Autonomous control of distributed energy resources via wireless machine-to-machine communication; a survey of big data challenges It is anticipated that the growing number of distributed energy resources and other cyber physical components of smart grids will make the management of the distribution grid more complex. In this survey paper, four discernible challenges related to big data and the enablement of autonomous grid operation are investigated: (1) the technical readiness level of cloud computing services, (2) limitations of wireless telecommunication technology, (3) smart meter related privacy issues and (4) the intrinsic uncertainty in data analytics. The investigated challenges indicate that the current performance of cloud computing and wireless telecommunication technology do not readily enable autonomous decentralized secondary control of power systems. Moreover, technical and legislative solutions have to be developed to ensure consumer privacy, prior to applying data analytics on smart meter data.