The global ‘smart grid’ merges two networks, the power network, which manages power, and the communications network, which encompasses the Internet.
The ‘power network’ describes the electrical generation, transmission, and distribution grid that is considered to be the engineering wonder of the 20th century. The ‘communications network’ is considered the Internet marvel of the 21st century.
The U.S. electrical grid is the largest interconnected machine on Earth: 200,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines and 5.5 million miles of local distribution lines, linking thousands of generating plants to factories, homes and businesses. The National Academy of Engineering ranks it as the greatest engineering achievement of the 20th century. What it cannot do is support the massive shift to low-carbon power that scientists warn will be needed to avoid catastrophic climate change impacts.
via U.S. Electrical Grid Undergoes Massive Transition to Connect to Renewables: Scientific American.
The creation of 300 jobs via Eirgrid’s new transmission network indicates how digital networks and future green industries are inextricably linked, says Communications Minister Eamon Ryan TD.
Will the green economy become a mainstream phenomenon?
Much of the infrastructure is in place. Overall, it will take 10 to 20 years. It will start off like the first mobile phones, the big, clunky things you hauled around. Five years later, 15pc of people had one and then, 10 years later, everyone had one. Maybe the first five years will be 'wow, look at that different car', then it will be mainstream. It will also happen in the home; it's an inevitable development.
via SiliconRepublic.com: Green and digital economies are pivotal to Ireland’s future – Green Tech.
American Transmission Co. has entered into two agreements with the United States Department of Energy, accepting investment grants totaling $12.7 million to invest in smart grid technologies to be incorporated into ATC’s transmission system.
“We are pleased to enter into these agreements and take part in the effort to more fully deploy smart grid technologies to enhance the operation of our transmission system”
The DOE in October notified ATC that two of its applications for smart grid investment grants were selected for smart grid grant awards. The grants to ATC are among 100 made nationwide – totaling $3.4 billion – by the DOE to advance smart grid technologies.
Now that Electric Transmission Texas, LLC (ETT) has activated the largest utility-scale battery in the United States, it seems the aphorism “everything’s bigger in Texas” has been extended beyond steaks and steer to include the improvement of transmission reliability and smart grid usage.
The 4-megawatt NAS sodium-sulfur battery was energized on March 31 to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas grid.
via Nation’s Largest Utility-Scale Battery Smooths Power Transmission | EarthTechling.
The smart grid idea aims to save money, reduce pollution, lower costs and create new “green” jobs.
Smart grid is a phrase that refers to a number of things at the same time. It refers to the modernization of the electrical grid itself — the way electricity is transmitted over long distances and then brought to customers. It refers to things in the home, such as appliances that turn themselves off and on at certain hours in order to save energy. And it can refer to the effect electricity will have on other parts of the economy, such as transportation.
British Gas, the major electrical and gas utility in the United Kingdom, has decided to go with Landis+Gyr to build the 1 million smart meters it plans to deploy throughout its coverage area. This is a big victory for the Swiss meter maker, which is racing against American contenders like Itron and Echelon.
Landis+Gyr builds meters that are capable of wirelessly transmitting energy consumption and pricing data in real time between utilities, their customers, and the meters themselves. These meters sit at the heart of the global push toward a cleaner, more efficient Smart Grid. It already partners with utilities like Oncor in Texas and Pacific Gas & Electric in Northern California to supply the meters they deploy to their rate payers.
via Landis+Gyr to supply smart meters to British Gas on way to IPO | VentureBeat.
What is a Smart Grid?
The electric grid is almost like a living organism. Electricity flows through the grid as controllers work to keep things working properly — bringing power plants online, estimating load, balancing the peaks and valleys of demand, and so on.
You can think of today’s existing grid as a “broadcast” system intended to get electricity from central power plants to the houses and businesses where it is needed. The idea behind smart grid is to do a much better job routing power so that it is available where it is needed when it is needed with much more efficient transmission (think superconducting wires, better substation routing, better load estimation, and so on).
Two Triangle companies well-known in the power industry are teaming up to gain an edge in the fast-emerging market for smart-grid technology.
Sensus of Raleigh and ABB in Cary announced their partnership Tuesday in Tampa, Fla., at a conference for the electricity transmission and distribution industry.
The partnership will combine ABB’s strength in power transmission and distribution systems with Sensus’ expertise with advanced utility meters. The two companies plan to develop technologies and applications to help power companies improve fault detection, outage location and power restoration, among other benefits.
via ABB, Sensus form smart-grid team – Technology – NewsObserver.com.
I spoke on the phone today to a consultant doing research into transmission issues. My first statement to him was, “That must be hard info to find.” He chuckled and replied, “It’s all about the smart grid these days, isn’t it?”
Indeed it is. And the smart grid is, let’s face it, all about distribution. All those communication technologies, gadgets and gizmos mostly lie at the end of those lines: in substations and in family homes. Relative to the size of our very vast, very large power grid, the smart grid evolution is happening in small little urban pockets, leaving vast stretches of archaic and aging transmission lines to, once again, carry a heavier load—if you’ll pardon the pun I just couldn’t resist.
Back in September 2009 I blogged about six rules that tell you when you have a Smart Grid. The third rule is: You know you have a Smart Grid when the transmission and distribution portions of the grid are optimized for distributed energy generation/storage. This rule becomes reality when microgrids are ubiquitous. The Smart Grid Dictionary defines a microgrid as: “A small power system that includes self-contained generation, transmission, distribution, sensors, energy storage, and energy management software with a seamless and synchronized connection to a utility power system but can operate independently as an island from that system.”
This research report about selected Smart Grid components presents an in-depth analysis of the development, applications, products, manufacturers, and trends in the development of transmission and distribution (T&D) system automation, energy storage, and microgrids in the United States and around the world. T&D system automation is vital to smart grid development, is badly in need of repair, and has not been designed for the power needs of high technology systems.
Technology available today can be employed to create viable, sustainable, smart cities. That will be the message that Bob Gilligan, vice president–transmission and distribution for GE Energy Services, will deliver to delegates at the Chatham House conference, “The Future of Cities.”
via GE Smart Grid Technologies Build Sustainable 21st Century Cities – MarketWatch.
Public Service Electric & Gas Co. has proposed expansion of an existing 230-kilowatt power line and approximately 80-foot towers from Berwick, Pa. to Roseland. It is proposing a double circuit line with one circuit being operated at 500 kV and the second circuit being energized at 230 kV.
The existing single line now on the right-of-way would be removed and replaced with larger 190-foot towers. The $750 million, 45-mile project could earn up to a 12.9 percent return on its equity investment, according to The Wall Street Journal.
via Is there an alternative to PSE&G powerline project? | dailyrecord.com | Daily Record.
The Smart Grid industry is a veritable tower of Babel when it comes to terminology, jargon, and acronyms. There are several reasons for this starting with the number of domains that comprise the Smart Grid. The conceptual model for the Smart Grid maps out Generation, Transmission, and Distribution, plus Markets, Operations, Service Providers, and Consumption. Each of these domains has its own terms, some reflecting a century of usage, while others are inventing new terms daily.
via Smart Grid Industry Needs A Common Information Model | Smart Grid Library.
What will be the “killer app” of Smart Grid?
Recently, President Obama announced grants of $3.4 billion for Smart Grid development. However, studies make it clear that given the mammoth size of the existing transmission and distribution (T&D) system, the new system will be built on the shoulders of the old. The existing T&D infrastructure will dictate the winners and losers in the Smart Grid space. The past is prologue.
The General Electric plant on Main Street could be at the beginning of a new wave of prosperity fueled by demand for smart grid technology.
The company employs 378 people, which is up from the 220 people it employed there in February 2008, and has three shifts to produce its new line of electronic meters.
Steve Richards, general manager of meters, GE energy, transmission and distribution in Atlanta, Ga., said the company is rolling out more electronic meters that will allow homeowners and businesses to save on energy costs.
via Smart revival at GE: New meters, grid offer hope for plant’s future growth – Fosters.
A sweeping overhaul is coming to the 157,000 miles of high-voltage electric transmission lines that crisscross the U.S., delivering energy to 130 million homes. But the changes are happening one laptop-sized machine at a time.
These small computers, being installed in homes and businesses around the country, will essentially create a two-way line of communication between energy consumers and the utility providers that dispense power. Known as smart meters, they’re designed to give users greater control over electricity bills while helping power companies better manage fluctuating electricity demand. But the verdict remains out on just how much they’re helping end users trim bills.
In the most ambitious deployment yet, California utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PCG) has installed 3.6 million smart meters across its territory in the northern part of the state. PG&E is spending $2.2 billion to install a total of 5 million advanced digital electric meters from Silver Spring Networks in its operating territory, the northern and central part of the state, by 2012. Each day the company installs 12,000 to 15,000 meters.
Modernizing the US grid is a mammoth task, one that is spurring new lines of thought about generation and transmission resources.
Renegades, some may call them, but people have lived off-grid for decades by relying exclusively on solar panels for electricity. Disconnected from their local utility, they have no central back-up and no reliability. Most solar electric users are less extreme. They remain connected to the utility and use a combination of solar and grid power.
Now, a Maine, US energy company has proposed a third and unique kind of relationship between solar energy system owners and the conventional electric grid. It is neither on-grid nor off-grid; instead solar energy becomes the grid.
via Supergrid for Renewables: Coloring the US Grid Green – Renewable Energy World.
National Grid’s electric utility business is anything but static.
The utility is expected to file a new rate case with state regulators next year that could seek an increase in delivery charges and also alter the company’s traditional rate structure to help it maintain its revenue base even as consumers use less energy.
And the company is continuing its $2.5 billion plan to upgrade its New York electricity transmission system, while also proposing pilot programs in the Albany and Syracuse areas to explore the potential benefits of “smart grid” technologies.
via National Grid eyes new rate structure : Business : The Buffalo News.
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