Print 
PDF
Smart Grid
Grid Control: Smart Grid vs. Conventional
A suite of sensors, controls and communications equipment which, when combined with sophisticated software tools, can monitor and respond to grid conditions and control energy loads.
Item ID: 128
Sector:
Residential, Commercial, Industrial, Agricultural, Utility, Other
Energy System:
Power Systems--Utility Distribution Systems
Synopsis:
Smart Grid is a broad term used to describe how sensors, communication technology, computerized control, and advanced automation techniques can be deployed in the transmission and distribution system, as well as in homes and businesses, to gather data and allow for two-way communication between the customer and the utility. In addition to energy savings, secondary benefits include cyber security, optimized handling of intermittent renewable resource generation, and integrating electric vehicles into the grid. Utility benefits can include demand reduction, automated meter reading, and energy savings. Work is underway to accelerate the transition to a smart grid including utility rate design, such as the introduction of time of day rates.
The U.S. Department of Energy has defined seven characteristics of a Smart Grid:
- Self healing,
- Motivates and includes the consumer,
- Resists attack,
- Provides power quality improvements,
- Accommodates generation and storage,
- Enables markets, and
- Optimizes assets.
The Smart Grid can save energy by promoting energy-conserving behavior through supplying real time usage data; providing improved voltage and frequency regulation, and detecting energy theft. Energy savings benefits are dependent upon the utility strategy and service offerings. ET#142 deals with the use of monitors or in-home displays that allow end users to view real-time energy use. ET#362 addresses the further energy savings that are possible given the ability to view real-time data at the circuit, room, or appliance level. Customers could see how much energy devices were using and choose to turn them off. A study of over 20 "direct feedback" programs featuring in-home displays of residential energy usage documented an energy savings range of 5% to 15%. A Smart Grid is not necessary, however, to use these devices or obtain these savings. Customer rate structures can be negotiated based on the ability to manage demand.
Baseline Example:
Baseline Description: Electro-Mechanical Grid
Comments:
While the smart grid exponentially adds to the capabilities of the system operators, power generators and utilities, the current grid is by no means "stupid." The current grid is in fact one of the greatest technological marvels ever constructed, consisting of millions of interconnected machines responding smoothly to changes in grid conditions. Traditional grids are relatively limited, however, in both the amount and the kind of information it can make available to the grid operators, as well as in its ability to directly control loads.
Digital technologies combined with inexpensive distributed communications technologies have enabled measurement and control technologies to advance far beyond traditional systems. One prominent example is the replacement of electro-mechanical meters with digital Advanced Metering Infrastructure. Traditional meters were capable of providing consumption readings only when a meter reader physically went to the meter location and calculated the difference between the last reading and the most current reading. Modern digital meters, on the other hand, can transmit data to the utility as frequently as every 15 minutes, allowing for measurement changes in load over time. This allows for utilities to model a home's response to changing weather conditions, for instance.
Manufacturer's Energy Savings Claims:
Comments:
Smart Grid consists of a grid-wide strategy incorporating software, hardware, programs and processes. Assessment of an average energy savings is not possible for the smart grid generally, however benefit cost analyses for individual projects have been prescribed by the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE, 2009), and the results of these studies are anticipated sometime in 2014. Many of the demonstrations to date have involved utility control of devices or equipment to reduce peak demands.
Best Estimate of Energy Savings:
"Typical" Savings: 0%
Energy Savings Reliability: 2 - Concept validated
Comments:
An EPRI PowerPoint presentation states that for the Smart Grid "all roads lead to demand response". Many types of dollar savings have been postulated for utilities and most are difficult to measure or quantify. Claimed benefits include improved reliability, improved national security, reduced theft, reduced outage restoration costs, reduced dispatch costs, faster billing with a reduction in estimated bills, and a reduction in emissions. Demand reduction measures don't necessarily result in reduced energy use. Increased information that is available to the utility may allow it to more successfully target their energy efficiency or incentive offerings to their customer base. The presence of a Smart Grid and better customer end use information could better enable utilities to increase customer participation in their programs and flatten load profiles. Energy savings (to the utility) could be claimed for improved generating plant dispatching (i.e. decreased use of the less efficient plants) and perhaps a reduction in transmission and distribution system losses. Benefits would be extremely site specific.
Energy Use of Emerging Technology:
Currently no data available.
Technical Potential:
Currently no data available.
First Cost:
Currently no data available.
Cost Effectiveness:
Simple payback, new construction (years): N/A
Simple payback, retrofit (years): N/A
What's this?
Cost Effectiveness is calculated using baseline energy use, best estimate of typical energy savings, and first cost. It does not account for factors such as impacts on O&M costs (which could be significant if product life is greatly extended) or savings of non-electric fuels such as natural gas. Actual overall cost effectiveness could be significantly different based on these other factors.
Reference and Citations:
DOE,
09/10/2008.
Smart Grid Primer
U.S. Department of Energy
Massoud
Amin et al.,
09/05/2013.
Toward a Smart Grid
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine
OE,
10/14/2009.
Smart Grid Demonstration Cost/Benefit Analysis
Office of Electricity, U.S. Department of Energy
Michael
Sullivan,
04/01/2011.
Smart Grid Economics: The Cost-Benefit Analysis
renew-grid
,
2011
U.S. DOE,
02/08/2012.
2010 Smart Grid System Report
U.S. Department of Energy
NETL,
08/01/2007.
Modern Grid Benefits
National Energy Technology Laboratory
EPRI,
08/10/2009.
Report to NIST on the Smart Grid Interoperability Standards Roadmap
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Miles
Keogh,
06/16/2009.
The Smart Grid: Frequently Asked Questions for State Commissions
National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners
SGIC,
01/01/2013.
Enabling Technologies
Smart Grid Information Clearinghouse
EPRI,
12/26/2008.
The Green Grid: Energy Savings and Carbon Emissions Reductions Enabled by a Smart Grid
Electric Power Research Institute