The Smart Grid Solution

Revitalizing the electrical grid encompasses a broad range of technologies that target all facets of the infrastructure aimed at improving the reliability, security, efficiency, environmentally friendly nature, safety and pricing of the electrical grid.

The change instituted by the smart grid that is most apparent to consumers is the installation of advanced meters in customer premises. There are 2.5 billion electrical meters, and only 8 percent of them currently have any kind of automation, says Richard Shockey, chair of the technical working group at the SIP Forum, an initiative to promote the use of the SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) stack.

By installing smarter meters, consumers will be able to receive real-time or near-real-time information about their power consumption, enabling them to know enough to reduce their power usage in response to higher prices or vary usage based on demand.

Research suggests that such programs should have a significant impact on traffic load. A study conducted by Freeman, Sullivan & Co. of Pacific Gas & Electric Co.’s SmartRate tariff, one of the first examples of peak pricing, showed that an average power load was reduced by 16.6 percent between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. for nine days during the summer of 2008.

Over time, utilities are expected to establish demand-response programs that curtail power usage in response to supply or market conditions. Demand response will enable utilities to turn off smart devices or run them on lower power when needed.

Consumption and production of an electrical grid must be balanced if it is to function properly. Too much production can cause fluctuations in voltages; too little results in brownouts and blackouts. Utilities would like the ability to reduce demand on the electrical grid during periods of peak consumption. Demand-response programs will enable them to do just that. With a smart grid, utilities will be able to send messages down to smart devices in homes to turn off appliances or run them on lower power.

Ultimately, wireless sensors, such as the ones being developed at the UCLA Wireless Internet for Mobile Enterprise Consortium (WINMEC), could be used in the home or office to monitor environmental variables in a building, such as temperature, humidity, motion and shock. The system would be able to detect if one room were more populated and then redirect energy appropriately, says Rajit Gadh, director of WINMEC.

Advanced meters are just the most visible part of an IT network overlay that enables utility providers to gather information about the usage and availability of the power grid. Smart censors within the network are expected to enable utilities to better monitor, diagnose and respond to power changes in the network. Through ongoing self-assessment, the network will be able to identify issues and then take action to address those issues.

This will be done securely in order to protect against natural disaster and attacks—whether they are physical or launched through a computer. These devices will be interconnected through a two-way, standards-based network.

Using simplified interconnection processes and interoperability standards, the grid will accommodate a diverse range of generation and storage options—from electric cars to alternative energy plants. And not all of these energy plants will be the usual standardized affair.

In his keynote at the GridWeek conference in September in Washington, D.C., U. S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu called for easy-to-use home energy systems.

Right now, the percentage of power coming from alternative energy sources is still in the single digits for many reasons, not the least of which is that alternative energy sources aren’t feasible—or sometimes even possible—in all parts of the country. When there’s no wind, for example, windmills don’t generate power. Chu contends that new long-haul transmission lines are needed to bring power throughout the nation.

Energy storage will play an equally important role. Since energy must be consumed when created, today’s network is designed to always operate at peak capacity. Yet more than 25 percent of hourly loads on the distribution network—and more than 10 percent of the assets needed for power generation—are required less than 5 percent of the year. That may not sound like much, but it represents hundreds of billions of dollars in investments. Using new techniques to store electricity during times of surplus will help balance the load on the network at critical times.

That’s why it’s important to use the batteries in electric automobiles. “It has always been my goal to do energy arbitrage with plug-in vehicles,” Chu said in his keynote. “If you get half the cars with 50 to 60 kilowatt hours of energy storage, it’s an incredible amount of energy storage ... and if you’re willing to sell half the energy storage back to the company, much of our energy storage problems will be taken care of.”

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