Toward A Smart(er) Grid
There is so much being said and written about Smart Grid lately that I just have to get a couple of things off my chest. Both of the items I want to focus on today have to do with misguided ideas about the Smart Grid concept, its definition and especially – the reality. That brings me to my first point…
You might have noticed that there has been a rising backlash against the use of the term “Smart Grid” lately. While at least some of the whining is probably well placed – after all, quite a bit of “smarts” is already in place out there in the form of computers, intelligent electronic devices and so called killer apps – it’s also true that the installed base paints a fairly disjointed picture of what COULD have been done.
I could go on and on about all the things we DON’T have when it comes to the deployment of automation tools and information technology, but that doesn’t implicitly make the grid dumb. So let’s be fair… there IS a whole lot of intelligent equipment out there – and there’s more being designed, built and installed daily. Moreover, it’s certainly no secret that utilities have only rarely been properly incentivized to accelerate automation deployments on a regular basis. But the reality is that there’s smart – and then there’s smarter.
According to a recent Entergy (my home utility, incidentaly) publication, “smart grid” generally describes a communications network designed to more efficiently deliver electricity to customers and to enable them to consume it more efficiently, resulting in emissions reductions and financial savings. Rusty Burroughs – vice president of Entergy’s Integrated Energy Management team – is quick to point out that today’s electrical grid is anything but dumb.
“It amazes me that anyone can refer to a complex machine with the track record and reliability of today’s electricity grid as dumb,” Burroughs said. “On the contrary, today’s electric grid already hosts multiple ‘smart technology’ applications.”
Burroughs goes on to explain that smart grid technology would improve the grid by improving communications between system devices and customers. And new technology will provide a platform for delivering renewable power, energy storage, advanced outage management and other capabilities.
From the first electrical distribution system, utilities have sought and implemented new technologies to meet the increasing demand on electrical infrastructure. So the ‘new’ idea of a smart grid ignores the fact that today’s electric system is far more intelligent than many self-proclaimed experts know.
But even though Entergy has always worked to develop a smarter grid, Burroughs cautions that Entergy’s approach will involve a measured, disciplined approach to ensure a sustainable result. Looking further ahead, a smarter grid could employ self-healing technology and an array of generation and storage options, including technology designed to enable new services for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, renewables, energy storage and smart appliances.
Burroughs says Entergy must continue to monitor and evaluate these opportunities as they develop. But he cautions that new technologies often require years to mature and operate at reliable levels. Further, implementing a technology before it has fully matured can be wasteful and costly to both the company and customer. Burroughs and his team are keeping these factors in mind as they envision tomorrow’s smarter grid.
I personally think that Mr. Burroughs and his team have the right idea. As an Entergy customer and ratepayer, I want them to keep working on improving the grid’s IQ, but I also want them to be cautious and proceed along a well thought out path rather than jumping at the first attractive-looking technology that comes down the pike.
As regular readers know, I’m a strong proponent of aggressively adding, upgrading and expanding automation for the grid – and that I’ve been quite vocal about it in this publication’s pages as well as in several other forums. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want my utility to be smart (and get even smarter) about how they do it, which brings me to my second point…
Does anyone else think that there’s way too much hype and distrortion about the Smart Grid, or am I just being too sensitive? To hear some people tell it, there’s this huge design issue that will require trashing everything we’ve ever done before and starting over with a clean sheet of paper that has only the words “Smart Grid” written at the top. In my opinion, nothing could be further from the truth!
Look, we’ve had 30-plus years of advanced computer, communications, control and information technology to build on, yet there are apparently those who think we’ve simply been writing papers and giving presentations about this stuff. Helloooo – it’s real, it’s available and it’s working. There just isn’t enough of it in the field yet, and now is the time to fill that void.
And on the grid side, things like distributed resources, flexible AC transmission systems, variable frequency transformers and the like have been around for decades. These technologies – like their automation and information technology counterparts – are simply, and in many cases grossly, underutilized.
At this juncture, we’re about to embark on the largest infrastructure re-investment period in modern times. Sure, there will be a lot of money squandered on frivolous projects and there will undoubtedly be some inefficiencies in the planning and disbursement of those funds, all of which will no doubt be both rampant and at times, enormously frustrating.
But I also believe in the notion that the good things that will be done with those funds and resources are every bit as inevitable as the downside involved in making those good things happen – if we can manage to be smart(er) about it as we go along, that is. – Ed.
