control methods are introduced. Finally, in order to improve the development of smart grid and VSC-MTDC in China, the microgrid park of the Institute of Electrical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yanqing direct current microgrid, and Nanao and Zhoushan VSC-MTDC are introduced. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.