This entire section is from (68), how do we want to reference it? Title 13 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 sets $100 million per fiscal year from 2008-2012, in addition to other reimbursements and incentives, to help the United States implement this smart energy grid. It is also an infrastructure improvement that is being promoted by the European Union. It is, however, having trouble being introduced in the United States for a number of reasons. The first is that current regulatory environments don't reward utilities for improvements in operational efficiency, so as long as carbon is not taxed and energy remains cheap, it is unlikely utilities will voluntarily undergo these infrastructure changes. There are also concerns with the amount of information a smart electrical grid would make possible, which is a concern for some privacy advocates. Finally, part of a smart grid system is that it allows for real time monitoring of supply and demand and price energy in real time, which becomes a concern when lower income households can't afford or even predict their energy costs. One of the main reasons there is a push for the production of a smart grid is the way microprocessor-based technologies that we have grown to rely so heavily upon can alter the nature of the electrical load and result in electricity demand that is unlike anything the grid was designed to handle 120 years ago. This can lead to electric service reliability problems, power quality disturbances, blackouts, and brownouts. The grid must be updated to be able to meet current demands for âdigital-grade electricityâ that is very quality sensitive and highly demand variable. This new grid have at its heart smart meters that are connected by broadband back to the utilities in real time so information can move in both directions regarding demand, usage, costing, outages, power quality, etc. In the current electrical grid, control rests with the generating plants, transmission lines, and substations, and information travels in only one direction, from the users to the utilities, usually in form of someone checking the meter once every couple months. The producers must guess at the demand and try to meet it before they know what it is, and much aim on the high side because guessing low on demand will result in brownouts or rolling blackouts. This demand varies quite wildly, especially now with more high tech electronics that are not used on a regular schedule, and with the future of electrical cars. To meet this constantly varying demand, utilities must keep spare generating plants in standby mode, which is not only in itself expensive, but doubly so because these plants that are held in standby tend to be the least efficient plants. The last 10% of generating capacity available may only be used 1% of the time, but is still necessary to avoid brownouts and blackouts. One solution to this is Demand Response, which puts high consuming appliances on timers to be used during off peak hours, but this is again simply another layer of guessing, this time by the consumer, and can not react to changing conditions in real time. The smart grid will allow generators and loads in interact in real time through broadband communications technology. A couple of other important notes about the new smart grid is that it will be designed in a network arrangement and will be much more decentralized. This network arrangement is in contrast with the primarily radial arrangement of the grid now. The difference is that a network arrangement is one where every node is connected to the system by more than one connection, so if one connection goes down, another can pick up the slack, it has built in redundancy. Currently, most of the electrical grid is designed radially, which is the equivalent of spokes on a wheel, with every node connected to one center node through a straight line, and with that center node connected to yet another larger node in a similar arrangement. The second point of interest is that the smart grid will be more decentralized. That means that it will accommodate a large number of small generating plants, such as individual homes or farms, as opposed to having all of the electricity come from a few large power plants. A few ways that this smart grid will work to improve efficiency and to give the user more control:
- Rather than needing to hold backup generators on standby, when loads increase, the grid can warn all individual users or a few large customers, to reduce consumption for a short period of time while the generator boots up and comes online. This can be done through direct communication or through pricing
- Individuals can set appliances to run only during certain times or day, or only at certain energy costs, or only when using energy from a green source, for example. While this is not likely for something like a stove for cooking meals or a television during a big sporting event, it may help make decisions on more leisurely activities or on when to charge all of your portable devices.
Here are some of the defining functions of a smart electrical grid:
- Look at (68) for a chart of traditional vs. smart grid. Also, this list is straight off Wikipedia, but its worded so nicely, I don't want to change it yet.
- âSelf-healingâ â Using real-time information from embedded sensors and automated controls to anticipate, detect, and respond to system problems, a smart grid can automatically avoid or mitigate power outages, power quality problems, and service disruptions. This is opposed to the current grid where sometimes the utility doesn't know about a problem until a customer reports it.
- Empower Consumers â A smart grid incorporates consumer equipment and behavior in grid design, operation, and communication. This enables consumers to better control âsmart appliancesâ and âintelligent equipmentâ in homes and businesses, interconnecting energy management systems in âsmart buildingsâ and enabling consumers to better manage energy use and reduce energy costs. Advanced communications capabilities equip customers to exploit real-time electricity pricing, incentive-based load reduction signals, or emergency load reduction signals.
- More Reliable â Technologies better identify and respond to manmade or natural disruptions. Real-time information enables grid operators to isolate affected areas and redirect power flows around damaged facilities.
- Accommodate Generation Options â As smart grids continue to support traditional power loads they also seamlessly interconnect fuel cells, renewables, microturbines, and other distributed generation technologies at local and regional levels. Integration of small-scale, localized, or on-site power generation allows residential, commercial, and industrial customers to self-generate and sell excess power to the grid with minimal technical or regulatory barriers. This also improves reliability and power quality, reduces electricity costs, and offers more customer choice.
- Optimize Assets â A smart grid can optimize capital assets while minimizing operations and maintenance costs. Optimized power flows reduce waste and maximize use of lowest-cost generation resources. Harmonizing local distribution with interregional energy flows and transmission traffic improves use of existing grid assets and reduces grid congestion and bottlenecks, which can ultimately produce consumer savings.
While this may all sound a far way off, remember that the US legislation passed to implement this funds the years from 2008-2012.