The electric grid is undergoing a major transformation as utility companies implement smart grid technologies At the heart of the smart grid is an advanced digital infrastructure that enables two-way communication between the utility and endpoints on the grid This connectivity unlocks capabilities that are leading to groundbreaking research and innovation in power delivery.
What is the Smart Grid Infrastructure?
The smart grid infrastructure refers to the networked sensors controls, software platforms and other digital technologies that utilities are deploying on the electric grid. Key components include
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Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) Smart meters with two-way communications at customer sites
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Distribution Automation: Sensors, switches, and controls on power lines and equipment that enable real-time monitoring and automatic control.
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Network Communications: High-speed fiber optic networks and other systems that connect grid components.
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Data Management Systems: Software platforms to collect, analyze, and take action on vast amounts of grid data.
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Grid Analytics: Advanced algorithms, artificial intelligence, and simulation tools to optimize grid performance.
Together, these technologies transform the century-old power grid into an intelligent, interconnected system with expanded capabilities.
Research Opportunities Created by the Smart Grid
The data, visibility, and control enabled by smart grid technology opens up new opportunities for research and development across a wide range of areas:
Grid Operations and Control
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Using networked sensors and automated controls on the distribution grid for Volt/VAR regulation, fault location isolation and service restoration, and other advanced grid management functions.
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Developing algorithms and artificial intelligence to optimize power flow and respond to disturbances in real time.
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Analyzing smart meter data to detect anomalies and predict grid issues before they occur.
Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings
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Studying how smart appliances and devices can modulate energy usage automatically based on signals from the grid to balance supply and demand.
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Integrating building energy management systems with the grid for demand response and load flexibility.
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Developing transactive energy systems where buildings autonomously buy and sell energy with the grid.
Integration of Distributed Energy Resources
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Managing the complex two-way power flows resulting from distributed solar, wind, energy storage, and other resources connected to the grid.
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Using grid data to dynamically control and optimize distributed resources.
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Developing microgrid systems capable of disconnecting from and reconnecting to the main grid seamlessly.
Resilient Grid Architectures
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Applying grid analytics to assess and reduce vulnerabilities in complex, interconnected grid networks.
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Creating adaptive, self-healing grid architectures using distributed energy resources and microgrids.
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Developing solutions to enhance cybersecurity and protect against cyberthreats.
Beyond Electricity – Smart Cities and Communities
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Leveraging the smart grid network as a platform for smart city innovation, connecting electric, water, transportation and other public services.
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Using ubiquitous connectivity and data sharing enabled by the smart grid infrastructure to improve sustainability, equity and quality of life.
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Developing replicable community-scale transactive energy systems integrating distributed energy resources, energy storage and responsive load.
Smart Grids in Action: The EPB Smart Grid
A leading example of an advanced smart grid enabling research is the EPB Smart Grid in Chattanooga, Tennessee. This ambitious community-wide smart grid includes:
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170,000 smart meters at customer sites
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1,500 automated switching devices on power lines
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A high-speed fiber optic network with bandwidth up to 100 Gbps
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Distribution automation covering 100% of EPB’s service territory
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A robust data analytics platform
Since launching the smart grid in 2013, EPB has pioneered innovative new use cases:
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Self-optimizing grid – EPB’s grid can detect faults and reconfigure within milliseconds, enabling the fastest power restoration in the US.
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Solar integration – The smart grid manages two-way power flows from over 2,800 customer solar sites.
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Electric vehicle support – The grid uses smart charging to accommodate over 1,700 EVs without upgrades.
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Transactive energy – EPB’s distributed energy resource management system engages customer-owned batteries, EVs, and smart devices to balance the grid.
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Resilience – Islanding microgrids with solar-storage systems keep critical services online when the main grid is compromised.
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Smart city platform – EPB partners with Oak Ridge National Lab to expand smart grid capabilities to water, traffic control, air quality monitoring and other city systems.
These and other initiatives built on EPB’s smart grid make Chattanooga a living laboratory for smart grid research with global implications.
Driving an Era of Rapid Innovation
The smart grid sets the stage for an era of accelerated innovation and new discoveries in power delivery. By providing deep visibility into grid conditions, pervasive connectivity, and embedded control capability, the smart grid empowers utilities, researchers, and technology providers to develop, test, and refine new approaches rapidly and at scale. As smart grids become more ubiquitous, they will unleash exciting new possibilities for our electric infrastructure and help build the grid of the future.
Smart grid benefits, strengths
- Intelligent – capable of sensing system overloads and rerouting power to prevent or minimize a potential outage; capable of working autonomously when conditions require resolution faster than humans can respond…and cooperatively in aligning the goals of utilities, consumers, and regulators
- Efficient – capable of meeting increased consumer demand without adding infrastructure
- Accommodating – capable of accepting energy from virtually any fuel source, including solar and wind, as easily and transparently as coal and natural gas; capable of integrating any and all better ideas and technologies—energy storage technologies, for example—as they are market-proven and ready to come online
- Motivating – enabling real-time communication between the consumer and utility so consumers can tailor their energy consumption based on individual preferences, like price and/or environmental concerns
- Opportunistic – creating new opportunities and markets by means of its ability to capitalize on plug-and-play innovation wherever and whenever appropriate
- Quality-focused – capable of delivering the power quality necessary—free of sags, spikes, disturbances, and interruptions—to power our increasingly digital economy and the data centers, computers, and electronics necessary to make it run
- Resilient – increasingly resistant to attack and natural disasters and extreme weather events as it becomes more decentralized and reinforced with smart grid security protocols
- Environment-Friendly – slowing the advance of global climate change and offering a genuine path toward significant decarbonization and environmental improvement.
Applying the smart grid
An automated, widely distributed energy delivery network, the smart grid is capable of monitoring everything from power plants to customer preferences and everything in between. It incorporates into the grid the benefits of distributed computing and communications to deliver real-time information and enable the near-instantaneous balance of supply and demand by providing the capability to manage at the device level.
A smarter grid is a necessity for the future. Take for instance electric vehicles. Enabled by the smart grid, these vehicles will number in the tens of millions by the end of this decade. Additionally, when light electric vehicles (i.e., cars and small trucks) are recharged at night, power plants are better able to meet U.S. electricity needs during times of peak demand in the day. The integrated communications control infrastructure inherent to the smart grid makes handling the load of electric vehicles simple and efficient.
There are numerous other innovative advancements that are dependent on the smart grid. Grid interactive zero-net commercial buildings, equipped with smart grid technologies, help balance energy generation and conservation while helping ensure grid stability. Superconducting power cables reduce line losses and carry exponentially more power. Powered by the smart grid, advanced sensors can monitor and report line conditions in real-time, enabling more power to flow over existing lines and making the grid more efficient.
It’s always been costly and challenging to store electricity at grid-scale but that’s changing quickly. New, long-duration, grid-scale energy storage technologies are being developed (including a new generation of batteries) that can meet the performance and cost requirements for more wide-scale deployment. Energy storage, intelligently controlled through the smart grid, will be critical to bringing more renewable energy resources—such as solar and wind—onto the grid.
Decoded: What is a ‘Smart Grid’ and how does it work?
FAQ
What is the primary purpose of implementing a smart grid?
What is the smart grid concept in power system?
What is the function of the smart grid system?
Why is a smart grid necessary?
Why should smart grid be integrated with energy management system?
Integration of smart grid with energy management system can evaluate complicated power system data, decrease power utilization, and enhance smart grid reliability and effectiveness. In this scenario, urgency for a more effective and efficient way to produce and utilize energy is exhibited.
What is a smart grid?
Through the integration of a bidirectional power and information flow, smart systems, and renewable energy sources, Smart Grids are the next generation of power grids, enabling cooperativity, automation, and efficiency.
What research works are in process for the development of smart grids?
Various research works are in process for the development of smart grids. These ongoing research works focus on different technologies. Some of them are explained in this paper. Energy Management System. It is important to work with all components from production to consumer for a reliable grid.
What is smart grid energy management?
In the smart grid (SG), energy management maintains supply and demand stability while adhering to all system restrictions for cost-effective, dependable, and safe electrical system operation. It also contains optimization, which ensures that power generation costs are reduced.
Could smart grids be a solution to a lack of infrastructure?
These smart grids have a huge potential and could be a solution of reliability of power transmission and distribution in developing countries which lack infrastructure. In US only 20% of the all carbon dioxide is been emitted by transportation while generation of electricity has 40% of the carbon dioxide emitting share in it.
Are smart grid policy implementation methods relevant to the power industry?
Many authors have published their work to examine the regulatory and social issues relating to smart grid development, sustainable development of energy, and advancement in the technologies of smart grids [76 – 79]. Numerous global smart grid policy implementation methods are connected to the power industry .
