Smart Power Grids - Talking about a Revolution

At first glance, "revolution" may seem too strong a word to describe the changes happening in electrical power grid technologies. But take a closer look and you'll find that the transition from today's grids to "smart"grids more than qualifies as nothing less than revolutionary.

Amazingly, much of the thinking behind today's power grid is based on design decisions originally published by Nikola Tesla in 1888 (see war of currents)! While valid for his time, Tesla's assumptions like centralized power generation, demand-driven control and unidirectional transmission are now considered obsolete.

According to the U.S Government's International Energy Outlook 2008, world energy consumption is projected to increase by 50 percent from 2005 to 2030. So it should come as no surprise that future power grids must meet several needs that Tesla never imagined.

Specifically, a "smart" grid must be capable of providing power from multiple and widely distributed sources, e.g., from wind turbines, concentrating solar power systems, photovoltaic panels and perhaps even plug-in hybrid electric vehicles . Moreover, since all renewable energy sources invented so far vary greatly with time, a smart grid must be capable of flexibly storing electric power for later use, e.g., in batteries, flywheels or super-capacitors or again even in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Last but not least, to improve power reliability a smart grid must make use of new and highly sophisticated adaptive generation and distribution control algorithms.

Partly in response to these needs, in December, 2007, the U.S. Congress passed, and the President signed, the Energy Independence and Security Act (Pub.L. 110-140) requiring that the:

• Department of Energy (DOE) establish a Smart Grid Advisory Committee to provide advice on both smart grid technologies and on using Federal incentives to encourage transition to these technologies.
• DOE develop a smart grid research and development program, including $100 million per year in 2008-2012 for demonstration projects.
• National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) develop a framework for the standards and protocols for the inter-connection of smart grid devices and systems.
• Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) adopt such standards and protocols.
• DOE administer a matching grant program to pay for one-fifth of smart grid investment costs.
• State regulators consider requiring and funding smart grid investments.

Smart Grid Components

While still new enough to lack a universally agreed upon definition, some typical components of a smart grid include:

• Intelligent appliances capable of deciding when to consume power based on pre-set customer preferences. This can go a long way toward reducing peak loads which has a major impact on electricity generation costs - alleviating the need for new power plants and cutting down on damaging greenhouse emissions. Early tests with smart grids have shown that consumers can save up to 25% on their energy usage by simply providing them with information on that usage and the tools to manage it.
• Smart power meters featuring two-way communications between consumers and power providers to automate billing data collection, detect outages and dispatch repair crews to the correct location faster.
• Smart substations that include monitoring and control of critical and non-critical operational data such as power factor performance, breaker, transformer and battery status, security, etc.
• Smart distribution that is self-healing, self-balancing and self-optimizing including superconducting cables for long distance transmission, and automated monitoring and analysis tools capable of detecting or even predicting cable and failures based on real-time data about weather, outage history, etc.
• Smart generation capable of "learning" the unique behavior of power generation resources to optimize energy production, and to automatically maintain voltage, frequency and power factor standards based on feedback from multiple points in the grid.
• Universal access to affordable, low-carbon electrical power generation (e.g., wind turbines, concentrating solar power systems, photovoltaic panels) and storage (e.g., in batteries, flywheels or super-capacitors or in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles).

Smart Grid Technologies

For DOE's Modern Grid Strategy, the specific technologies of the smart grid are grouped into the following five areas:

• Integrated Communications include data acquisition, protection, and control, and enable users to interact with intelligent electronic devices in an integrated system.
• Sensing and Measurement technologies support acquiring data to evaluate the health and integrity of the grid and support automatic meter reading, elimination of billing estimates, and prevent energy theft.
• Advanced Components are used to determine the electrical behavior of the grid and can be applied in either standalone applications or connected together to create complex systems such as microgrids. The success, availability, and affordability of these components will be based on fundamental research and development (R&D) gains in power electronics, superconductivity, materials, chemistry, and microelectronics.
• Advanced Control Methods are the devices and algorithms that will analyze, diagnose, and predict grid conditions and autonomously take appropriate corrective actions to eliminate, mitigate, and prevent outages and power quality disturbances.
• Improved Interfaces and Decision Support convert complex power-system data into information that can be easily understood by grid operators.

Smart Grid Benefits

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) states that the "Modern Grid" will have seven key benefits for consumers, business, utilities and the Nation:

• Self-Healing
  A smart grid automatically detects and responds to routine problems and quickly recovers if they occur, minimizing downtime and financial loss.
• Motivates and Includes the Consumer> style='font-size:11.0pt'>
  A smart grid gives all consumers - industrial, commercial, and residential - visibility into real-time pricing, and affords them the opportunity to choose the volume of consumption and price that best suits their needs.
• Resists Attack
  A smart grid has security built-in from the ground up.
• Provides Power Quality for 21st Century Needs> style='font-size:11.0pt'>
  A smart grid provides power free of sags, spikes, disturbances and interruptions. It is suitable for use by the data centers, computers, electronics and robotic manufacturing that will power our future economy.
• Accomodates All Generation and Storage Options
  A smart grid enables "plug-and-play" interconnection to multiple and distributed sources of power and storage (e.g., wind, solar, battery storage, etc.)
• Enables Markets
  By providing consistently dependable coast-to-coast operation, a smart grid supports energy markets that encourage both investment and innovation.
• Optimizes Assets and Operates Efficiently> style='font-size:11.0pt'>
  A smart grid enables us to build less new infrastructure, transmit more power through existing systems, and thereby spend less to operate and maintain the grid.

Smart Grid Challenges

Major change usually entails substantial challenges, and the smart grid is no exception. DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory report, A Systems View of the Modern Grid, lists the following as major barriers to achieving smart grids:

• Financial Resources
  The business case for a self-healing grid is good, particularly if it includes societal benefits. But regulators will require extensive proof before authorizing major investments based heavily on societal benefits.
• Government Support
  The industry may not have the financial capacity to fund new technologies without the aid of government programs to provide incentives to invest. The utility industry is capital-intensive, with $800 billion in assets, but it has undergone hard times in the marketplace and some utilities have impaired financial ratings.
• Compatible Equipment
  Some older equipment must be replaced as it cannot be retrofitted to be compatible with smart grid technologies. This may present a problem for utilities and regulators since keeping equipment beyond its depreciated life minimizes the capital cost to consumers. Early retirement of equipment may become an issue.
• Speed of Technology Development
  The solar shingle, the basement fuel cell, and the chimney wind generator were predicted 50 years ago as an integral part of the home of the future. This modest historical progress will need to accelerate.
• Policy and Regulation
  Utility commissions frequently take a parochial view of new construction projects. A critical circuit tie crossing state boundaries has historically met significant resistance. The state financing the project may not always be the one benefiting most from it. Unless an attractive return on smart grid investments is encouraged, utilities will remain reluctant to invest in new technologies.
• Cooperation
  The challenge for 3,000 diverse utilities will be the cooperation needed to install critical circuit ties and freely exchange information to implement smart grid concepts.

A Sampling of U.S. Smart Grid Projects

Xcel Energy

In May, 2008, Xcel began implementation of a smart grid network in Boulder, CO. SmartGridCity^TM is a multi-phase project planned for completion in December 2009. It is expected to provide customers with a portfolio of smart grid technologies designed to provide environmental, financial and operational benefits.

Centerpoint Energy

In May, 2008, CenterPoint Energy filed with the Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC) for an Advanced Metering System (AMS) initial deployment plan. The Company anticipates that it would begin deployment of up to 250,000 interactive meters and related infrastructure over a three-year period.

Oncor

In March 2007, Oncor became the world's first utility to install S&C Electric Company's new TripSaver Dropout Recloser^TM as a part of a Smart Grid initiative in which the electric grid will monitor, think, act, repair and prepare itself to respond quickly to consumer needs. The Smart Grid will heal itself, sense outages as they occur, monitor equipment performance, report back on needed maintenance, and more, all of which will result in an increase in reliability and service quality.

Southern California Edison

Between 2009 and 2012, Southern California Edison plans to replace more than 5 million existing traditional electric meters with next-generation smart devices, making possible money-saving time-differentiated rates and demand response options as well as home area connectivity with appliances of the future. The new meter system will allow Edison customers with smart, communicating thermostats and appliances to set them to respond automatically to periods of peak pricing and grid emergencies, potentially reducing overall peak demand on Edison's grid by as much as 1,000 megawatts -the output of a major power plant. The company also has a joint program with the Ford Motor Company to explore the plug-in hybrid vehicles and vehicle-to-grid technology.

Pacific Gas & Electric

Pacific Gas and Electric is partnering with Tesla Motors to further evolve vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology by researching smart charging - a form of V2G designed to allow remote control charging of electric vehicles connected to the power grid.

American Electric Power

American Electric Power is currently deploying advanced metering and an enhanced infra­structure. Initially systems are expected to be in place by 2010, and will be fully deployed by 2015 to more than five million customers. The company is also collaborating with General Electric to address the full energy pathway from the power plant to the home.

San Diego Gas and Electric

San Diego Gas and Electric is currently deploying smart metering technology that will enable customers to remotely control many different automated digital devices. For example, a homeowner on vacation can use a cell phone to switch appliances on or off, arm a home security system, control temperature gauges, control lighting or program a home entertainment system. On a hot day, the smart meter can send a signal to the home area network to help conserve energy, e.g., a smart refrigerator could reduce energy consumption for the duration of the conservation effort.

A Sampling of Smart Grid Projects in Europe

For an overview of the smart grid revolution in Europe see European Technology Platform (ETP) Smart Grids. It describes how Europe plans to integrate solar power from the South, wave power from the West, and wind power from the North to build the "smart grids of the future" capable of readily transferring bulk power across national boundaries.

As detailed in a recent report, "Dispower, Distributed Generation with High Penetration of Renewable Energy Sources", Europe's power grid "is facing a dramatic change in the near future." As a consequence of European obligations resulting from the Kyoto protocol, the European Commission has set as a goal, the doubling of power generation from renewable energy sources by 2010. To meet this target, the Dispower project was conceived with many partners and a large budget, and the Dispower team has participated in the following smart grid pilot projects:

• Settlement "Am Steinweg" in Stutensee, Germany (Dispower Report, Pg. 79)
  This pilot represents a typical residential area. It presents only residential loads in a low voltage grid connected to one transformer. The site is a good example of distributed generation with a large percentage of renewable energy into a low voltage grid. One experiment called, "washing with the sun", consisted of alerting 22 families as to which time periods they could make optimal use of solar energy. Families who responded were credited with a financial bonus on their electric bill. The report states that, " large percentage of these families responded favorably to this opportunity.
• San Agustin del Guadalix, Spain (Dispower Report, Pg. 80)
  This pilot includes both residential and commercial consumers. It consists of power supplied to building loads as well as to an experimental grid that supports the installation and re-configuration of a number of distributed components, and incorporates a variety of different power generating units such as photovoltaic panels, wind turbines and diesel generators. The energy management system enables power quality to be monitored and tested with varying configurations of distributed generators, storage systems and loads.
• Supply Centre East, Germany (Disponer Report, Pg. 80)
  This pilot incorporates both commercial and industrial loads in six different buildings. Power sources include a battery system with a bi-directional inverter and a 5.5 kW co-generation plant. It also includes a high-bit-rate communication system that supports messaging between units solely via their power line connections. The utility can readily check to see how much it saves by managing the battery operation, and it can thereby benchmark future pricing to a privately owned Combined Heat and Power (CHP) facility.

A Sampling of Smart Grid Projects in Asia

• India
  According to Anil Razdan, Central Power Ministry Secretary, India's demand for power is increasing at an annual rate of 8-10%. In October 2008, the "Smart Grids India" conference will be held to discuss the infrastructure requirements to "modernize the grid" and to turn a "dumb grid" into a "smart grid". Indian utilities are challenged to achieve the ambitious target set by the power ministry to provide "Power to all by 2012." According to California based Echelon, this will take a roughly $100 billion investment in technologies for generation, distribution, transmission, and monitoring.
  
  India is also home to one of the weakest electric grids in the world. According to its Ministry of Power, India's transmission and distribution losses are among the highest in the world, averaging 26% of total electricity production, with some states as high as 62%. When non-technical losses such as energy theft are included in the total, average losses are as high as 50%. This creates a powerful incentive for introducing smart grid components, and the meter market in India is estimated at 100 million nodes!
  
  In July, 2008, Rabirashmi Abasan in Kolkata (greater Calcutta area) became the first housing project in India where residents have the option of generating power in rooftop solar photovoltaic panels, and selling it to the power grid utility. From now on, their electricity bills will reflect the difference between the energy consumed from the utility and how much they send to the grid.
  
  
• China
  In April, 2007, the MIT Forum on the Future of Energy in China took place in Shanghai. This led to the formation of the Joint US-China Cooperation on Clean Energy (JUCCCE), a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) dedicated to bringing together the international expertise and technologies to accelerate the use of clean and efficient energy in China.
  
  According to JUCCCE, China has a unique opportunity to apply innovative measures to its power grid, as it is building a new electricity infrastructure at an unprecedented pace. As China rapidly builds new power generation, new transmission lines, and sells new appliances to consumers, it is important that this extended, integrated electrical grid be intelligent because China opens a new coal plant (large enough to supply all the households in Dallas or San Diego) each week!
  
  Since 1/3 of particulate matter pollution in California comes from China, one of JUCCCE's primary goals is to identify and catalyze a regional pilot for a smart grid in China. In addition, JUCCCE will be giving away 10 million light bulbs at no cost to households in Shanghai, the pilot city for a Clean Lighting Conversion program. This project alone will result in the reduction of over 2 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the five year lifespan of the bulbs.