Most experts have a different view of the not-too-distant future. Peak demand (757,000 megawatts) is near capacity, and is expected to grow by 19% over the next decade; however, capacity is expected to grow by only 6%. Distribution is as much a part of the problem as generation - the wires and substations that connect electrical generators with consumers are also at or near capacity. The coming imbalance is expected to significantly stress the power grid. With rising fuel prices and other upward pricing pressures, electricity bills are expected to almost certainly increase.
Among power experts there is a consensus that continuing business as usual - building more plants, stringing more wires - is not really an option. Because power-generating capacity must meet peak demand, new capacity may sit idle except for certain times of the year, reducing return on investment. Lack of transmission and substation capacity may prevent electricity from new plants from reaching consumers. And everyone agrees that it would take too long to build new plants and transmission lines, if they could be built at all.
The Smart Grid is envisioned as a way to generate and distribute electricity for the next century. Today's grid that is relatively simple in operation: power is generated in such a way that there is enough to meet demand; however, there is very little way to coordinate production, get consumer feedback, or affect consumption. The Smart Grid relies on two-way communication to do these things, and more. Power industry analysts believe that the Smart Grid the only way to effectively integrate new power generation technologies, such as wind and solar, into the grid while matching supply to demand.
One benefit of the Smart Grid is demand response, allowing consumers to react to pricing signals in near real time. As the price of electricity changes over the course of the day, an advanced meter infrastructure (AMI) enables consumer to adjust demand. Many cities in the U. S. are using AMI to help them meet electrical demand, and more are evaluating such systems.
A wireless broadband network is a quick and cost-effective way to provide two-way communication for AMI. Tropos Networks is the leading provider of metro-scale wireless broadband networks. Many cities have used Tropos MetroMesh routers as the broadband communication network that connects every element of the automated metering infrastructure, and seeing proven benefits.
The Looming Problem
Today's electrical grid is a testament to the durability of 20th-century infrastructure, and is fairly simple and straightforward in the way it works. As shown in Figure 1, electricity is generated, then transmitted and distributed to wholesale, business, and retail users.
Figure 1: The electrical grid consists of power generating, transmission, and distribution capabilities, as well as consumers.
This straightforward design has been scaled up to be the largest power system in the world. With over 800,000 MW of installed capacity, America has more than twice the generating capacity of China, the next largest producer. According to the U. S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the electricity generated in America in 2006 (the latest available at the time of this writing) comes from many sources, but is primarily carbon-based.
Figure 2: Source: EIA
But a 21st-century U.S. economy cannot be built on a 20th-century electric grid. There are many signs that the existing grid cannot lead us into the next century:
- The outmoded infrastructure - much of which dates from as far back as the 1930s -can cause transmission congestion, resulting in unreliable and inefficient operation. The system is designed to ensure that even under peak demand there is enough electricity. The feedback loop between users and generators is crude at best, and often non-existent. Only 60% of the transmission system has Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, the basic technology to find out what is happening on the wires. Only 2% of the local distribution network has SCADA.
- The grid is designed to ensure that supply meets demand, even at peak consumption. The result is too many power plants, some used as little as a few hours per year. Over-generation helps to ensure that there is enough electricity, but unused electricity is lost, and power generation facilities are very expensive. Yet blackouts and power interruptions occur, with an estimated cost to the U. S. economy in excess of $79 billion per year.
- Electrical generating costs are expected to rise as other economies compete for carbon resources that are used primarily to generate U. S. electrical supply. The chart in Figure 2 shows that over two-thirds of U. S. electricity is generated from non-renewable sources.
Electrical demand is rising, and the electrical grid is not keeping pace. Many regions in the United States see generation shortages on the 10-year horizon, yet there are limited plans to expand generation and transmission facilities. The Energy Information Administration estimates that by the year 2030, U. S. electricity consumption will increase by 43% from the 2005 level, even when accounting for advances in energy efficiency.
Using the existing infrastructure, adding additional power plants will require more transmission capabilities. With the rising price of carbon-based fuels, alternative and renewable sources look more attractive. Alternate energy sources - wind and photovoltaic - generate very little of today's electricity, but are expected to be significant factors in the future. While creating electricity from renewable sources, they are not good solutions for the current grid. Electricity from these sources is unreliable, and it cannot be stored for use as needed. For example, solar may be distributed across households, while wind generates more or less power according to the weather.
With strong demand outpacing supply, and the potential for increased costs as emerging economies ramp up their economies utilities, energy companies, and state and local governments have begun to address the issue.
What is a Smart Grid?
There are numerous proposals on how to meet electricity demands for the 21st century, nearly all aimed at improving the "intelligence" of the existing infrastructure. Stuffing power down one end of the line to ensure that there's enough to meet demand at the other is not going to work very much longer. The goal is to generate exactly as much power as needed, transmit and distribute that electricity with little or no loss, and be able to adjust demand if it exceeds available supply. This requires more monitoring and greater levels of control - more intelligence.
The Smart Grid will result by applying smart energy technology to electrical power delivery and generation. A smart grid builds on today's existing grid infrastructure, incorporating cutting-edge power engineering, sophisticated sensing and monitoring technology, information technology, and communications to provide better grid performance. There are many benefits:
- Customers will have access to less expensive power sources, and cleaner, more reliable energy. With more control, consumers can make smart choices about how they use electricity; for example, getting a rate reduction in exchange for allowing the utility to raise the thermostat setting on days where
there is not enough peak power.
- Utilities will gain increased productivity, optimizing the use of power generation, transmission, and distribution. Unlike today, where large power plants must be brought online to meet peak demand, Smart Grid enables more flexibility in generation, transmission, distribution, and usage - improving efficiencies and lowering costs.
- Utilities can take advantage of new technology, such as high temperature superconductivity cable, which are more efficient and enable utilities to directly control power flow. By upgrading key points in the grid, and using them intelligently, energy companies and consumers benefit.
The basic concept of the Smart Grid is to add information technology - monitoring, analysis, control, and communication capabilities - that can optimize all aspects of the grid. With a smarter two-way communications mechanism between a power consumer and provider, both parties get far more control over consumption. Consider Figure 3:
Figure 3: The Smart Grid offers benefits for utility companies and consumers. A high-speed data network connects all aspects, enabling a comprehensive demand-response ecosystem. Utility customer elements are wirelessly linked to local collectors, which are networked to Tropos MetroMesh routers.
- The consumer's electrical meter is connected into a wireless network and AMI, communicating real-time usage information between producer and consumer.
- The wireless network also connects to several appliances in the house, such as thermostat, water heater, and dishwasher. Consumer can choose to have these appliances reduce demand or operate in times of off-peak demand in exchange for lower cost power.
- Consumer power generation, such as home wind turbines or solar panels, can be intelligently tied back into the grid.
- The utility has a complete picture of power usage in their area, including generation and demand requirements.
- Additional supply - exactly what's needed - can be brought online to meet demand. The Smart Grid will have more power generation and transmission options. Blackouts and cascading failures are greatly reduced or eliminated.
- Improved utilization of existing assets reduces demand for new investment.
- Utility and power companies can take advantage of new technologies, where monitoring and feedback helps improve ROI.
- More efficient use of field personnel, and improved customer satisfaction, when addressing outages. Awareness of outages down to the house level enables operators to more easily isolate the root cause. Service levels and customer satisfaction are increased.
- Faster and more accurate meter reading and billing. Manual meter reading is eliminated, saving cost.
The overall goal is to coordinate demand and supply in ways previously not possible. Smart Grid is also positioned to take advantage of new technologies, such as various forms of distributed generation, solar and wind energy, smart metering, lighting management systems, distribution automation, and many more. The overall change that the utility grid needs to make is to go from a centralized generation and distribution model to one that is more distributed and diverse. The Smart Grid will allow utilities to move electricity around the system as efficiently and economically as possible.
The goal is to maximize throughput of the system while reducing the energy consumption through monitoring and control of electrical consumption. The key is integrating communication and control capabilities to optimize the operation of the entire electrical grid.
Integrated two-way communication is already starting to be built. Wireless broadband mesh and fiber optic networks enable substation automation, Automated Meter Reading/Advanced Meter Infrastructure (AMR/AMI), demand response, distribution automation, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), and energy management systems. They are a core technology for:
- Sensing and measurement technologies which are used to evaluate equipment health, grid integrity,
energy theft prevention, congestion relief, and control strategies support.
- Advanced control technologies, which are devices and algorithms that enable rapid diagnosis of and precise solutions to specific grid disruptions or outages.
- Decision support applications, which convert complex data into easily understood information, allowing operators and managers to make good decisions.
Building the Smart Grid
The Federal Smart Grid Task Force was recently established under Title XIII of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 to coordinate smart grid activities across the Federal government. The effort is underway to improve our nation's electrical grid, but shortfalls are expected. Building the Smart Grid is expected to be a massive undertaking, requiring huge investment. According to the US Department of Energy , it is expected to cost $165B over 20 years to implement the Smart Grid. There are significant capital and regulatory, and to a lesser extent technology issues, that must be resolved before the Smart Grid is completed. For example, there is little motivation for existing utilities and Public Utilities Commissions to change.
There are tangible benefits to getting started now, with the first step of upgrading the communication infrastructure. Most utilities find it difficult to justify installing a communications infrastructure for a single application (e.g. meter reading). Because of this, a utility typically must identify several applications that will use the same communications infrastructure - for example, reading a meter, monitoring power quality, remote connection and disconnection of customers, enabling demand response, etc. Ideally, the communications infrastructure will not only support near-term applications, but unanticipated applications that will arise in the future. Regulatory or legislative actions can also drive utilities to implement pieces of a smart grid puzzle. Each utility has a unique set of business, regulatory, and legislative drivers that guide its investments. This means that each utility will take a different path in creating its smart grid and that different utilities will create smart grids at different rates.
Municipally owned utilities that have installed AMI/AMR are seeing real benefits and solid returns on their investment. Anderson, Indiana; Burbank, California; and, Corpus Christi, Texas are using is using Tropos MetroMesh routers as part of an Automated Meter Reading/Advanced Meter Infrastructure (AMR/AMI) solution, enabling them to move away from unconnected mechanical utility meters by linking digital units wirelessly to the network - saving time, effort, and cost while improving service. Once the infrastructure is in place, the cities were able to leverage them into many other uses.
Enabling Demand Response
Demand response is a system that conveys the true cost of power while simultaneously enabling a consumer reaction. Electrical costs can vary drastically during the day. Generating plants of varying efficiency are used to deliver power to consumers, and those used to meet peak demand are typically the most expensive. Demand response programs use rates, incentives and other strategies to help better manage electricity use during periods of high peak demand, lowering costs and electrical bills while reducing blackouts due to insufficient capacity.
A prerequisite to the provision of dynamic pricing is the installation of AMI. Depending on features and geography, AMI investment can cost from $100-$200 per meter, but much of that cost can be recovered through operational benefits such as elimination of manual meter reading costs, faster outage detection and resolution, improved customer service, better management of customer connects and disconnects, and improved distribution management.
There is compelling evidence that demand response works. The California Energy Commission found that customers will reduce their demand by 5.7%, and the FERC estimates that demand response can reduce peak demand by 3-7%, depending on the region. . Progress Energy Florida has used a used demand response to manage customer loads, reducing them by as much as 2,000 megawatts.
We Must Begin Now!
To achieve the full potential of Smart Grid, a communications network must be in place to allow the existing power distribution grid to monitor and measure usage in real time, visualize network performance, and create an infrastructure that engages everyone from system operators to customers very differently. The network must be able to reach every point on the Smart Grid, provide adequate bandwidth and performance, and be cost-effectively deployed. Metro-scale wireless broadband network is an outstanding technology for connecting electrical consumers into the Smart Grid.
Tropos Networks is the leading provider of municipal broadband wireless networks. Tropos MetroMesh routers are up and running in over 500 cities worldwide, including cities that are upgrading their electrical infrastructure. The entire wireless system is based on standards-based 802.11 Wi-Fi. This dramatically reduces customer support issues, while delivering true broadband speeds - up to 6 megabits per second. Tropos routers automatically adapt and adjust to constantly changing conditions, providing optimal throughput without manual adjustment. MetroMesh wireless broadband is less expensive to operate and faster than cellular, and unlike Broadband over Power Line (BPL) MetroMesh routers can operate from batteries or solar power, keeping the network alive when the power is out. However, there are situations where BPL is an appropriate solution, such as networking over long distances, and standards-based MetroMesh routers can easily connect with them.
MetroMesh networks are easily installed. Corpus Christi installed their network, covering 147 square miles, in 18 months, and the city expects a net savings of $30 million over the next 20 years with their AMR/AMI system. Smaller installations, such as the one in Rock Hill, South Carolina took only a few weeks to install. In these cities, and many others, the metro-scale wireless network provides a secure infrastructure for citywide services. Once in place as a cost-effective backbone for AMI, a metro-scale broadband network is also available for:
- Mobile Public Safety - Providing public safety workers in the field with timely access to the information they need to reduce crime and save lives
- Video Surveillance - A cost-effective alternative to adding additional people to increase security coverage, cameras are extending the visual reach of police, fire, lifeguards and park rangers
- Mobile Public Workers - Extending office IT resources to the field improves worker efficiency, lowers costs, and raises citizen satisfaction
AMI - The First Step
Many cities and municipally owned utilities are moving ahead with AMI. Tropos as the AMI communications infrastructure provides a basis for higher value Smart Grid elements. Reducing peak demand requires effective management of the grid and a granular understanding about how power is used throughout the day, on a house-by-house and business-by-business basis. The new system allows two-way communication (AMI), which gives utilities the ability to request and receive energy information as the energy is being used. Smart, networked thermostats in homes and businesses integrate with the meters. The meters will allow automated meter reading (AMR) improving billing accuracy and reducing customer complaints associated with estimated billing. The new system also enables remote disconnects and connects, reducing truck rolls to initiate or terminate service.
Traditionally, users have analog meters that are read only once per month by a meter reader in the field - not a workable system to try and reduce demand as needed. Utility companies see smart metering as a key to managing peak demand - and eliminating the need for new power and transmission facilities - because it could provide a continuous assessment of customer electrical usage and a means to manage it in near real time.
The constant monitoring enabled by the smart grid also can help utilities identify inefficient consumption - such as an old air conditioner or refrigerator - and inform the customers of the problem. In addition, the new system will help reduce repair times when there are utility problems. Rather than
wait for customers to report a problem, a dispatcher can see at a glance how many are affected when there is an outage. This helps determine the root cause quickly and reduce the time for service to be reestablished to customers.
Overall, an AMI is expected to improve customer satisfaction. For example, they can log in to a personalized Web page and check their usage, pay their utility bill, as well as change their usage preferences. For customers who want additional cost savings, the solution can allow the utility to change the air-conditioning temperature on the customer's thermostat based on the customer's preferences. Thus customers who have the flexibility to withstand a warmer temperature during peak periods can save money while helping reduce peak capacity.
Future enhancements are expected to take advantage of "smart appliances" and plug-in hybrid cars, providing electricity to these devices at off-peak (and less expensive) times.
Many City Services, One Communication Network
A secure, pervasive wireless broadband network offers many benefits. Once in place, cities have a communication infrastructure that is scalable, secure and resilient and one which can be leveraged for running multiple municipal services. Many cities that installed MetroMesh for a single application or department went on to use it in new ways. MetroMesh routers are being used in the following applications:
- Water and gas service AMI/AMR
- More productive field service, including centralized account management (remote turn on/off), outage management and notification, and others.
- Public safety, including broadband connectivity for police, fire, and emergency response technicians can improve public safety.
- Video surveillance can reduce crime.
- Mobile public workforce can enable utility crews, building inspectors, and other city personnel who spend time in the field to be more productive.
A broadband wireless network is the first step in tomorrow's utility infrastructure - the Smart Grid. A parallel analogy is when electricity was first installed to power streetlights in the late 19th and early 20th century. For this single use, the installation of the lines was very expensive. But once the electrical system was in place, it created an environment for many other uses, ultimately driving public and economic progress.
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Sidebar - Smart Grid Applications
Smart Thermostat - Business and retail utility customers can sign up for reduced power rates in exchange for allowing the utility company to adjust their thermostat during peak usage periods.
Outage Notification - Outage notification is now possible from the utility out to the ratepayer, enabling root cause analysis. Similarly, power restoration notification is accomplished with detailed knowledge of power status in the field.
Field Services Automation & Field Communication - Mobile voice and data communication in the field enables greater productivity from field-based workers and lower communications costs.
Video Surveillance - Easily monitor controls and facilities at remote substations.
Grid Photo by James Jhs. Creative Commons License Attribution 2.0 Generic
