Power Line Communication in Energy Markets

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    POWER LINE COMMUNICATION IN ENERGY MARKETSBy Antonio De Lima Fernandes, and Pooja Dave, Product Marketing Engineer, Cypress Semiconductor Corp.

    What is Power Line Communication?

    Power Line Communication (PLC) is a communication technology which enables sending data over existing power cables.This means that, with just power cables running to an electronic device (for example) one can both power it up and at thesame time control/retrieve data from it in a half-duplex manner.

    PLC Market: Overview

    Segments

    For the purpose of understanding, PLC can be broadly viewed as

    1. Narrowband PLC

    2. Broadband PLC

    Narrowband PLC works at lower frequencies (3-500 kHz), lower data rates (up to 100s of kbps) and has longer range (up toseveral kilometers) which can be extended using repeaters. Broadband PLC works at higher frequencies (1.8-250 MHz), highdata rates (up to 100s of Mbps) and is used in shorter range applications. Recently, narrowband Power Line Communicationhas been receiving widespread attention due to its applications in the Smart Grid. Another application that narrowband PLChas been used in is smart energy generation, particularly in micro-inverters for solar panels.

    Broadband PLC, in contrast, is mainly found acceptance as a last-mile solution for internet distribution and home networking.With its high data rates and no additional wiring, broadband PLC is seen as an exciting and effective technology for multimediadistribution within homes. This optimism in the markets is reflected by the recent acquisitions of Intellon by Atheros,Coppergate by Sigma, DS2 by Marvell and finally Gigle by Broadcom, all in the Home Area Networking (HAN) segment.

    There is another way to classify Power Line Communication and that is as

    PLC over AC lines PLC over DC linesWhilst most companies are currently geared towards providing AC-PLC solutions, PLC in DC lines also has applications. Twosuch applications are PLC over the DC-bus in distributed energy generation, and PLC in transportation (electronic controls inairplanes, automobiles and trains). This reduces wiring complexity, weight and ultimately cost of communications insidevehicles. However, in this article, we will be dealing mostly with narrowband PLC over AC lines.

    Competition

    The narrowband PLC market is seeing healthy competition, with a large number of PLC suppliers joining the fray.

    Cypress Semiconductor

    Echelon ST Microelectronics Yitran Texas Instruments Maxim Semitech Semiconductor Ariane Controls ADD Semiconductor Microchip

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    BPSK Medium Low

    FSK Medium Low

    SFSK Low Medium

    OFDM High High

    OFDM in particular offers high data rate but requires computational horsepower to churn out Fast Fourier Transforms (FFT)and Inverse-FFT (IFFT) as required by the scheme. On the other hand, BPSK, FSK are robust, simple but offer lower datarates. The current trend is to move towards OFDM with PSK modulation (G3 and probably P1901.2). Such heavy computationwill require DSP capability, whereas FSK, PSK and SFSK can be accomplished by a microcontroller.

    Standards

    Various standards have been developed in order to ensure reliable communications and inter-operability, especially for thesmart grid and home networking. Examples of such standards are

    Table 3. Specifications of narrowband PLC standards

    Standard Technology Frequency band Bit rate (kbps)

    G3-PLC OFDM 36-90.6kHz 5.6-45PRIME OFDM 42-89kHz 21.4-128.6

    IEEE P1901.2 OFDM 9-500kHz Coming SoonANSI/EIA 709.1,.2 BPSK 86, 131kHz 3.6-5.4

    KNX S-FSK 125-140kHz 1.2IEC61334 S-FSK CENELEC-A 2.4

    These, along with the organizations that govern them like CENELEC, FCC, ARIB, Homeplug Power Alliance specify ranges foroperation of PLC. If a worldwide standard for PLC were to be established, this would have a positive impact on adoption ofPLC. So far, the G3-PLC standard is touted as the most robust scheme available, and the IEEE 1901.2 working group iscommitted to developing a universally acceptable standard.

    Frequencies

    Different regions of the world have different frequency bands allocated to narrowband PLC. The table below summarizes thedifferent frequencies available for narrowband PLC communication in the respective region.

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    Table 4. Narrowband PLC frequency ranges for various regions

    Region RegulatoryBody

    FrequencyBand

    Note

    Europe CENELEC 3-95kHz95-125kHz125-140kHz140-148.5kHz

    A Energy providersB Reserved for usersC Reserved for users, regulated CSMA accessD Reserved for users

    Japan ARIB 10-450kHzChina EPRI 3-90kHz

    3-500kHzNot Regulated

    USA FCC 10-490kHz

    Where

    CENELEC - European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization.ARIB Association of Radio Industries & BusinessesEPRIElectric Power Research InstituteFCC Federal Communications Commission

    ApplicationsEarlier, we saw that PLC is widely used in the Smart Grid and in micro-inverters. As the market gets familiar with thistechnology, PLC should see wider adoption in other applications like lighting (e.g. Traffic light control, LED dimming), industrial(eg. UPS communicating to a network device, irrigation control), machine-to-machine (eg. Vending machines, a hotelsreception-to-room communication), telemetry (eg. Offshore oil rigs), transport (e.g. Electronics in cars, trains and airplanes)and indeed, applications of PLC are only limited by ones creativity. In this article, we will find out a little more about PLC in

    energy generation and conservation markets.

    Energy Generation and Consumption:

    Today, Smart Energy has become a much-publicized buzzword. It could describe anything from energy production, to efficientuse of that energy. As we will shortly see, PLC plays a vital role in making our energy practices smart.

    PLC in Energy Generation

    Renewable energy is growing at a brisk rate, having showcased a growth of 35.2% in 2010. A bulk of this growth came from anear doubling of Photovoltaic (PV) installations around the world. Further contribution came from increase of installed windenergy capacity; for instance in 2010 China grew its installed capacity by 64%.

    In order for a Distributed Generation (DG) system to supply the grid power, its DC output must be converted by an inverter intoclean, reliable AC power. Thus a typical DG system consists of the Energy production device (for e.g. the solar panel, the wind

    turbine, an electric vehicle), the inverter, the cabling and the communications. If we consider the specific case of solar powergeneration, until recently, most PV installations used central inverters or string inverters, in which case the performance of thesystem could be monitored with a few say, Ethernet connections to the inverters.

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    Figure 1. Roof-top solar panel installation with micro-inverters

    Today, there is a growing trend towards micro-inverters and power optimizers. These function at the individual solar panellevel, and most suppliers provide monitoring capability for each of these modules. This provides vital performance statisticsover the lifetime of the solar panel, and this can be used to detect and pinpoint performance issues. To implement suchmonitoring capability, one could use wireless Zigbee, Wi-Fi, RF, and Bluetooth; or wired PLC, RS-485, RS-232, Ethernetamongst others. In the case of micro-inverters, the implementation of a wireless solution can be challenging because of

    Its line of sight requirement micro-inverters are generally located behind a solar panel

    More complicated installation

    EMI problems

    Alternatively, other wired technologies involve extra cabling and thus greater installation and maintenance costs. PLC can beboth simpler and more economical.

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    MPPT DC-DC DC-AC

    ISLANDDETECT

    Solar Photovaltaic (PV)Array

    DC-DC conversion raises theincoming PV voltage; MPPT

    will adjust its output forgreatest efficiency

    DC-AC conversion for

    feeding power into the home /grid

    Maximum power poin ttracker; Dynamically adjustthe DC bus voltage of the

    solar array to its optimumvalue as sunlight and

    temperature conditions vary

    Communication interfacebetween micro-inverter &

    central control unit (in home /office)

    Detect when power from theelectric utility no longer

    present; micro-inverter stopssupplying power to grid

    Home / Grid

    REG.CHECKS

    Regulatory checks(UL/IEEE/IEC requires thatthe inverter operates within

    certain parameters)

    EM IFi l ter

    Aux i l ia ryP owerSupply

    LC D

    Display

    and User

    In te r face

    PL C

    Figure 2. Block Diagram of a Micro-inverter

    Above we see the typical building blocks of a micro-inverter. The CY8CPLCxx chip, complete with PHY, network protocol andprogrammable application layer, has additional resources that allow for taking external sensor input. Thus vital parameters liketemperature at each module, maximum power point, potential faults, and power generated can be monitored. Through the

    power line, these statistics can be viewed locally on an LCD display, or even remotely via the web. In case of faults, eachmicro-inverter can be switched off individually. Under-performing units can be repaired or replaced. Importantly, with PLC,installation and maintenance is simple and economical because of no additional sockets/wiring required - just plug and play.From the point of view of an equipment manufacturer, designing PLC into the system is straightforward because of Cypresscertified and tested reference designs.

    PLC in Energy Consumption market

    It is estimated by 2020, Europe will have 80% coverage of smart meters and the rest of the world is expected soon to followsuit. PLC is the predominant communication method in Automatic Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and also is being rapidlyadopted in other applications. In this section we will discuss the energy consumption market from two perspectives, namely

    1. Smart Grid AMI, Smart Appliances and V2G

    2. Other applications Two examples will be discussed here Data center power distribution and Lighting control.

    Smart Grid

    Mr. Carnegie, waiting for his flight at the San Francisco international airport, browses through his inbox on his smart phone,when he receives a mail from the local energy provider informing him about peak pricing coming into effect in the next fourhours, back home in Dallas. He knows that his Air Conditioning will turn off automatically during this time. Knowing theelectricity rates at this hour, he decides to check up on his solar panels by just a touch on his smart phone screen. While thismay seem to be science fiction, smart grids, empowered by PLC solutions, are making it a reality.

    The Smart Grid is essentially modernization of the transmission and distribution aspects of the electrical grid. This intelligentpower distribution infrastructure enables two-way communication between the consumers and the utility. The consumers use

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    home networks to communicate with their smart meter, which further communicates with the utility (Advanced MeteringInfrastructure-AMI). The Smart Grid definition does not stop at energy utilization; supply of energy to the grid from DistributedGeneration (DG) sources like solar and wind fall into the same category. The DG system also includes Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) -

    bi-directional sharing of electricity between Electric Vehicles (EVs) and Plug-in Electric Hybrid Vehicles (PHEVs) and theelectric power grid. In this article, we will talk about AMI, Smart Appliances and V2G.

    Concentrators

    SolarPanelsWindTurbines

    CorporateOffices

    CallCenters

    MeteringDatabaseManagementCentre

    SmartMeteringPowerLines

    GenerationandDistributionSubstations

    ElectricVehicle Office/Home

    Figure 3: The Smart Grid

    Advanced Metering Infrastructure:

    The whole measurement and collection system that includes meters at the customer site, communication networks betweenthe customer and a service provider, such as an electric, gas, or water utility, and data reception and management systems,that make the information available to the service provider, are referred to as AMI.

    The Smart Meters transmit the collected data through commonly available fixed networks such as Power LineCommunications (PLC), Fixed Radio Frequency (RF) networks, and public networks (e.g. landline, cellular, paging) which isaggregated by a concentrator, sent to the utility and then to a Meter Data Management System for data storage, analysis andbilling (see Figure 3). Studies show that Narrowband PLC is best suited for AMI with over a 100 million NB-PLC devicesinstalled to date.

    Utilities are investing billions of dollars in AMI systems. PLC solution for data transmission needs no new infrastructure, unlikewireless, as it uses the existing power cables. Power line carrier systems have long been a favorite at many utilities because itallows them to reliably move data over an infrastructure that they control. Utilities may also use public cellular as the backhaulfor the AMI data due to its footprint, zero implementation cost and low monthly fee. But on many occasions they may not beable to provide 100 percent coverage of a utilitys entire customer base. Alternatively, using wireless networks, RF solutions orPLC for data transmission will solve this issue. Rural utilities or the utilities located at challenging locations (for e.g.mountainous terrains) which are ill-served by wireless will have a difficulty communicating with the consumers. Additionally,

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    wireless and RF solutions have reduced data rates in presence of interference like Bluetooth devices, cordless phones,concrete objects, hills and even trees. PLC can communicate to any location connected via the powerline and has no line-of-sight requirement for data transmission. One of the most important considerations, due to the volume of network traffic

    inherent to the smart grid network, is congestion mitigation. As compared to wireless solutions based on ZigBee or Wi-Fi, PLC-based AMI have a proven track record of being better suited to avoid network congestion in emergency situations. Another oftcited requirement is that of redundancy in the communication channel with the ubiquity of power lines, deploying a redundantchannel becomes more economical.

    Various applications would include remote monitoring, outage management (which includes fault detection of MV equipment),Demand Response (i.e. managing customer consumption of electricity in response to grid supply conditions), island detection(i.e. ensuring that local grids are not being powered by the DG system when there is no power present from the electric grid)and fraud/theft detection.

    Figure 4: Advanced Metering Infrastructure

    Smart Appliances:

    A Home Area Network (HAN) is a communication-enabled home where all electrical appliances are connected in a meshthrough Wireless, RF or PLC. Electrical appliances, today, are connected in a network with two-way communication enabled,

    with each other as well as the substation. These Smart Appliances allow automation and control from single or multiple accesspoints.

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    $3,542

    $2,693

    $2,236

    $1,354

    $1,166

    $0 $1,000 $2,000 $3,000 $4,000

    ClothesWasherRefrigerator

    ClothesDryerDishwasher

    Freezer

    SmartApplianceGlobalRevenue(2011)

    USMillions

    Figure 5: Smart Appliances Global Revenue

    In the chart above (Figure 5) you will observe the estimated revenues (US $M) in 2011 made by Smart Appliances (Source:Zpryme Research & Consulting) and is projected to grow with a CAGR of 49% from 2011 to 2015.This gives an insight to thepotential that this industry holds.

    Talking about applications, PLC has made Load Control a reality in many EU Countries. Home appliances, like washingmachine, dryer, dishwasher, oven and stove, refrigerator, freezer, air conditioner and water heater, talk to the Smart Meter,(Refer to previous section for details) which gathers information of peak pricing hours from the utility through PLC. Theappliances can then switch OFF/ON according to the price variations. This is a win-win situation for the consumer who saves

    on the electricity bill, and the utility which can better manage peak demands. PLC also enables appliance monitoring andHVAC control leading to further energy awareness and savings.

    Home automation potentially focuses on the following applications:

    Lighting Appliance/Device Diagnostics and Monitoring Security Access AMI Home health monitoring

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    Figure 6: Cypress PLC in HAN

    In the figure above (Figure 6), the sensors on the appliance side are connected to the Monitor via the Power Line. Anychanges on the appliance end will be reflected on the LCD Display which can be viewed and changed as required. Consumerswill literally have control of their entire house at their fingertips.

    PLC is a considerably more effective in home networks. HAN being realized by Wireless/Zigbee, will need new infrastructureto be installed. Moreover, penetrating physical barriers like walls within one floor, or reaching out to different floors is achallenge for Wireless. Wireless networks often face performance issues, like mentioned in the previous section, due to RFinterference caused by devices like microwave oven, cordless phones or even Bluetooth devices at home. PLC on the otherhand can reach out to every node connected via the power line. It converts virtuallyeverysocket in ones home into an accesspoint, in many ways incorporating the best of wired and wireless communication.

    Vehicle-to-Grid Communication:

    Plug in electric vehicles (BEVs and PHEVs) communicate with the power grid, both, to charge itself and to deliver electricityinto the grid.

    Different versions of V2G would include a Fuel-cell vehicle, a battery powered vehicle or a solar vehicle. In all cases, thevehicle provides power to the grid at peak load conditions and charges itself at night, when the demand is low.

    A variety of data like vehicle identification, current battery status, maximum allowed charge current and number of phases,charging times (e.g. delayed charging start) and overall 'charged' electricity amount with associated costs is needs to beexchanged with the EVSE (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment). PLC has a distinct advantage here because an unambiguousphysical association between the vehicle and a specific EVSE can be established - this aids in authentication and security.This is clearly something that is not possible to accomplish with wireless solutions even if short range. PLC further connectsthe EVSE to the meter and the smart grid. This technology is still in its infancy with no existing standards but promises to bean exciting trend to watch out for in the next decade.

    Other Applications

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    In order to give readers a glimpse of the enormous potential of PLC in the energy consumption market, 2 applications will bedealt with in detail. PLC in data center power distribution networks, and PLC in Lighting.

    Smart Power in Data Centers:

    The Problem:

    With the rise of cloud computing and internet services, data centers and collocation facilities continue to show consistentdouble digit growth. Data center downtime is completely unacceptable due to loss of revenue and reputation that it causes.Such downtime is primarily caused by UPS battery failure, UPS overloading, and circuit breaker failure. Another criticalconcern for data centers is energy efficiency of devices because of rising unit electricity costs and additional cooling costs.Simultaneously, companies who outsource their computing requirements want access to all performance metrics of theirsystems including power at various levels. Adding communication between devices is a challenge, because wireless cannotwork reliably in the data center environment whilst wired communication would exacerbate the problem of cable clutter.

    NetworkDevices

    Monitoring

    Figure 7. Monitoring the cloud

    Consider traditional power distribution architecture in a data centre a highly simplified diagram is shown below for thepurpose of understanding:

    PSU 1UPS 2 PDU 2

    Network

    device 2PSU 2

    PSU 1UPS 1 PDU 1 Network

    device 1PSU 2

    Redundant supplyLive supply

    OUT1

    OUT2

    OUT1

    OUT2

    AC MAINS

    Figure 8. Power distribution topology in a typical data center

    AC supply from the grid first flows through the Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), then the Power Distribution Unit (PDU),then converted to DC power at the Power Supply Unit (PSU) and then finally to a Server, Switch, Network storage device or ingeneral, a network device. In such configurations with redundant power provisioning, UPS load rarely exceeds 30% of its ratedcapacity. This is largely because the power topology down-stream from a UPS is not clearly visible at the UPS it is difficult totrace which/how many Network Devices are connected to that UPS. Shown below is the typical efficiency curve for a UPS.

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    0%

    10%

    20%

    30%

    40%

    50%

    60%

    70%

    80%

    90%

    100%

    0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

    Efficiency

    Load (% of full load)

    Rapid drop ofefficiency below 30% Nominal efficiency

    Typical range ofoperation of UPS

    Figure 9. UPS Efficiency versus Load

    In order to avoid costly downtime due to overloading, the data center would prefer to over-design the system operate theUPS at low loads, at the cost of energy efficiency. From the above curve, it is evident that the UPS is not working in its mostefficient range.

    The solution:

    Now consider a PLC-enabled system as below. The UPS, PDU, PSU and Network devices can communicate with each othervia PLC. Consequently, at every stage in the power distribution, the device will have a clear map of power topologydownstream and upstream from it. For ex. UPS 1 knows that it provides power to PSU 1 of Network device 1 and 2. Now,since the devices connected to it are visible, their power requirements are known precisely, and hence the load of the UPScan be safely increased to an optimum level.

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    I2C

    PLC

    Power

    Ethernet/RS232

    PSU 1

    AC MAINS

    UPS 2 PDU 2 Network

    Device 2PSU 2

    PSU 1

    UPS 1 PDU 1Network

    Device 1PSU 2

    OUT1

    OUT2

    OUT1

    OUT2

    Figure 10. PLC-enabled Power distribution topology in a data center

    Thanks to PLC, UPS overloading, battery failure and circuit breaker failure will be reduced, or diagnosed prior to downtime.Thus, introducing PLC in such power distribution architectures will not only increase efficiency of the system, but provide manyother benefits including ease of diagnostics and redundancy in communication for mission critical data centers. And all this,without the messy wiring that data centers dread.

    LED Control:

    One of the predictions for the energy sector in the next decade is the gradual phasing out of incandescent bulbs and theirreplacement by LEDs. LEDs offer an advantage over both CFLs and incandescent bulbs in being fully dimmable, having alonger lifetime, being mercury free, and providing options for adjustable color temperature.

    The problem:

    Take for example, the case of street lighting. A city spends 30-40% of its budget on illuminating the city. The old system of

    street lighting makes no provision for dimming of lights, color temperature control or intelligent switching. Moreover, workersare hired for maintenance patrol i.e. Detecting and reporting failed street lights. Very often, street lights are repairedaftercomplaints are lodged. Millions of dollars could be saved and millions of tons of carbon emissions could be reduced with minoradaption in the streetlight usage pattern.

    The solution:

    Now consider a street lighting system which is PLC enabled say, every LED street light has a PLC device mounted on it.This would allow for monitoring and control of each street light. The advantages of such a system are numerous.

    According to time, traffic, weather and other factors, the street lights can be turned off/dimmed as optimally as possible.This could generate energy and cost savings in excess of 40% - a huge number for any city. A corresponding reduction incarbon emissions is results thus helping cities comply with Kyoto protocol guidelines. Additionally, dimming will increasethe lifespan of the LED lamps thus providing another benefit.

    Lamps which reach the end of their life cycle can be replacedbeforethey fail, with reduced maintenance costs.

    Information of mortality cycle, energy consumption and other factors can be sent to the remote monitoring site and thisused to diagnose problems.

    With the appropriate solution, color temperature of the streetlights can be dynamically adjusted providing betteraesthetics and safety.

    Moreover, all this is done with no additional wiring, no need to dig up roads or build towers PLC is the most suitable andaffordable solution for such an application.

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    Figure11. Cypress' PLC solution for street lighting

    Above is a block diagram of such a PLC solution specifically tailored for High Brightness (HB) LED control. Cypress PLCSolution provides a Powerline optimized Network Protocol which enables individual lighting fixtures or groups of lightingfixtures to be controlled using the existing Powerline infrastructure. Combined with Cypress EZ-Color solution this can beused for intelligent dimming and timed turn-off of HB-LED fixtures.

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    ChallengesPLC, of course has its challenges. Firstly, Power lines were not designed to carry data, and actually behave as low pass filters.Modeling the PL channel is difficult it is a very harsh and noisy transmission medium, frequency-selective, time-varying, andis impaired by colored background noise and impulsive noise. Thus maintaining signal integrity over power lines requiresrobust signaling techniques and hardware. Secondly, the structure of the grid differs across and within countries and the sameapplies for indoor wiring practices. There is no universal standard either for PLC or the grid; steps to ensure interoperability ofdevices need to be taken. Thirdly, questions are being raised today about the digital security of personal information that issent over the power lines because these can be tapped into. Thus establishing privacy safeguards and equally important -convincing the public of these is another large-level issue that is being addressed. Lastly, PLC faces competition from othermeans of communication - both wired and wireless, and ultimately the choice of technology will be decided by a mix of cost,complexity and feasibility. Today, the major competing technologies to narrowband PLC are Zigbee, Wi-Fi, GPRS and RS-232.

    Conclusion

    In the above article, we introduced Power Line Communication, both as a technology and as a market. The various types ofPLC, modulation schemes, standards, frequencies in use today were discussed. Finally, we presented the various applicationsof PLC in energy generation, the smart grid, data-center power distribution networks, and, in LED lighting. Finally, thechallenges of PLC were briefly highlighted.

    We have seen how, in its current applications, PLC has added intelligence into previously dumb power networks. And this isjust the tip of the iceberg. With the increased emphasis on developing PLC technology and standards, we can be confidentthat in the future, Power Line Communication will continue adding smartness to our lines.

    Cypress Semiconductor198 Champion Court

    San Jose, CA 95134-1709Phone: 408-943-2600

    Fax: 408-943-4730http://www.cypress.com

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