Edited by CEN Staff

For years technology firms and utility companies have pondered the future of the electric grid and the importance of making it an efficient, secure, and flexible operation.  The major stumbling block seems to be the price tag.  At an estimated $1.5 trillion, the conversation goes silent.

Certainly drastic improvements need to be made in order to bring largely antiquated infrastructure into the 21st century.  Much of the United States’ power infrastructure is decades old.  In places the grid is as congested as any freeway
during rush hour traffic.

Enter the smart grid.  Energy intelligence can be defined as methods and technologies used to make energy usage much more efficient through smart grid connectivity, power distribution, and communications between consumers and utilities.  Smart meters and the supporting advanced metering infrastructure (known as AMI) are able to provide this energy intelligence.  Together these technologies form the future smart grid.

The smart grid will allow utilities and power providers to efficiently manage the generation and supply of power according to consumer consumption patterns. As a result, power is distributed much more efficiently and the load is reduced.  Active power-distribution management allows efficient distribution of power – including that from renewable resources such as wind and solar energy when it is available.

Once smart meters have been installed and the advanced metering infrastructure deployed, customers can make informed decisions regarding their energy consumption.  Consumers can choose to only use energy during times when it is cheapest; or pay more to consume at peak times.  Consumers only need to be provided with the necessary information to make the decision to lose less power – only the smart grid can provide this information.

A potential problem lies in bringing solar and wind power into the smart grid.  Engineers will be needed who have been trained in power electronics.  Universities widely taught this subject two or three decades ago but today very few teach it.

“Power electronics is really going to be the critical area, along with interface technologies for converting AC current to DC and vice versa,” said Dick DeBlasio, laboratory program manager for the National Renewable Energy Labs’ electricity programs.

Ultimately, America’s power grid must bring the largely antiquated power grid into the 21st century.  Considering much of it is decades-old and based on 50-year old analogue technology; making the shift to modern digital technology will be a major endeavour.  “Interoperability is really the big part of the focus for researchers and engineers,” adds DeBlasio.  One problem is where to install sensors in buildings and throughout the distribution system.

Establishing control and monitoring of the electrical system where between 10 and 15 percent of power is lost in delivery presents another problem.  Power storage is another critical problem for the smart power grid.  The most plentiful renewable power sources, wind and solar, are only available intermittently available.  Some methodology for efficiently storing and distributing stored renewable power must be discovered.

Smart grid research and development largely focuses on four broad areas: infrastructure and communications standards, load-management and monitoring technology, smart meter technology, and advanced components and operating concepts.

“We have a chance to be an early adopter of this technology,” said John Kunhart, co-founder and managing director of American River Ventures.

Establishing standard infrastructure early on is important to stimulate the development of a nationwide smart grid.  Universal standards have been put forward, such as the IEEE 1547 standards series for connecting distributed resources with the power grid from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Source: National Renewable Energy Laboratory
http://www.nrel.gov