What Is the Smart Grid and Why Should We

Care?By: Roger Hicks

For: Rachel Carson Middle SchoolJanuary 26, 2012

What is Electric Power?

What Does Electric Power Look Like?

Voltage Level (volts) X Current Flow (amps) = Power (watts)

Alternating Power Waveform

1/60th of a second per cycle = 60 Hz

A spinning electric generator outputs a waveform like this

If the generator stops spinning the current stops flowing and the lights go out.!

What is the GRID?

The National Electric Power Grid

What Are The Parts Of The Electric Power Grid?

Power Generation Plants (power plants)

Transmission Networks (wires)

Distribution System (wires, transformers, switches)

Consumption and Monitoring(loads)

Power Generation - Central

Easy to Schedule

Power Generation - Distributed

Solar

Wind

Hard to Schedule

Power Transmission

The 100 yr old Electric Power Grid Will Soon Go Through a Rapid Evolution

Power Distribution

Sub-Station TransformerNeighborhood

Transformer

At The Home

Watt-Hour Meter

Load Center(Breaker Box)

Loads

Home Energy Information Display(Future?)

TransmissionSubstation

DistributionUltimate Customers

of Electricity

History – last 100 years +History – last 100 years +

What are the Grid

Problems?

Hard To Remotely Detect Faults

A power company may not know a line is down until someone calls them about a power outage

We Have To Build New Capacity To Meet Increasing Demand

The Cost per Watt of Power for New Generation is Getting More Expensive All The Time

The Output To Meet New Demand Has More Than Doubled in Less Than 20 Yrs

Unused Capacity is a Waste of Money

We spend money on a system that big enough to handle the total load -which does not happen all the time.

capacity

Peak Loads Are Rare And The Cost of That Peak Power Source is Expensive

Because we want our power to always be on we pay a high price for meeting peak demand just a few hours per year

New Loads Are Going to Impact The Stability of The Electric Grid

If there are a lot of plug-in electric cars and everyone plugs in at the same time (evening) to charge up the grid could be overloaded.

Cannot Easily Store Electricity For Later Use

Have to back up renewable wind and solar power with other sources which may be hard to secure.

We Don’t Know Our Personal Fuel Mix

Users have no information to tell them the mix of fuels being used for the electricity they are using when they use it.

No Transparency of Real Electric Costs or Shifting of Load Based on

Price IncentivesWould people use energy differently if they were charged what it really cost in real time?

How Will The Grid Becomes Smarter

EPRI – The Green Grid

A Smarter Grid Will….• Make it easier for people to get information about

the electricity they use so they can make better choices about how they want to consume energy.

• Make it easier for power providers to know about the health of the grid and take actions to make it more reliable and efficient.

• Make it easier to fully integrate the intermittent power production from distributed renewable generation sources.

Smart Grid Things to Work On

It’s Time to Think Different

• While the Smart Grid will utilize the latest technology to achieve its goals, it is not just about technology.

• Implementation of the Smart Grid will require a complete rethinking of the public policy, utility business models, business processes and consumer behavior.

• This is a real paradigm shift!

Thank You

Extra

Why All This Interest In Energy?• Electricity is one of the largest and most capital-intensive sectors of the

economy. – Total asset value is estimated to exceed $800 billion, with approximately 60% invested in power

plants, 30% in distribution facilities, and 10% in transmission facilities.

• Annual electric revenues – the Nation’s “electric bill” – are about $247 billion– Paid by America’s 131 million electricity customers, which includes nearly every business and

household.– There are more than 3,100 electric utilities and additionally, there are nearly 2,100 non-utility power

producers, including both independent power companies and customer-owned distributed energy facilities.

• “The grid of the future will require $165 billion over the next 20 years” - EPRI– The benefits to society will be $638 to 802 billion. The cost-benefit is 4 to 1.

• There are a lot of risks we face by staying on the current path.– Uncertain access to fuel resources – cost may go out of control– Increasing harm to the atmosphere – global warming may change the planet– Unpredictable power outages – cascading grid failures disrupt commerce– Poor utilization of economic capital – unnecessary cost increases for energy users

What is the Smart Grid?• According to US Department of Energy (DOE):

–Smart Grid is the term used for an electricity delivery system that is integrated with modern digital and information technology to provide improved reliability, security, efficiency and ultimately lower cost to the user.

What is the Smart Grid?• According the Federal Energy Regulation Commission (FERC)

– “The Smart Grid means a lot of things, but for us, the Smart Grid means a more efficient transmission system that can reduce emissions and increase reliability,” FERC Commissioner Philip Moeller said. “For example, by minimizing line losses, Smart Grid technologies will allow generators to produce less energy and less pollution, while delivering the same amount of electricity to customers.”

• According to Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)– The term Smart Grid may be best understood as the overlaying of a

unified communications and control system on the existing power delivery infrastructure to provide the right information to the right entity (e.g. end-use devices, T&D system controls, customers, etc.) at the right time to take the right action.

– It is a system that optimizes power supply and delivery, minimizes losses, is self-healing, and enables next-generation energy efficiency and demand response applications.

Goals and Characteristics, Which Together Characterize a Smart Grid

From: FERC – Smart Grid Policy, March 2009

• Integration of “smart” appliances and consumer devices.• Deployment and integration of advanced electricity storage and peak-

shaving technologies, including plug-in electric and hybrid electric vehicles, and thermal storage air conditioning.

• Provision to consumers of timely information and control options.• Development of standards for communication and interoperability of

appliances and equipment connected to the electric grid, including the infrastructure serving the grid.

• Identification and lowering of unreasonable or unnecessary barriers to adoption of smart grid technologies, practices, and services.

Goals and Characteristics, Which Together Characterize a Smart Grid

From: FERC – Smart Grid Policy, March 2009

• Increased use of digital information and controls technology to improve reliability, security, and efficiency of the electric grid.

• Dynamic optimization of grid operations and resources, with full cyber-security.

• Deployment and integration of distributed resources and generation, including renewable resources.

• Development and incorporation of demand response, demand-side resources, and energy efficiency resources.

• Deployment of “smart” technologies (real-time, automated, interactive technologies that optimize the physical operation of appliances and consumer devices) for metering, communications concerning grid operations and status, and distribution automation.

Smart Grid Knowledge Domains

Smart Grid

AMI

DR

HAN DG

EV

T&D

RPS

C&T

FERCTOU

EMS

REP

Renewable portfolio standard

Cap and Trade

Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission

Time of Use Rates

Renewable Energy

Payments

Energy Management

Systems

Advanced Metering

Infrastructure

Demand Response

Distributed Generation

Electric Vehicles

Home Area Networks

Transmission and

Distribution

Source: NETL – A Systems View of the Modern Grid – Spring 2009Visit our website at www.netl.doe.gov/moderngrid/ to find out how you canbecome more involved in this national effort to modernize the grid.

Smart Grid Ingredients

Capgemini

The Vision of the Smart Grid

What Are The Utilities Doing?

From Grid 2030 report by US DOE 2003

Benefits of the Smart Grid

• Summary of Energy-Savings & Carbon-Reduction Mechanisms Enabled by a Smart Grid

EPRI – The Green Grid

Copyright © 2009 EnerNex Corporation. All rights reserved

Communications Will Change

Smart Grid Standards Assessment andRecommendations for Adoption and

Development, February 2009Copyright © 2009 EnerNex Corporation. All rights reserved.