What the “Smart Grid” is depends a lot on who you ask.
According to the Department of Energy, the Smart Grid is “an automated, widely distributed energy delivery network; the Smart Grid will be characterized by a two-way flow of electricity and information and will be capable of monitoring everything from power plants to customer preferences to individual appliances. It incorporates into the grid the benefits of distributed computing and communications to deliver real-time information and enable a near instantaneous balance of supply and demand at the device level.”
From Constellation NewEnergy’s perspective, the new modern grid envisioned by the DOE will allow commercial and industrial customers better access to information surrounding their power usage and costs. It’s still in the early stages, but I can expand a bit on Constellation NewEnergy’s Smart Grid initiatives and how I think this will benefit our customers.
A Web of Connectivity
Consider the current electricity infrastructure as a single point where information is pushed out, but not received back…a permanent one way street. By adding the functionality of automation, the Smart Grid will operate like a web of connectivity, promoting information sharing, data transferring, and multi-directional data and power flow.
With the enhancements that are proposed for the Smart Grid, we will see real-time data and, therefore, knowledge. This gives electricity customers, the opportunity to make smarter, more informed decisions using a wealth of information at their fingertips.
Knowledge is Power
We are currently partnering with OASIS on the eMix task force, working to establish standards for the exchange of information and data for the power grid, businesses, homes, and electric vehicles.
While supporting eMix, we are also developing processes by which you will be able to receive automated and timely communication of energy prices, characteristics, quantities and related information, so that you will be able to make smarter decisions for your business.
Access to Real-Time Pricing
With access to real-time, day-ahead or hour-ahead energy prices, you will have time to vary your demand and usage in response to the prices and manage energy costs by shifting usage to a lower cost period, or reducing consumption overall.
We see businesses being able to think and take action in ways that they never have been able to before. With the modernization of the Smart Grid, the marriage of megabytes and megawatts is in the near future and will empower business customers.
SMART GRID – CHALLENGES FACED BY THE UTILITY…
In addition to the diverse communications requirements – the Smart Grid communications network implemented by the Utility will potentially be subject to many demanding communication needs – that the Smart Grid communications network must support, the Utility faces a number of other potential challenges when implementing such a network. Similar to the Internet, the budding technology promises to give two-way communication between utility companies and customers that will allow consumers to shop for the best energy deals as electricity costs fluctuate during the day.
The technology is beginning to catch hold across worldwide, and utility experts hope the required infrastructure will eventually result in the development of Smart Appliances that don’t merely switch on and off, but automatically hunt for energy bargains. While some parts of the technology are more science fiction than household fact, Utilities officials expect the next generation of infrastructure will be information-driven.
Utilities experts expect smart grids will acknowledge that the cost to produce energy changes during a day. They also hope the smart grids will reduce peak usage, which is a capacity benchmark that can be costly for energy companies to maintain.
While the consumer is pacified with the promise of lower utility costs, it is the utility company who will enforce the policies set at the regional, national and global regulators. Thus, if a neighboring system has a shortage of electricity, your appliance might automatically be turned down to compensate; if you have exceeded your monthly daytime quota of electricity, energy-consuming tasks like washing and drying clothes, could be limited to overnight hours. Meters can be monitored remotely, turned off at utility headquarters and can amass large quantities of data to show how people consume energy. Smart Grids will allow them to save money by increasing efficiency, a savings that will be passed down to the customer. For example, instead of getting out a truck and sending an employee to turn on a meter at an apartment, that function could be done remotely by clicking a mouse at utility headquarters.
Consumers and Utilities may learn some sharp lessons about government intervention: When the government shows up on your door and offers to help you save money, everyone knows that is an contradiction. Government does not function to help people or companies to save money or to be more efficient; rather, it functions to maintain and increase its own power and control over its citizens. No one really knows the real advantages. The bottom line is: How can we be more efficient in our day-to-day operations so our rates don’t have to go up ?
I think the smart grid will not just revolutionize the way we think about electricity, it will also change the way we look at data, and the way consumers stay on top of their consumption. It’s going to change the world significantly.
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