15-02-2016, 03:35 PM
Introduction
The first electric utility in North America was started in 1882 in New York City by Thomas Edison. From modest beginnings, a grid has grown to cover the entire continent, providing almost everyone with a reliable source of electricity.
Electricity, considered by most to be energy, is actually an energy currency. Power collected from a variety of sources, such as falling water, burning fuel, wind and solar is used to create electricity for delivery to customers. Electricity has proven to be a convenient and efficient means of delivering energy. Electricity is delivered at the speed of light and is consumed the instant it is created. There is no means to store electricity without converting it to another form of energy. As a result, the demand for power, driven by users, must match the supply of power from the available sources (e.g. generators and energy storage devices) at all times.
The utility industry, committed to providing quality and simplicity for customers, is currently facing three main challenges in the design and operation of the power grid of tomorrow.
• Meeting the Demand – Utilities have taken responsibility to meet the demand of customers with little or no advance notice.
• Reliability – The grid is designed for reliability. Even at the annual peak load, a contingency loss of generation or a single transmission element will not cause serious losses for customers.
• Quality – Power system frequency and voltages are maintained within acceptable limits, regardless of the loads applied.
These standards have become a part of the daily life for users, most of whom have little idea of the challenges they create.
Two recent trends have started what may become a paradigm shift in the way that power systems are designed and operated:
• The addition and rapid growth in renewable energy systems as sources of supply.
• The computerization of industrial equipment and the increase in the use of office/home computers, server farms, data banks, electronics and other non-linear loads.
These trends are increasing the need for a Smart Grid that relies on communication between Independent System Operators (ISOs)/Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) and consumers so that renewable energy can be used more efficiently, the electric power system can run more reliably and greenhouse gases can be reduced.
What is the Smart Grid?
“The Smart Grid is ultimately about using megabytes of data to move megawatts of electricity more efficiently and affordably.” – Ontario Smart Grid Forum report, May 2011
There are different views of what it takes to make a Smart Grid. In some cases, attaching smart meters to houses is enough; in other cases, it’s the radical redesign of a region’s power grid that allows consumers to control their fridges and air conditioning units from anywhere in the world via the internet, responding to price changes and the availability of power.
What is true of all the Smart Grid projects is that they turn the electric power system from a one-way delivery system into a network based on a two-way communications channel between producers and consumers.
This new layer of communication makes the electric power system more intelligent and easier to balance. Instead of generators simply producing electricity and the consumer using that electricity in a one-way transaction, the Smart Grid allows for the consumer to communicate with the system and plan usage based on price and/or availability. It can also allow consumers to respond to requests from ISOs/RTOs.
Connecting to the Smart Grid gives the operators of industrial, commercial and municipal buildings, as well as homeowners, an opportunity to take part in the greening of the grid and in building more efficient power systems in their regions. The Smart Grid is providing a new set of technology-based tools that allow the grid to be fully optimized, using both loads and generators to achieve the best and most efficient means of operation while still fulfilling the primary obligations of loads.
Different jurisdictions are advancing the use of Smart Grid technologies at different speeds, with some regions conducting dramatic regional overhauls while others remain tentative.
On the demand side, the Smart Grid is made up of smart meters and process measurement tools, and on the supply side, there are upgraded transformers, transmitters and plants. Together, these tools give users information to help them make intelligent decisions about usage and move information from the consumer to the provider, allowing the ISOs/RTOs to manage distribution in a more sophisticated manner.