By Andy Bennett,
Senior vice president of infrastructure at Schneider Electric
The Obama administration recently published a report that calls for increased spending on the nation's electric power system to increase power grid resilience. The report highlights the enormous economic risks that come with not addressing grid resilience, as power outages cost the economy billions of dollars per year and disrupt the lives of millions of Americans.
Severe weather is the No. 1 cause of power outages in the U.S. and also costs the economy billions of dollars per year in lost output and wages, spoiled inventory, delayed production, inconvenience and damage to grid infrastructure. The report estimates the average annual cost of power outages caused by severe weather to be between $18 billion and $33 billion per year. In a year of record-breaking storms, the costs can run much higher.
Creating a resilient electric grid is critical to reducing our nation's vulnerability to severe weather. Furthermore, as highlighted in the report, smart grid technology designed to increase resilience can improve the overall effectiveness of grid operations leading to great efficiencies in energy use and reduction in carbon emissions. As utilities look to modernize the grid, they not only have the opportunity to improve storm resiliency, drive greater energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions, but also to support the integration of renewable energy.
In my experience as senior vice president of infrastructure at Schneider Electric, investing in resiliency doesn't have to be at the expense of efficiency or vice versa. Instead, savings from efficiency can actually help fund investments in resiliency. Furthermore, some activities actually increase resiliency and efficiency at the same time.
Examples include leveraging microgrids to smooth out the intermittency of renewable generation, allowing less efficient generators to shut down; or real-time analysis of power grids to determine optimal configuration to minimize electrical losses.
To move towards a more modernized grid and in turn reduce distribution network performance, investment should be made to replace aging infrastructure. As the demand for higher quality power increases, the evolving grid of the future will likely be upgraded to include self-healing capabilities designed to minimize outages from disasters and other natural events. In the near future, we foresee a movement toward multi-user, multi-site microgrids that will create an environment for a stronger and more self-sufficient power system.
In our view, modernizing the electric grid is the foundation for creating smarter, more resilient data centers, homes, buildings, cities and communities. Collaboration across all levels of government and the private sector will be key to enabling the development of the smart grid and ultimately to creating a more sustainable, resilient, energy efficient country.
Showing posts with label smart grid. Show all posts
Showing posts with label smart grid. Show all posts
Friday, October 4, 2013
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Connecting BEMS in smart buildings to smart grid
By Allan McHale, Memoori Business Intelligence
Just look down a listing of enterprise energy management suppliers and you will find a mixture of some of the world's leading IT organizations and start-up software companies fighting hard to get established in this burgeoning market.
The two major prongs of this business lie in making smart buildings much smarter and the smart grid fully ADR right across the transmission and distribution network by providing a real-time analysis of supply and demand. These two markets alone have the potential to spend upwards of $225 billion by 2030 with smart buildings looking the more attractive and robust business. Installing smart grid is highly dependent upon changes to the regulatory control procedures and the utility companies finding the $2 trillion investment needed to deliver a fully operational smart grid around the world.
In the meantime, the utilities are coming under increasing pressure to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and are being forced to phase out their fossil fueled generating plants. In the U.S. particularly, they are encouraging their major consumers, coincidentally smart building owners, to join demand response programs and are entering arrangements to take their distributed power.
This provides a ready an fast-growing market for all those companies that have the software products and skills to interface buinding energy management systems (BEMS) in smart buildings to deliver demand response and distributed energy. This is therefore becoming a niche market, not least because we can't wait for ADR to produce a fully operational smart grid.
This market is currently worth around $350 million but the technical market potential to retrofit these two functionalities to smart buildings has a potential value of $30 billion and we forecast it should reach $2.65 billion by 2017. This is therefore a sizable business, but it is made much more attractive by the fact that by far the biggest component is the unrealized potential in existing smart building stock. It may be a smaller market, but it delivers a solution to a problem that must be solved — it can't wait for smart grid to be in place or smart buildings to incorporate a comprehensive enterprise energy management.
So for all of the budding energy management suppliers, that's the good news. The bad news is that there are some other suppliers out there that are hungry for this business. These are BEMS suppliers and energy service companies (ESCOs). Although not particularly well-known for their energy management prowess, they have been acquiring companies with this expertise for the past half-decade. These companies include Johnson Controls, Honeywell, Schneider Electric, Siemens and ABB. They are the world's leading suppliers and the last four are also leading suppliers of smart grid products and services.
This puts them in a very strong position for two reasons:
It is a different matter for major energy management companies because most of their clients will be owners of large smart building real estates and they will have contact with sources that will influence buying decisions on energy management purchases. These companies will be targeting comprehensive energy management systems in smart buildings. However even here, the interest in forming partnerships with the major BEMS companies.
Schneider Electric has just signed a strategic technology agreement with one of the world's major software companies, OSIsoft. OSIsoft will provide their PI System, a leading infrastructure technology for the management of real-time data and events while Schneider Electric, a global specialist in energy management, will provide innovative energy management solutions.
Connecting BEMS in smart buildings to smart grid to deliver demand response is a niche market that is needed now. It could be provided through smart buildings installing comprehensive energy management or waiting 10 to 20 years before ADR is operational within smart grid in the developed countries of the world.
The cost of installing it is less than 1 percent of the investment needed to deliver smart grid. The return on investment is attractive and it reduces the carbon dioxide emissions and gets the utilities companies out of a hole.
Just look down a listing of enterprise energy management suppliers and you will find a mixture of some of the world's leading IT organizations and start-up software companies fighting hard to get established in this burgeoning market.
The two major prongs of this business lie in making smart buildings much smarter and the smart grid fully ADR right across the transmission and distribution network by providing a real-time analysis of supply and demand. These two markets alone have the potential to spend upwards of $225 billion by 2030 with smart buildings looking the more attractive and robust business. Installing smart grid is highly dependent upon changes to the regulatory control procedures and the utility companies finding the $2 trillion investment needed to deliver a fully operational smart grid around the world.
In the meantime, the utilities are coming under increasing pressure to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and are being forced to phase out their fossil fueled generating plants. In the U.S. particularly, they are encouraging their major consumers, coincidentally smart building owners, to join demand response programs and are entering arrangements to take their distributed power.
This provides a ready an fast-growing market for all those companies that have the software products and skills to interface buinding energy management systems (BEMS) in smart buildings to deliver demand response and distributed energy. This is therefore becoming a niche market, not least because we can't wait for ADR to produce a fully operational smart grid.
This market is currently worth around $350 million but the technical market potential to retrofit these two functionalities to smart buildings has a potential value of $30 billion and we forecast it should reach $2.65 billion by 2017. This is therefore a sizable business, but it is made much more attractive by the fact that by far the biggest component is the unrealized potential in existing smart building stock. It may be a smaller market, but it delivers a solution to a problem that must be solved — it can't wait for smart grid to be in place or smart buildings to incorporate a comprehensive enterprise energy management.
So for all of the budding energy management suppliers, that's the good news. The bad news is that there are some other suppliers out there that are hungry for this business. These are BEMS suppliers and energy service companies (ESCOs). Although not particularly well-known for their energy management prowess, they have been acquiring companies with this expertise for the past half-decade. These companies include Johnson Controls, Honeywell, Schneider Electric, Siemens and ABB. They are the world's leading suppliers and the last four are also leading suppliers of smart grid products and services.
This puts them in a very strong position for two reasons:
- They are in daily contact with the owners of smart buildings who are existing clients both through installing their BEMS and also taking their ESCO service. This gives them a massive heritage estate to work with.
- They have the practical ability to bring all the various electrical loads in the building together and not all are being controlled through BEMS. Both are important factors that will influence buying decisions.
It is a different matter for major energy management companies because most of their clients will be owners of large smart building real estates and they will have contact with sources that will influence buying decisions on energy management purchases. These companies will be targeting comprehensive energy management systems in smart buildings. However even here, the interest in forming partnerships with the major BEMS companies.
Schneider Electric has just signed a strategic technology agreement with one of the world's major software companies, OSIsoft. OSIsoft will provide their PI System, a leading infrastructure technology for the management of real-time data and events while Schneider Electric, a global specialist in energy management, will provide innovative energy management solutions.
Connecting BEMS in smart buildings to smart grid to deliver demand response is a niche market that is needed now. It could be provided through smart buildings installing comprehensive energy management or waiting 10 to 20 years before ADR is operational within smart grid in the developed countries of the world.
The cost of installing it is less than 1 percent of the investment needed to deliver smart grid. The return on investment is attractive and it reduces the carbon dioxide emissions and gets the utilities companies out of a hole.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Are we trying to be too smart about smart metering?
By Craig Edge, chief consulting engineer, Wheatley Associates
With yet another delay announced in the U.K. government's proposed smart meter implementation plan, the time has come to take stock of the situation, reflect on the rollout and ask the question, "Are we trying to be too smart about smart metering in the U.K.?"
On May 10, 2013, the U.K.'s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) announced that it was putting back the start of the full-scale U.K. smart meter rollout program by one year to fall 2015 with targeted completion for 50-plus million smart meters in 30-plus homes and businesses by the end of 2020. DECC said the main reason for this delay is to give suppliers more time to create the data communications network that will underpin the rollout.
There is no denying that the smart metering program has the potential to transform energy management and consumption in the U.K. if all goes to plan. Considerable cost savings are potentially available to suppliers and consumers alike. But are we really being overambitious and biting off more than we can chew?
It is a colossal undertaking. Although there is nothing wrong with grand plans, the U.K.'s track record on IT projects of this scope and scale is not good. Maybe this further slippage is just symptomatic of trying to implement a program that is both overcomplicated and overcontrolled. When it cones to technology-based projects, how realistic is it to expect the network infrastructure to have an extended life-span of 20 years, as mandated? Is a one-time solution really feasible?
Here in the U.K., with smart metering intended to cover both gas and power supplies, we have arguably embarked upon one of the most ambitious implementation programs yet conceived. Other countries, by contrast, are focusing solely on strategies for electricity. It also seems something of a paradox that, given the U.K. energy market's recent history of deregulation and competition, smart metering in the U.K. has indirectly led us to seek to develop a highly regulated, centralized communications infrastructure to manage the data and energy management requirements. Communication of data to and from smart meters in the domestic sector will be managed centrally by a new, country-wide function covering both the electricity and gas sectors, known as the central data and communications company.
As the program generalities give way to the detail of the high-level deliverables, there remain a small but significant number of the technical requirements that still do not have a proven solution on the table. The mechanism to make the smart metering accessible to almost all customers, un a non-discriminatory manner, is still searching for a capable and reliable technology. Rather than criticize the delay, Dr. Martyn Thomas, chairman of the IT policy panel at the Institution of Engineering and Technology, called for the government to take advantage of the time to formalize specifications for the system that are currently only expressed informally, leading to a danger of "inconsistency, ambiguity and contradiction."
But once specified, what chance is there that it will still be fit for purpose in twenty years, as required? Surely flexibility and openness to technology advances will be essential for ongoing success? Just look at the development of the mobile telecommunications industry as a comparative example.
The wireless nature of the proposed communications network needed to underpin the smart metering program also opens up a potential strategic vulnerability to the utility system as a whole. Industry commentators are increasingly expressing concern that this is not being properly addressed. Little consideration has apparently been given to how the proposed wireless network might be hacked and the suggestion is that it will be with ease. With the energy supply system until now largely protected by its invisibility, suddenly there will be a proliferation of potential access and consequently hacking points. The system compliant smart meters currently available are also coming in for criticism for their apparent lack of security.
Certainly, the objectives of reducing carbon dioxide output, improving competitiveness in the energy sector and increasing energy security are as laudable today as when the government first mandated the installation of smart meters by October 2008. But, nearly five years on, it is hard to argue that anything has yet changed for U.K. households or, indeed, that the future holds an abundance of promise.
There continues to be a distinct lack of public understanding about the smart metering proposals. Skepticism, disinterest and a simple lack of knowledge abound and rather than seeking to effect a substantial shift in attitudes, many of the key benefits messages are seemingly being diluted. Many of the benefits expounded on government and quasi-government websites seem alarmingly unambitious for the estimated program cost of $18 billion, a cost that is bound to rise. If you want to be super critical, many of the benefits that smart metering will deliver could be achieved at a fraction of the cost through the installation of simple prepayment meters!
Nevertheless, smart metering is undoubtedly the way forward. Constantly reviewing the project and slipping the timetable is no bad thing if it ensures that we get it right. But there remains an open question for us all: Should there be a broader and deeper review of the current approach? Having flirted with revolution, and probably rightly so, perhaps it is time to contemplate switching to a more evolutionary approach.
With yet another delay announced in the U.K. government's proposed smart meter implementation plan, the time has come to take stock of the situation, reflect on the rollout and ask the question, "Are we trying to be too smart about smart metering in the U.K.?"
On May 10, 2013, the U.K.'s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) announced that it was putting back the start of the full-scale U.K. smart meter rollout program by one year to fall 2015 with targeted completion for 50-plus million smart meters in 30-plus homes and businesses by the end of 2020. DECC said the main reason for this delay is to give suppliers more time to create the data communications network that will underpin the rollout.
There is no denying that the smart metering program has the potential to transform energy management and consumption in the U.K. if all goes to plan. Considerable cost savings are potentially available to suppliers and consumers alike. But are we really being overambitious and biting off more than we can chew?
It is a colossal undertaking. Although there is nothing wrong with grand plans, the U.K.'s track record on IT projects of this scope and scale is not good. Maybe this further slippage is just symptomatic of trying to implement a program that is both overcomplicated and overcontrolled. When it cones to technology-based projects, how realistic is it to expect the network infrastructure to have an extended life-span of 20 years, as mandated? Is a one-time solution really feasible?
Here in the U.K., with smart metering intended to cover both gas and power supplies, we have arguably embarked upon one of the most ambitious implementation programs yet conceived. Other countries, by contrast, are focusing solely on strategies for electricity. It also seems something of a paradox that, given the U.K. energy market's recent history of deregulation and competition, smart metering in the U.K. has indirectly led us to seek to develop a highly regulated, centralized communications infrastructure to manage the data and energy management requirements. Communication of data to and from smart meters in the domestic sector will be managed centrally by a new, country-wide function covering both the electricity and gas sectors, known as the central data and communications company.
As the program generalities give way to the detail of the high-level deliverables, there remain a small but significant number of the technical requirements that still do not have a proven solution on the table. The mechanism to make the smart metering accessible to almost all customers, un a non-discriminatory manner, is still searching for a capable and reliable technology. Rather than criticize the delay, Dr. Martyn Thomas, chairman of the IT policy panel at the Institution of Engineering and Technology, called for the government to take advantage of the time to formalize specifications for the system that are currently only expressed informally, leading to a danger of "inconsistency, ambiguity and contradiction."
But once specified, what chance is there that it will still be fit for purpose in twenty years, as required? Surely flexibility and openness to technology advances will be essential for ongoing success? Just look at the development of the mobile telecommunications industry as a comparative example.
The wireless nature of the proposed communications network needed to underpin the smart metering program also opens up a potential strategic vulnerability to the utility system as a whole. Industry commentators are increasingly expressing concern that this is not being properly addressed. Little consideration has apparently been given to how the proposed wireless network might be hacked and the suggestion is that it will be with ease. With the energy supply system until now largely protected by its invisibility, suddenly there will be a proliferation of potential access and consequently hacking points. The system compliant smart meters currently available are also coming in for criticism for their apparent lack of security.
Certainly, the objectives of reducing carbon dioxide output, improving competitiveness in the energy sector and increasing energy security are as laudable today as when the government first mandated the installation of smart meters by October 2008. But, nearly five years on, it is hard to argue that anything has yet changed for U.K. households or, indeed, that the future holds an abundance of promise.
There continues to be a distinct lack of public understanding about the smart metering proposals. Skepticism, disinterest and a simple lack of knowledge abound and rather than seeking to effect a substantial shift in attitudes, many of the key benefits messages are seemingly being diluted. Many of the benefits expounded on government and quasi-government websites seem alarmingly unambitious for the estimated program cost of $18 billion, a cost that is bound to rise. If you want to be super critical, many of the benefits that smart metering will deliver could be achieved at a fraction of the cost through the installation of simple prepayment meters!
Nevertheless, smart metering is undoubtedly the way forward. Constantly reviewing the project and slipping the timetable is no bad thing if it ensures that we get it right. But there remains an open question for us all: Should there be a broader and deeper review of the current approach? Having flirted with revolution, and probably rightly so, perhaps it is time to contemplate switching to a more evolutionary approach.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
DR the talk of DTECH
Every year, the editors of POWERGRID International and Electric Light & Power magazines, our conference chairs, our logistics people and our conference staff work hard to put on an informative show at DistribuTECH. Every detail is meticulously planned out. One thing we can't control, though is what people want to talk about when they finally do come to the show.
I did notice a few topics, though, that people wanted to talk about more than others. Here's my top five:
1. Demand response
The single most often-mentioned technology at DistribuTECH 2013 was demand response. Far and away, I heard more about good old automated DR than I did about any other smart grid technology. Silver Spring Networks introduced a demand-side management system meant to boost DR programs. Honeywell and Opower rolled out an energy management platform to help utilities in their efforts to manage peak loads. Also, Alstom Grid and Capgemini paired up on a cloud-based demand response management system. That doesn't include just the general "buzz" at the show about DR as an idea. Just about everyone I spoke with had something to say about the application of automated DR.
2. Analytics
"Big Data" is becoming quite a buzzword. At the show, exhibitors would often tell you (with a note of either apprehensiveness or excitement in their voices) about the brain-twisting volume of data that their systems are expected to take in, digest, slice, dice and finally serve up as something a grid operator can easily understand and use. In the press room, I was asked by another reporter who the "top" provider of data analytics for utilities is. While I wanted to be more helpful, I couldn't answer the question because this technology is still too new. There isn't really a Nike or an Apple for data big data yet and there are so many different approaches you could take, there might not ever be.
3. Last gasp capabilities
This is a phrase I learned shortly before the conference, and I heard some incredibly detailed conversations about it — including some high-level engineer talk that went a little beyond me, honestly. But it's easy to understand the advantage offered by smart meters with capacitors that can send out an information-packed "last gasp" back to grid operators in the microseconds before power is cut off. This information, which can include but is not limited to the customer's account, when and where the outage happened, etc., could be crucial to the development of a truly "self healing" smart grid.
4. A "bite sized" approach to smart grid
This is not to say that smart grid projects are becoming less ambitious. It's more like utilities and technology providers are approaching them differently — if not backwards, then at least sideways. Instead of trying to build out a smart grid meter by meter and creating a full-on AMI system from whole cloth, some companies are looking for a way to deliver the benefits of a distribution automation service to a utility in short order. Hence the phrase "bite sized" smart grid. What utilities want today is something they can quickly realize benefits from without a large capital investment, then turn around to their customers and say, "Look, we did X, Y and Z for you." Saving money is nice, but sometimes it's even better to be able to say, "We kept the lights on when other utilities didn't, and it's because we invested in this technology."
5. Utility customer apps for smart phones
In handling the dozens and dozens of news releases sent from the exhibit hall floor, I saw several companies releasing brand new apps designed to help customers manage their energy use at home from anywhere they carry their smart phone. Most major utilities have already at least taken a stab at releasing a customer app that does things like let the customer pay a bill or view energy usage. The more savvy tech providers are building apps with functionalities such as remote smart thermostat operation, social media-based outage reporting ... or better yet, combining all of these things into one program. And of course bonus points for those providers who are able to roll out their apps to the most gadgets at once — not just iPhones, but also iPads, Androids and others.
I did notice a few topics, though, that people wanted to talk about more than others. Here's my top five:
1. Demand response
The single most often-mentioned technology at DistribuTECH 2013 was demand response. Far and away, I heard more about good old automated DR than I did about any other smart grid technology. Silver Spring Networks introduced a demand-side management system meant to boost DR programs. Honeywell and Opower rolled out an energy management platform to help utilities in their efforts to manage peak loads. Also, Alstom Grid and Capgemini paired up on a cloud-based demand response management system. That doesn't include just the general "buzz" at the show about DR as an idea. Just about everyone I spoke with had something to say about the application of automated DR.
2. Analytics
"Big Data" is becoming quite a buzzword. At the show, exhibitors would often tell you (with a note of either apprehensiveness or excitement in their voices) about the brain-twisting volume of data that their systems are expected to take in, digest, slice, dice and finally serve up as something a grid operator can easily understand and use. In the press room, I was asked by another reporter who the "top" provider of data analytics for utilities is. While I wanted to be more helpful, I couldn't answer the question because this technology is still too new. There isn't really a Nike or an Apple for data big data yet and there are so many different approaches you could take, there might not ever be.
3. Last gasp capabilities
This is a phrase I learned shortly before the conference, and I heard some incredibly detailed conversations about it — including some high-level engineer talk that went a little beyond me, honestly. But it's easy to understand the advantage offered by smart meters with capacitors that can send out an information-packed "last gasp" back to grid operators in the microseconds before power is cut off. This information, which can include but is not limited to the customer's account, when and where the outage happened, etc., could be crucial to the development of a truly "self healing" smart grid.
4. A "bite sized" approach to smart grid
This is not to say that smart grid projects are becoming less ambitious. It's more like utilities and technology providers are approaching them differently — if not backwards, then at least sideways. Instead of trying to build out a smart grid meter by meter and creating a full-on AMI system from whole cloth, some companies are looking for a way to deliver the benefits of a distribution automation service to a utility in short order. Hence the phrase "bite sized" smart grid. What utilities want today is something they can quickly realize benefits from without a large capital investment, then turn around to their customers and say, "Look, we did X, Y and Z for you." Saving money is nice, but sometimes it's even better to be able to say, "We kept the lights on when other utilities didn't, and it's because we invested in this technology."
5. Utility customer apps for smart phones
In handling the dozens and dozens of news releases sent from the exhibit hall floor, I saw several companies releasing brand new apps designed to help customers manage their energy use at home from anywhere they carry their smart phone. Most major utilities have already at least taken a stab at releasing a customer app that does things like let the customer pay a bill or view energy usage. The more savvy tech providers are building apps with functionalities such as remote smart thermostat operation, social media-based outage reporting ... or better yet, combining all of these things into one program. And of course bonus points for those providers who are able to roll out their apps to the most gadgets at once — not just iPhones, but also iPads, Androids and others.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
How smart grid helped New York weather Sandy
The sight of the island of Manhattan and its world-famous skyline going almost completely dark is a memory from 2012 that few will forget, but New York City did not lose power completely. Thanks to smart grid technology installed before Hurricane Sandy (2012's so-called "Frankenstorm"), there were buildings that did not darken the night the storm made landfall.
General Electric was in touch with at least a dozen utilities in Sandy's path and provided essential support before the hurricane came aground, said John McDonald, director of technical strategy and policy development with GE Digital Energy.
Because of the deployment of smart grid technology on site, GE's home base in New York City, the famous Rockefeller Center never lost power.
To keep the lights on at 30 Rock, power operators used technology similar to that used to channel continuous, uninterrupted power to data centers.
"It's similar to the technology that Google supplies to its very large data centers. It's a business called critical power. We look at the needs of the building. At 30 Rock we had an uninterruptable power supply and a series of batteries," McDonald said. "In a storm situation, the volts can bound around a lot in terms of power quality. But with this system, no mater what the volatility is, it is able to provide a steady stream of consistent voltage."
If power is interrupted completely, the batteries can kick in for the short term. If the battery energy storage system runs low on charge, then an on-site power generation system powered by diesel engines kicks in.
Using these systems, the building complex was able to compensate for dips in the grid with power from batteries and stayed lit until after gale-force winds calmed down. Thanks to the advent of this technology, 30 Rock stayed lit for the duration of the storm, he said.
Of course, a storm of Sandy's rarely-seen scale and power affected more than just New York City. During the storm's impact, GE was in touch with multiple utilities whose service areas were in the path of the storm.
Once the storm swept through, those in charge of the restoration had an easier time estimating the damage in areas that had deployed smart meters.
"Utilities like PPL had made recent investments in some key technologies. They had smart meters with two-way communications," he said.
The biggest advantage offered by smart meters in storm scenarios is that in the nanoseconds before a customer loses power, the smart meter contains a capacitor that stores enough energy for a "last gasp" communication to the grid operator telling them that power has just been cut off.
"That's key, because then the utility knows the exact time, the exact customer and how the customer is connected to the grid," he said. "Without that information, the utility would have to wait for the customer to call in, which could take many minutes, if they call at all."
GE also worked to increase production of new transformers that the company realized would be needed as part of the grid repair effort.
A geographical information system (GIS) that lists out all the assets owned by a utility (as well as their locations) also sped the power restoration process for utilities with large workforces to mobilize, he said.
"This GIS system is really the reference map for our outage management system. Its input, for many utilities, is from phone calls. The other source of input we have today is interfacing with the distribution management system," he said.
The distribution management system has an application called fault detection isolation restoration (FDIR). Once it isolates the disturbance, it enables all "healthy" parts of the grid to keep using power, he said.
Again, two-way communication is crucial for utilities dealing with a storm-battered grid and potentially angry or frightened customers. Functioning in such an environment was made easier after Sandy by the proliferation of Facebook and Twitter.
"Something we've been working on is bringing in social media. We can gather information from our customers from social media, particularly tweets," he said.
My thanks to John McDonald for his contributions to this post. McDonald provides strategic leadership and develops long-term plans to operate GE Digital Energy's position. He received his BSEE and MSEE (power engineering) degrees from Purdue University and an MBA in finance from the University of California at Berkeley. He is past president of IEEE PES and co-author of "Automating a Distribution Cooperative, From A to Z," published by the National Rural Electric Cooperative.
General Electric was in touch with at least a dozen utilities in Sandy's path and provided essential support before the hurricane came aground, said John McDonald, director of technical strategy and policy development with GE Digital Energy.
Because of the deployment of smart grid technology on site, GE's home base in New York City, the famous Rockefeller Center never lost power.
To keep the lights on at 30 Rock, power operators used technology similar to that used to channel continuous, uninterrupted power to data centers.
"It's similar to the technology that Google supplies to its very large data centers. It's a business called critical power. We look at the needs of the building. At 30 Rock we had an uninterruptable power supply and a series of batteries," McDonald said. "In a storm situation, the volts can bound around a lot in terms of power quality. But with this system, no mater what the volatility is, it is able to provide a steady stream of consistent voltage."
If power is interrupted completely, the batteries can kick in for the short term. If the battery energy storage system runs low on charge, then an on-site power generation system powered by diesel engines kicks in.
Using these systems, the building complex was able to compensate for dips in the grid with power from batteries and stayed lit until after gale-force winds calmed down. Thanks to the advent of this technology, 30 Rock stayed lit for the duration of the storm, he said.
Of course, a storm of Sandy's rarely-seen scale and power affected more than just New York City. During the storm's impact, GE was in touch with multiple utilities whose service areas were in the path of the storm.
Once the storm swept through, those in charge of the restoration had an easier time estimating the damage in areas that had deployed smart meters.
"Utilities like PPL had made recent investments in some key technologies. They had smart meters with two-way communications," he said.
The biggest advantage offered by smart meters in storm scenarios is that in the nanoseconds before a customer loses power, the smart meter contains a capacitor that stores enough energy for a "last gasp" communication to the grid operator telling them that power has just been cut off.
"That's key, because then the utility knows the exact time, the exact customer and how the customer is connected to the grid," he said. "Without that information, the utility would have to wait for the customer to call in, which could take many minutes, if they call at all."
GE also worked to increase production of new transformers that the company realized would be needed as part of the grid repair effort.
A geographical information system (GIS) that lists out all the assets owned by a utility (as well as their locations) also sped the power restoration process for utilities with large workforces to mobilize, he said.
"This GIS system is really the reference map for our outage management system. Its input, for many utilities, is from phone calls. The other source of input we have today is interfacing with the distribution management system," he said.
The distribution management system has an application called fault detection isolation restoration (FDIR). Once it isolates the disturbance, it enables all "healthy" parts of the grid to keep using power, he said.
Again, two-way communication is crucial for utilities dealing with a storm-battered grid and potentially angry or frightened customers. Functioning in such an environment was made easier after Sandy by the proliferation of Facebook and Twitter.
"Something we've been working on is bringing in social media. We can gather information from our customers from social media, particularly tweets," he said.
My thanks to John McDonald for his contributions to this post. McDonald provides strategic leadership and develops long-term plans to operate GE Digital Energy's position. He received his BSEE and MSEE (power engineering) degrees from Purdue University and an MBA in finance from the University of California at Berkeley. He is past president of IEEE PES and co-author of "Automating a Distribution Cooperative, From A to Z," published by the National Rural Electric Cooperative.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Utilities, elections, government and grading the stimulus
With about 80 days left to go, the 2012 presidential election is shaping up to be a question of how much the government can or should get involved with the economy, with business and in people's individual lives. Both President Barack Obama and his challenger Gov. Mitt Romney have their own ideas about the role of government, but in the utility industry people demand results.
One of the biggest things the government did for the power industry since the 2008 election is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. While not always popular with voters, the so-called "stimulus act" allotted a fair chunk of change to the industry, and it's fair to say there are many infrastructure projects that might not have gotten off the ground without that money.
If the utility industry were to give the Recovery Act a three-year report card, it might look something like the points shared with me by Ron Chebra, who is vice president of management and operations consulting with DNV KEMA.
Looking back over the past three years, Chebra said, it's helpful to remember what the point of it all was. The Recovery Act was intended to stabilize state and local government budgets, invest in technological advances, assist those impacted by the recession, boost infrastructure and — most importantly — create jobs and promote recovery.
The Recovery Act included the Smart Grid Investment Grants (SGIG), which were supposed to "accelerate the modernization of the nation's electric transmission and distribution systems and promote investments in smart grid technologies, tools and techniques that increase flexibility, functionality, interoperability, cyber-security, situational awareness and operational efficiency."
In Chebra's analysis, "It is my belief that many energy jobs were created as a result of the stimulus. The greatest areas of positive impact have been in the manufacturing and installation sectors where the rush to build and install millions of smart meters formed a great need for these resources."
But the question that only time can answer is how long will these jobs last? Will they plateaued along with the end of their subsidy, or will they get the ball rolling on something lasting?
"Certainly, with the step change that stimulus created, there seems to be some sluggishness in new U.S. smart meter orders," he writes.
When it comes to helping those affected by the recession and the worldwide credit crunch, the stimulus "definitely" helped spur growth in domestic manufacturing, which had been brought to a near standstill and was at risk of being out-competed by businesses in Europe and China, among others.
Technology innovation, another goal of the act, were accelerated by the flow of money that went into research and development, he said.
"For some time, some of the investments made in the electric infrastructure were directed toward meeting the increasing need for supply; through the initiatives funded by these grants, many of the investments focused on the delivery and demand side," he said.
How to get customers involved and educated when it comes to smart meters has always been a key aspect of smart grid rollouts, and "As we await the tally of realized net benefits of these investments, the trends now show that many of these programs have resulted in greater customer awareness and participation in demand management efforts that will result in sustainable long-term economic benefits."
Some of the bad news that might result from the Department of Energy-funded projects include stumbles in customer engagement. Because of the smart meter rollouts made possible in places like California, there are now grassroots citizens groups advocating against the use of smart meters and their efforts have led to opt-outs.
There's also the problem of utility "haves" and "have-nots." So in the wake of the stimulus, there's now a gap between those whose projects got government funding and those who didn't.
Another problem is the creation of "islands" of automation in the rush to be shovel-ready. These islands now need to be integrated to achieve the benefits anticipated in the business cases, he said.
One of the biggest things the government did for the power industry since the 2008 election is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. While not always popular with voters, the so-called "stimulus act" allotted a fair chunk of change to the industry, and it's fair to say there are many infrastructure projects that might not have gotten off the ground without that money.
If the utility industry were to give the Recovery Act a three-year report card, it might look something like the points shared with me by Ron Chebra, who is vice president of management and operations consulting with DNV KEMA.
Looking back over the past three years, Chebra said, it's helpful to remember what the point of it all was. The Recovery Act was intended to stabilize state and local government budgets, invest in technological advances, assist those impacted by the recession, boost infrastructure and — most importantly — create jobs and promote recovery.
The Recovery Act included the Smart Grid Investment Grants (SGIG), which were supposed to "accelerate the modernization of the nation's electric transmission and distribution systems and promote investments in smart grid technologies, tools and techniques that increase flexibility, functionality, interoperability, cyber-security, situational awareness and operational efficiency."
In Chebra's analysis, "It is my belief that many energy jobs were created as a result of the stimulus. The greatest areas of positive impact have been in the manufacturing and installation sectors where the rush to build and install millions of smart meters formed a great need for these resources."
But the question that only time can answer is how long will these jobs last? Will they plateaued along with the end of their subsidy, or will they get the ball rolling on something lasting?
"Certainly, with the step change that stimulus created, there seems to be some sluggishness in new U.S. smart meter orders," he writes.
When it comes to helping those affected by the recession and the worldwide credit crunch, the stimulus "definitely" helped spur growth in domestic manufacturing, which had been brought to a near standstill and was at risk of being out-competed by businesses in Europe and China, among others.
Technology innovation, another goal of the act, were accelerated by the flow of money that went into research and development, he said.
"For some time, some of the investments made in the electric infrastructure were directed toward meeting the increasing need for supply; through the initiatives funded by these grants, many of the investments focused on the delivery and demand side," he said.
How to get customers involved and educated when it comes to smart meters has always been a key aspect of smart grid rollouts, and "As we await the tally of realized net benefits of these investments, the trends now show that many of these programs have resulted in greater customer awareness and participation in demand management efforts that will result in sustainable long-term economic benefits."
Some of the bad news that might result from the Department of Energy-funded projects include stumbles in customer engagement. Because of the smart meter rollouts made possible in places like California, there are now grassroots citizens groups advocating against the use of smart meters and their efforts have led to opt-outs.
There's also the problem of utility "haves" and "have-nots." So in the wake of the stimulus, there's now a gap between those whose projects got government funding and those who didn't.
Another problem is the creation of "islands" of automation in the rush to be shovel-ready. These islands now need to be integrated to achieve the benefits anticipated in the business cases, he said.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
The college student as smart meter guinea pig
Public Service Co. of Oklahoma is teaming up with a local private university, the University of Tulsa, to install about 1,000 smart meters in and around the school's campus in the hopes of helping students learn how to make smarter energy choices.
Installation kick-off happened in mid-March, and university officials say they're glad to be working with PSO. The installations were completed this week, just in time for students returning from spring break.
PSO last showed an interest in smart meters with a spring 2011 deployment of about 14,000 advanced meters in the Tulsa suburb town of Owasso.
"As we strive to identify new technologies that can help our students conserve resources and control energy costs, we welcome the installation of PSO's smart meters on TU's student apartments," said TU president Steadman Upham.
Using these advanced meters, the utility can connect or disconnect electric service remotely. This capability offers a special advantage on a college campus: With students moving in and out of campus housing for the fall and spring semesters, PSO can turn service on or off easily and without the need to send out a utility worker to the site to service the order.
The meters will connect with a specially designed Web portal, allowing participating customers to check out their electric usage and other information that will let them see how much energy they are using and how they can use less.
The utility is hoping that this pilot program will help them learn about the energy habits of college students, and how interested they are in cutting their energy use.
"The installation of smart meters on student apartment housing is a perfect opportunity to see how young, technology-savvy young people take advantage of information they will have available to help manage their energy usage and costs," said Derek Lewellen, PSO gridSMART project manager. "The number of meters we'll install, plus the fact that TU is a leader in the field of energy technology makes this partnership a natural fit."
It's not just dorms, suites and on-campus housing that will get a smart meter. PSO will also install smart meters at residences and commercial buildings along the northern edge of the campus.
The TU campus is just a few miles away from where I type this, here at PennWell Corp. headquarters in Tulsa. Locally, TU is considered to be a really prestigious (and expensive) school to go to, and I'm not saying that because I went there — I didn't.
University campuses and college towns have long been targeted as test beds for smart grid technologies, and for good reason. They often operate as self-contained grids with their own physical plants and occasionally their own on-site power sources.
So they definitely hold promise for companies and investors who want to try their hand at, say, a smart grid program, an energy storage pilot or a smart meter installation. Plus, as an investor, you get access to a group of young, educated people who might be a little more receptive to new energy ideas than the average local resident.
When I was in college, I spent most of my time living in off-campus apartments where the utilities were pre-paid by the landlord. That was generally something you looked for as a student on a fixed income. So I didn't think much about my energy use at all.
If I had had the ability to keep an eye on my electricity use though, I might have been interested in doing it. College is where a lot of people live on their own for the first time, and you pick up a lot of domestic skills during that time as you think about things you never had to think about before — like supplying groceries to a whole dwelling, how much water you use in a month, or where to get enough quarters to do your laundry.
Testing this kind of program out on student, then, seems like a good choice. If today's utilities are interested in helping foster a generation of people who think about their energy use, getting into colleges and starting programs like these is a great first step. Once you pick up that habit, it's likely you'll continue it as you enter what your elders call "the real world."
By Jeff Postelwait
Online Editor
Installation kick-off happened in mid-March, and university officials say they're glad to be working with PSO. The installations were completed this week, just in time for students returning from spring break.
PSO last showed an interest in smart meters with a spring 2011 deployment of about 14,000 advanced meters in the Tulsa suburb town of Owasso.
"As we strive to identify new technologies that can help our students conserve resources and control energy costs, we welcome the installation of PSO's smart meters on TU's student apartments," said TU president Steadman Upham.
Using these advanced meters, the utility can connect or disconnect electric service remotely. This capability offers a special advantage on a college campus: With students moving in and out of campus housing for the fall and spring semesters, PSO can turn service on or off easily and without the need to send out a utility worker to the site to service the order.
The meters will connect with a specially designed Web portal, allowing participating customers to check out their electric usage and other information that will let them see how much energy they are using and how they can use less.
The utility is hoping that this pilot program will help them learn about the energy habits of college students, and how interested they are in cutting their energy use.
"The installation of smart meters on student apartment housing is a perfect opportunity to see how young, technology-savvy young people take advantage of information they will have available to help manage their energy usage and costs," said Derek Lewellen, PSO gridSMART project manager. "The number of meters we'll install, plus the fact that TU is a leader in the field of energy technology makes this partnership a natural fit."
It's not just dorms, suites and on-campus housing that will get a smart meter. PSO will also install smart meters at residences and commercial buildings along the northern edge of the campus.
The TU campus is just a few miles away from where I type this, here at PennWell Corp. headquarters in Tulsa. Locally, TU is considered to be a really prestigious (and expensive) school to go to, and I'm not saying that because I went there — I didn't.
University campuses and college towns have long been targeted as test beds for smart grid technologies, and for good reason. They often operate as self-contained grids with their own physical plants and occasionally their own on-site power sources.
So they definitely hold promise for companies and investors who want to try their hand at, say, a smart grid program, an energy storage pilot or a smart meter installation. Plus, as an investor, you get access to a group of young, educated people who might be a little more receptive to new energy ideas than the average local resident.
When I was in college, I spent most of my time living in off-campus apartments where the utilities were pre-paid by the landlord. That was generally something you looked for as a student on a fixed income. So I didn't think much about my energy use at all.
If I had had the ability to keep an eye on my electricity use though, I might have been interested in doing it. College is where a lot of people live on their own for the first time, and you pick up a lot of domestic skills during that time as you think about things you never had to think about before — like supplying groceries to a whole dwelling, how much water you use in a month, or where to get enough quarters to do your laundry.
Testing this kind of program out on student, then, seems like a good choice. If today's utilities are interested in helping foster a generation of people who think about their energy use, getting into colleges and starting programs like these is a great first step. Once you pick up that habit, it's likely you'll continue it as you enter what your elders call "the real world."
By Jeff Postelwait
Online Editor
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Amsterdam gets smarter and smarter, and we get left behind
If you’re an American reader of this blog, chances are good that you don’t live in a smart city. I certainly don’t. Not that Tulsa is peopled by the ignorant, no. This isn’t about individual intelligence or grading our education system. It’s just that our power isn’t exactly the cutting edge smart grid stuff of legend. We’ve been talking about the smart grid since 2007---how it can save us all from a bleak energy future with smarter meters, smarter switchgear, smarter energy delivery, even interconnected and informed (and therefore smarter) consumers.
But, few of us here in the U.S. have seen any real smart grid progress. A small percentage in some well-funded pilot hot spots has seen smart meters being installed. Some have tried out a few pushes in energy management concepts---although both Google and Microsoft’s energy management goals have fallen decidedly short. Both companies have called a halt to their consumer-oriented smart grid visions. But, no real vision of smart cites and collaboration is popping up in these parts. We seem to take one step forward and two steps back with smart grid on U.S. soil.
Still, there are cities in this world that are pushing forward and showing significant progress in the smart grid concept, even moving ahead to incorporate other options and other utilities in an overarching concept of a “smart city.” One of those is Amsterdam.
Last year, I took a personal guided tour of “Climate Street” in Amsterdam. A long row of traditional looking shops along a narrow street, these businesses were all invested in the idea of energy management and smarter consumption. From bars to record stores to chocolate shops, they partnered with the city and the local grid operator Liander to put in smarter equipment and keep an eye on the energy bottom line. And all that collaboration and progress didn’t seem to impact the end product one bit. The beer was still tasty, the bitterballen still toasty and the chocolate still melt-in-the-mouth delicious.
Even though I don’t cover Europe much anymore, I still keep up with Amsterdam’s Smart City initiatives, including Climate Street. Perhaps I’m just fascinated that a culture, a group of business people, a city, residents, and the local grid company, along with a research group, can all get along so well. As an American who still sees our sense of rugged individualism in myself and pretty much everyone else in this country, including utilities and businesses, it’s positively amazing to witness such smooth and steady cooperation.
This week, Amsterdam’s Smart City announced a new partner, KPN. (I admit to being on their e-mail list. As I said, I’m fascinated.) KPN is a fiber optics connection. So, Amsterdam has a new partner that can bring all sorts of smart grid consumer options to the equation, as well as positioning the city for a very collaborative, very interactive, very digitally high tech fiber future. And the announcement must have mentioned the word “cooperation” eight times in four paragraphs.
Perhaps investing in the smart grid, at its core, doesn’t start with the technology or even with cash on the table. Perhaps there’s a real lesson in Amsterdam’s Smart City progress that we can mull over in the U.S.: Can we get further ahead if we set aside “who’s paying” and “who’s benefiting right now” and “how does this make my personal life better immediately” and start thinking a bit more collectively?
Is cooperation the first step to a smarter grid and smarter cities?
But, few of us here in the U.S. have seen any real smart grid progress. A small percentage in some well-funded pilot hot spots has seen smart meters being installed. Some have tried out a few pushes in energy management concepts---although both Google and Microsoft’s energy management goals have fallen decidedly short. Both companies have called a halt to their consumer-oriented smart grid visions. But, no real vision of smart cites and collaboration is popping up in these parts. We seem to take one step forward and two steps back with smart grid on U.S. soil.
Still, there are cities in this world that are pushing forward and showing significant progress in the smart grid concept, even moving ahead to incorporate other options and other utilities in an overarching concept of a “smart city.” One of those is Amsterdam.
Last year, I took a personal guided tour of “Climate Street” in Amsterdam. A long row of traditional looking shops along a narrow street, these businesses were all invested in the idea of energy management and smarter consumption. From bars to record stores to chocolate shops, they partnered with the city and the local grid operator Liander to put in smarter equipment and keep an eye on the energy bottom line. And all that collaboration and progress didn’t seem to impact the end product one bit. The beer was still tasty, the bitterballen still toasty and the chocolate still melt-in-the-mouth delicious.
Even though I don’t cover Europe much anymore, I still keep up with Amsterdam’s Smart City initiatives, including Climate Street. Perhaps I’m just fascinated that a culture, a group of business people, a city, residents, and the local grid company, along with a research group, can all get along so well. As an American who still sees our sense of rugged individualism in myself and pretty much everyone else in this country, including utilities and businesses, it’s positively amazing to witness such smooth and steady cooperation.
This week, Amsterdam’s Smart City announced a new partner, KPN. (I admit to being on their e-mail list. As I said, I’m fascinated.) KPN is a fiber optics connection. So, Amsterdam has a new partner that can bring all sorts of smart grid consumer options to the equation, as well as positioning the city for a very collaborative, very interactive, very digitally high tech fiber future. And the announcement must have mentioned the word “cooperation” eight times in four paragraphs.
Perhaps investing in the smart grid, at its core, doesn’t start with the technology or even with cash on the table. Perhaps there’s a real lesson in Amsterdam’s Smart City progress that we can mull over in the U.S.: Can we get further ahead if we set aside “who’s paying” and “who’s benefiting right now” and “how does this make my personal life better immediately” and start thinking a bit more collectively?
Is cooperation the first step to a smarter grid and smarter cities?
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
All the president’s millions
This week, the Obama Administration unveiled new plans for the 21st century grid they envision, along with some millions in potential funding.
Ok, yes, the big news is that we’re not talking billions here. A couple of years ago, those pennies to support grid development stacked to the ceiling and toppled over into the big “B” money pool. But, it is a new, less-spending environment in D.C. these days.
"America cannot build a 21st century economy with a 20th century electricity system. By working with states, industry leaders and the private sector, we can build a clean, smart, national electricity system that will create jobs, reduce energy use and expand renewable energy production," said U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu at this smart grid plan unveiling.
Sweet. So, we’re going to build a whole new system that helps us be energy efficient and get in those solar panels and wind turbines. Awesome. So, what’s our budget? Trillions? Billions? We're talkin' a whole new set of off-the-beaten-path grid tires here, so to speak.
Nope. We get $250 million in loans for smart-grid technology deployment as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utility Service. They want to upgrade rural America. Well, that’s nice, but the grid does range outside of rural America. It goes urban. It goes through the desert. It hits tundra and sneaks around landmarks. And, 80% of the American population live outside those rural areas. Most of us live in urban areas. What about us?
Now, we still have those old billions in stimulus funds granted a few years ago, but this new push for the smart grid from the Administration doesn’t really bring any new cash to the table besides those loans to help establish smarter tech in areas on the outskirts. Now, that’s understandable. Most utilities will be working in urban areas to start the smart grid transformation process. So, yes, the rural areas will likely get the short end of the smart grid stick.
Still, it is a rather sad sign of the times that all this talk about the smart grid isn’t bringing much cash with it, just lots of discussions about “public-private partnerships,” which is often code for “someone else needs to fund this.”
According to the White House, these new efforts are building “upon the historic $4.5 billion in grid modernization investments provided for in the Recovery Act—matched by contributions of more than $5.5 billion from the private sector—to modernize America’s aging energy infrastructure and provide cleaner and more reliable power.”
The new efforts include a lot of consumer issues and paperwork.
First, there’s the mention of the Gridwise Alliance’s new spin-off, Grid 21, which is all about getting the consumer into the talks about smart grid---helping quell fears, educating them about tools and savings. Second, the president promises that the Department of Energy promises to look at how to get those consumers better data and info. He might even have crossed his heart on this one.
Basically, the plan is this: They want to tell the kiddies all about energy savings through student programs and have them bring that information home so you can be lectured by your children about power consumption the same way you’re currently lectured about how to properly use the DVR and your iPhone. I have to hand it to them, though, kids are the perfect combinations of know-it-alls and annoying to get this job done. Those parents will assimilate, eventually, if just to make the mini lectures stop.
Also on the agenda: Everyone gets to talk about smart grid stuff at www.smartgrid.gov. There will be sharing---and maybe even some caring. It will be like an industry twelve-step program, but without gulping down cold coffee in a room filled with chain smokers. Everyone will learn stuff about themselves and others and programs and consumers. And, if it weren’t all online, it might end in hugs.
My favorite idea here might the “ Renewable Energy Rapid Response Team.” I had in my head this bevy of Black Hawk helicopters swooping into a site, dropping ropes down into a field where commandos would sneak in with solar panels strapped to their burly backs and a solar farm would be set up in seconds. Then, they’d be out like the wind, leaving the community to wonder what happened as they sipped their morning coffee and enjoyed their new partial freedom from fossil fuels. But, alas, this is not true. The team is basically a group of peeps to speed up paperwork---the geek squad, of sorts. They promise to ensure that the feds all talk to each other and review stuff promptly. I like the vision of my response team much better.
Those ideas, and a report, are pretty much what happened between speeches during this White House smart grid shindig.
“A 21st century grid is essential to America’s ability to lead the world in clean energy and win the future,” said John P. Holdren, President Obama’s science and technology advisor and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy during this week’s hubbub. “By unlocking the potential of innovation in the electric grid, we are allowing consumers and businesses to use energy more efficiently even as we help utilities provide cleaner energy and more reliable service.”
While I understand the limitations that the Administration is under these days from all sides of the political fence, rural loans for the greener pastures of America and red tape clipping alone will not unlock the potential of that 21st century grid we all want. What the grid really needs is another outlay of cold, hard cash.
But, the government purse is now zipped tight, with a hand over the clasp to ward off prying fingers. But, at least we can all still talk about things and share. We’ve got that going for us.
Ok, yes, the big news is that we’re not talking billions here. A couple of years ago, those pennies to support grid development stacked to the ceiling and toppled over into the big “B” money pool. But, it is a new, less-spending environment in D.C. these days.
"America cannot build a 21st century economy with a 20th century electricity system. By working with states, industry leaders and the private sector, we can build a clean, smart, national electricity system that will create jobs, reduce energy use and expand renewable energy production," said U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu at this smart grid plan unveiling.
Sweet. So, we’re going to build a whole new system that helps us be energy efficient and get in those solar panels and wind turbines. Awesome. So, what’s our budget? Trillions? Billions? We're talkin' a whole new set of off-the-beaten-path grid tires here, so to speak.
Nope. We get $250 million in loans for smart-grid technology deployment as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utility Service. They want to upgrade rural America. Well, that’s nice, but the grid does range outside of rural America. It goes urban. It goes through the desert. It hits tundra and sneaks around landmarks. And, 80% of the American population live outside those rural areas. Most of us live in urban areas. What about us?
Now, we still have those old billions in stimulus funds granted a few years ago, but this new push for the smart grid from the Administration doesn’t really bring any new cash to the table besides those loans to help establish smarter tech in areas on the outskirts. Now, that’s understandable. Most utilities will be working in urban areas to start the smart grid transformation process. So, yes, the rural areas will likely get the short end of the smart grid stick.
Still, it is a rather sad sign of the times that all this talk about the smart grid isn’t bringing much cash with it, just lots of discussions about “public-private partnerships,” which is often code for “someone else needs to fund this.”
According to the White House, these new efforts are building “upon the historic $4.5 billion in grid modernization investments provided for in the Recovery Act—matched by contributions of more than $5.5 billion from the private sector—to modernize America’s aging energy infrastructure and provide cleaner and more reliable power.”
The new efforts include a lot of consumer issues and paperwork.
First, there’s the mention of the Gridwise Alliance’s new spin-off, Grid 21, which is all about getting the consumer into the talks about smart grid---helping quell fears, educating them about tools and savings. Second, the president promises that the Department of Energy promises to look at how to get those consumers better data and info. He might even have crossed his heart on this one.
Basically, the plan is this: They want to tell the kiddies all about energy savings through student programs and have them bring that information home so you can be lectured by your children about power consumption the same way you’re currently lectured about how to properly use the DVR and your iPhone. I have to hand it to them, though, kids are the perfect combinations of know-it-alls and annoying to get this job done. Those parents will assimilate, eventually, if just to make the mini lectures stop.
Also on the agenda: Everyone gets to talk about smart grid stuff at www.smartgrid.gov. There will be sharing---and maybe even some caring. It will be like an industry twelve-step program, but without gulping down cold coffee in a room filled with chain smokers. Everyone will learn stuff about themselves and others and programs and consumers. And, if it weren’t all online, it might end in hugs.
My favorite idea here might the “ Renewable Energy Rapid Response Team.” I had in my head this bevy of Black Hawk helicopters swooping into a site, dropping ropes down into a field where commandos would sneak in with solar panels strapped to their burly backs and a solar farm would be set up in seconds. Then, they’d be out like the wind, leaving the community to wonder what happened as they sipped their morning coffee and enjoyed their new partial freedom from fossil fuels. But, alas, this is not true. The team is basically a group of peeps to speed up paperwork---the geek squad, of sorts. They promise to ensure that the feds all talk to each other and review stuff promptly. I like the vision of my response team much better.
Those ideas, and a report, are pretty much what happened between speeches during this White House smart grid shindig.
“A 21st century grid is essential to America’s ability to lead the world in clean energy and win the future,” said John P. Holdren, President Obama’s science and technology advisor and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy during this week’s hubbub. “By unlocking the potential of innovation in the electric grid, we are allowing consumers and businesses to use energy more efficiently even as we help utilities provide cleaner energy and more reliable service.”
While I understand the limitations that the Administration is under these days from all sides of the political fence, rural loans for the greener pastures of America and red tape clipping alone will not unlock the potential of that 21st century grid we all want. What the grid really needs is another outlay of cold, hard cash.
But, the government purse is now zipped tight, with a hand over the clasp to ward off prying fingers. But, at least we can all still talk about things and share. We’ve got that going for us.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Midterm elections, treehuggers and regression-to-mean changes in energy policy
The word around industrial and political blog-land is that it was not a happy election week for energy treehuggers. There’s a great regression-to-mean at work, a return to the traditional senses of energy and policy. With a large change from a global warming-sure blue sea to a global warming-unsure red current, the tide in the political world has shifted away from carbon-lessening, renewable-positive energy to a more traditional fossil fuel approach, with a few exceptions here and there.
Not an exception: cap and trade. It’s dead, for awhile at least. Perhaps we should say it’s comatose instead. We can’t completely call it. But, it’s not bound to awaken like an electric sleeping beauty in the next two years. Just recently, Congress was having one heck of a time attempting to pass a climate change bill in an overwhelming Democratic government. Now that Congress is split between a Democratic Senate and a Republican House, it’s certainly not getting any easier. As the Washington Independent was reporting on Nov. 3, “at least 12 freshman Democrats who voted for the cap-and-trade bill lost their re-election bids.” And, according to Politico, the total number of Dems who voted for the Waxman-Markey House climate bill who lost seats in this election cycle tops 30---“swept away on Tuesday’s anti-incumbent wave” was their exact wording. So, pretty much that’s a mean, green snoozer who will be snoring for awhile, much to the dismay of environmentalists (and to the relief of many climate skeptics, though I admit to you that I am not one of those; I may be from Oklahoma, but I am no Tom Coburn).
Overall, except for the bright spot of a “no” to Prop. 23 in Cali (a ballot measure to suspend AB 32, the state's climate change law) there wasn’t a lot for motivated treehuggers with a fear of global warming to cling to after Tuesday in the area of energy policy. However, nearly 30 states already have renewable energy portfolio standards. So, there’s that for those treehuggers, I guess. Unless there’s a lot of work to reverse RFPs, those will remain. Still, don’t expect that number to grow until election year 2012, and perhaps not even then if our return-to-mean is entrenched.
If environmental issues do remain on the political plate, look for less of a push with wind and solar power and more “middle ground” environmental energies like nuclear power or even carbon capture to resurge. (The one power plus both sides seem to agree on, sometimes, is hydro. So, that may be neutral territory to start from.)
Incentives for renewable projects and green buildings are expected to dwindle, though programs that push both a healthy environment and a healthy consumer wallet (like winterizing and efficiency) may survive.
Electric vehicles, which also bring in that wallet factor in terms of jobs and potential return for still-hurting car companies are thought to be the real bright spot with this election. It is believed that EVs will remain a positive power push, even for a Republican House.
In the end, though, the burning question may be: What happens to the smart grid? Obama has made it his big player energy push with attention, action, and, most importantly, cash. A number of SGIG projects are in production, so to speak. And, it’s quite likely that, at least for a few months to a year or so, the smart grid momentum will keep rolling; with the funding in hand, some of those projects just have to rely on the gravity of completion. But, with no more stimulus cash floating in on that red tide, can the smart grid still come together?
It waits to be seen if our disappointed treehuggers will also be shedding a few tears for the smart grid in the future.
Not an exception: cap and trade. It’s dead, for awhile at least. Perhaps we should say it’s comatose instead. We can’t completely call it. But, it’s not bound to awaken like an electric sleeping beauty in the next two years. Just recently, Congress was having one heck of a time attempting to pass a climate change bill in an overwhelming Democratic government. Now that Congress is split between a Democratic Senate and a Republican House, it’s certainly not getting any easier. As the Washington Independent was reporting on Nov. 3, “at least 12 freshman Democrats who voted for the cap-and-trade bill lost their re-election bids.” And, according to Politico, the total number of Dems who voted for the Waxman-Markey House climate bill who lost seats in this election cycle tops 30---“swept away on Tuesday’s anti-incumbent wave” was their exact wording. So, pretty much that’s a mean, green snoozer who will be snoring for awhile, much to the dismay of environmentalists (and to the relief of many climate skeptics, though I admit to you that I am not one of those; I may be from Oklahoma, but I am no Tom Coburn).
Overall, except for the bright spot of a “no” to Prop. 23 in Cali (a ballot measure to suspend AB 32, the state's climate change law) there wasn’t a lot for motivated treehuggers with a fear of global warming to cling to after Tuesday in the area of energy policy. However, nearly 30 states already have renewable energy portfolio standards. So, there’s that for those treehuggers, I guess. Unless there’s a lot of work to reverse RFPs, those will remain. Still, don’t expect that number to grow until election year 2012, and perhaps not even then if our return-to-mean is entrenched.
If environmental issues do remain on the political plate, look for less of a push with wind and solar power and more “middle ground” environmental energies like nuclear power or even carbon capture to resurge. (The one power plus both sides seem to agree on, sometimes, is hydro. So, that may be neutral territory to start from.)
Incentives for renewable projects and green buildings are expected to dwindle, though programs that push both a healthy environment and a healthy consumer wallet (like winterizing and efficiency) may survive.
Electric vehicles, which also bring in that wallet factor in terms of jobs and potential return for still-hurting car companies are thought to be the real bright spot with this election. It is believed that EVs will remain a positive power push, even for a Republican House.
In the end, though, the burning question may be: What happens to the smart grid? Obama has made it his big player energy push with attention, action, and, most importantly, cash. A number of SGIG projects are in production, so to speak. And, it’s quite likely that, at least for a few months to a year or so, the smart grid momentum will keep rolling; with the funding in hand, some of those projects just have to rely on the gravity of completion. But, with no more stimulus cash floating in on that red tide, can the smart grid still come together?
It waits to be seen if our disappointed treehuggers will also be shedding a few tears for the smart grid in the future.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Fess up, utilities: Smart grid stuffs may not save customer cash
Let me preface this entry by saying that I believe in the smart grid. I’m a fan. I think we need a smarter, more self-healing, more active, more adaptable energy system. It is, indeed, the wave of the future, the golden child, the technological messiah.
But, nope, it ain’t gonna be cheap.
Last week, I wrote a blog about the California governor signing into law a bill that (sorta) mandates utility targets for energy storage in the state. You can read it here, if you’re interested.
One of the comments I received was from a reader named Jim. He wrote:
Will investment in energy storage lower my energy bill? Of course not. Is this the most effective way to reduce green house gases? Not by a long shot. The virtue of this plan is that everyone gets to subsidize those who will make a lot money from it.
To be completely honest here, Jim is absolutely right. Is energy storage specifically (and smart grid or renewables generally) going to automatically start Jim’s electric bill on the path to negative numbers? Is the power company going to, eventually, have to pay him? Probably not unless he has own wind turbine or solar panels, and, even then, such technologies would cost him a lot up front for purchase and installation.
And, sure, energy storage is not the most direct way to reduce greenhouse gases produced by the power industry. The most direct way would be to just shut down fossil fuel plants---at least the most direct within our industry. But, we can’t do that. So, we have to look for some outside options that may be more than the mathematically logical straight line between two points. Sometimes, it takes a cloud of dots to clear the air.
And, in the end, will people make money off this stuff? Yes, they will. For AB2514 (that energy storage bill), the companies that make the equipment will make money. For the smart grid, yes, the companies that have those smarter technologies and can sell them will make money. That’s the way capitalism---fortunately or unfortunately---works. Those companies wouldn’t be in business if they didn’t have a profit margin.
And, in the end, the same has to be said for your utility. While they are highly regulated and while they don’t really get the free reign of capitalism that, say, Wal-Mart does, they are still a company and still trying to make a bit of money---while providing a valuable, important service. Whether or not such a service should be socialized, privatized, deregulated or regulated is another argument really. Here, we’re talking about what is.
And, in the land of “what is,” here are the facts:
(1) Smart grid technology costs money.
(2) Utilities can only take on so much of the up-front costs of smart grid before passing it on to consumers.
(3) We also need to seriously upgrade infrastructure for those smart grid technologies, and that, too, costs money.
So, yes, Jim is totally right. Why can’t we, as an industry, admit that? We often market the smart grid as a way to save the consumer cash, but, let’s be honest, that’s not always true. And, to so do, the consumer would have to be willingly involved---checking energy consumption, adjusting their use, understanding rate changes.
In the end, can we set aside the idea of selling the smart grid, renewable adoption and upgraded power technology as a saver of nickels and dimes and dollars? Instead, can we be more direct and say, “The smart grid is good for the individual, good for the marketplace and good for the country.”
As Martha Stewart coined, the smart grid is a “good thing.” It will allow for more renewables. It will give better information on power use, outages and issues. It will add technological options to the grid. And, sure, if you’re super dedicated to your in-home energy management unit and are willing to invest time (and perhaps cash if you had to buy and install that unit), the smart grid could save you money.
It could, but we’ll still need to pay for upgrades, research, investment and pilot programs before that happens. And, while a lot of that cost is being shouldered by utility companies, it is more than true that the average consumer is not going to see a financial benefit to the smart grid in the near future. They may get smarter, more reliable, higher quality energy. And, they may, in a few years, get to help with that greenhouse gas reduction, but it’s time to market the smart grid with it’s definite positives and let go of the idea that the average consumer can only be swayed to join the smart grid fan base if we talk about cash.
Let’s talk about change, about a smarter future. Let’s talk about cleaner energy and fewer outages. Let’s talk about more understanding with energy use and energy production. But, let’s stop talking about the almighty dollar. It’s just clouding an issue that should be about positive and necessary change and not about cost savings.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Meditations on solar max, Max Headroom and naughty little business case genies
Ralph Abbott is a hoot to talk to. I don’t know if you’ve ever encountered him at an industry conference. (He’ll be hanging out in the RW Beck booth chatting up passersby and handing out his business cards which proudly declare him the founder of Plexus Research.) If you do run into him, though, ask him about the three risks.
It’s like three wishes, only negative---from a potentially quite naughty little genie.
Not that Ralph is a negative guy. He’s certainly not. As noted, he’s a hoot. But, he does have three specific concerns about smart grid and communications. And they are quite valid.
His first concern: What about the sun, man?
I know. Seems like a hippie liberal issue, but it’s not, my friend. The sun impacts all. What he’s getting at is solar max. Solar max isn’t an ‘80s icon you don’t remember well because you’re still fondly recalling Max Headroom. No, in fact, solar max is short for solar maximum. It’s a measurement of solar variation. It’s about sun spots and, while it still sounds odd, that does impact things here on Earth like weather, surface magnetism and radiation.
What’s the bottomline here with solar max? Well, it impacts something much more directly than weather here: It can create odd havoc with communications. The scientific explanation involves refraction and ionized solar photons. But, the basics are: It gets all wiggy with radio frequency (RF).
Ralph noted that solar max is on a 17-year cycle with experts expecting it to peak between 2012 and 2014, which could cause issues with utilities’ RF use. Ralph’s question to the industry echoes more Dirty Harry than Max Headroom though: Are we feeling lucky?
In other words, are we just going to ignore solar max and hope it doesn’t cause massive issues, or does someone, somewhere have a plan?
I know. That’s only one risk and already you’re a bit concerned. Try to maintain your calmness.
His second concern: GPS.
Okay, not all of GPS. Not your Mr. T-speaking TomTom alight on your car dashboard that gets you to the Kenny Rogers concert without getting lost on Oklahoma’s unlit, unmanned and unsigned back highways. That’s not the GPS Ralph is concerned with. He’s more concerned with GPS satellite timing signals, which would keep all your smart grid equipment on the same reliable beat, you might say.
But, as Ralph pointed out, GPS can be easily jammed with about $200 worth of over-the-counter parts and an ability to get within 150 feet of the equipment. So, like his concerns over solar max, he has some questions, like: What’s the risk of GPS jamming to utility operations? What’s the threat level, really, and what counter measures are we taking?
Hopefully, you’re not panicked yet. We’re on to risk number three, and, luckily, this risk doesn’t really make us fear the minor jammer or the almighty sun. Instead, this final risk revolves entirely around the almighty dollar.
His third concern: The business case for AMI.
How many articles have we all read---and, also, have I written---on proving a business case for AMI? I’ll estimate it topping Super Bowl ticket receipts from last year. Seems like millions, doesn’t it? But, Ralph wants to know if they are really getting to the heart of one specific area: using demand response as the ‘sweet spot” to get to goal on operational savings.
See, demand response is rather an amorphous term. It’s here. It’s there. It can mean different things to different folks (rather like the term “smart grid,” really).
Let’s say you need to prove your AMI business case and you know a few savvy facts. You know that five percent of your consumers will change their power use according to demand response ideals if you just tell them all about it, if you just give them good info. They are really that darn motivated.
But, you also know that if those consumers had in-home gadgets that let them visually see the information in real-time, that number would jump to 15 percent. So, you pencil in that number in your AMI business case, cuz that’s a delightful number, really. Helps all those other numbers look better. But, are you figuring in costs of those in-home devices, or are you saying to yourself, “Self, those consumers are gonna be just fine going to Radio Shack or some other fine establishment and buying their own devices and installing those devices themselves.”
This leaves the pay out for that in-home device in the pocket of the consumer, which is lovely for that AMI business case but perhaps not so practical in the real world. Because will that person really be excited about taking time out of their day and going down to the Shack and picking up that purchase and then going home and installing that thingamajig? And who do they call if the thingamajig doesn’t light up with all the bells and whistles the consumer expects?
One response Ralph got when he asked around about that question to a few utilities, “I don’t know who they call, but it ain’t us.”
So, if it ain’t us, who is it? And is this a magical view of consumers where they are all tech savvy, gung-ho and willing to pay for demand response benefits up front? What if that magical view is woefully inaccurate? How will taking on consumer-side technology, questions, installations, problems and follow-ups impact the business case for AMI?
Those are Ralph’s meditations these days. You’ll be able to read more about them in an upcoming issue of POWERGRID International magazine. If you can’t wait until then, track him down at the nearest conference and ask him to expand on these risks. It may be the most interesting meeting you have at that conference.
It’s like three wishes, only negative---from a potentially quite naughty little genie.
Not that Ralph is a negative guy. He’s certainly not. As noted, he’s a hoot. But, he does have three specific concerns about smart grid and communications. And they are quite valid.
His first concern: What about the sun, man?
I know. Seems like a hippie liberal issue, but it’s not, my friend. The sun impacts all. What he’s getting at is solar max. Solar max isn’t an ‘80s icon you don’t remember well because you’re still fondly recalling Max Headroom. No, in fact, solar max is short for solar maximum. It’s a measurement of solar variation. It’s about sun spots and, while it still sounds odd, that does impact things here on Earth like weather, surface magnetism and radiation.
What’s the bottomline here with solar max? Well, it impacts something much more directly than weather here: It can create odd havoc with communications. The scientific explanation involves refraction and ionized solar photons. But, the basics are: It gets all wiggy with radio frequency (RF).
Ralph noted that solar max is on a 17-year cycle with experts expecting it to peak between 2012 and 2014, which could cause issues with utilities’ RF use. Ralph’s question to the industry echoes more Dirty Harry than Max Headroom though: Are we feeling lucky?
In other words, are we just going to ignore solar max and hope it doesn’t cause massive issues, or does someone, somewhere have a plan?
I know. That’s only one risk and already you’re a bit concerned. Try to maintain your calmness.
His second concern: GPS.
Okay, not all of GPS. Not your Mr. T-speaking TomTom alight on your car dashboard that gets you to the Kenny Rogers concert without getting lost on Oklahoma’s unlit, unmanned and unsigned back highways. That’s not the GPS Ralph is concerned with. He’s more concerned with GPS satellite timing signals, which would keep all your smart grid equipment on the same reliable beat, you might say.
But, as Ralph pointed out, GPS can be easily jammed with about $200 worth of over-the-counter parts and an ability to get within 150 feet of the equipment. So, like his concerns over solar max, he has some questions, like: What’s the risk of GPS jamming to utility operations? What’s the threat level, really, and what counter measures are we taking?
Hopefully, you’re not panicked yet. We’re on to risk number three, and, luckily, this risk doesn’t really make us fear the minor jammer or the almighty sun. Instead, this final risk revolves entirely around the almighty dollar.
His third concern: The business case for AMI.
How many articles have we all read---and, also, have I written---on proving a business case for AMI? I’ll estimate it topping Super Bowl ticket receipts from last year. Seems like millions, doesn’t it? But, Ralph wants to know if they are really getting to the heart of one specific area: using demand response as the ‘sweet spot” to get to goal on operational savings.
See, demand response is rather an amorphous term. It’s here. It’s there. It can mean different things to different folks (rather like the term “smart grid,” really).
Let’s say you need to prove your AMI business case and you know a few savvy facts. You know that five percent of your consumers will change their power use according to demand response ideals if you just tell them all about it, if you just give them good info. They are really that darn motivated.
But, you also know that if those consumers had in-home gadgets that let them visually see the information in real-time, that number would jump to 15 percent. So, you pencil in that number in your AMI business case, cuz that’s a delightful number, really. Helps all those other numbers look better. But, are you figuring in costs of those in-home devices, or are you saying to yourself, “Self, those consumers are gonna be just fine going to Radio Shack or some other fine establishment and buying their own devices and installing those devices themselves.”
This leaves the pay out for that in-home device in the pocket of the consumer, which is lovely for that AMI business case but perhaps not so practical in the real world. Because will that person really be excited about taking time out of their day and going down to the Shack and picking up that purchase and then going home and installing that thingamajig? And who do they call if the thingamajig doesn’t light up with all the bells and whistles the consumer expects?
One response Ralph got when he asked around about that question to a few utilities, “I don’t know who they call, but it ain’t us.”
So, if it ain’t us, who is it? And is this a magical view of consumers where they are all tech savvy, gung-ho and willing to pay for demand response benefits up front? What if that magical view is woefully inaccurate? How will taking on consumer-side technology, questions, installations, problems and follow-ups impact the business case for AMI?
Those are Ralph’s meditations these days. You’ll be able to read more about them in an upcoming issue of POWERGRID International magazine. If you can’t wait until then, track him down at the nearest conference and ask him to expand on these risks. It may be the most interesting meeting you have at that conference.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
More from my Autovation notes: Ben Koch
Ben Koch, managing director in the corporate finance division of SWS Group, joined Austin Energy’s Mele at Autovation’s opening keynote session at the Austin Convention Center on September13. While he didn’t talk as much about communication as she did (see previous blog on Autovation by clicking here), Koch did mirror the executives at Itron and Cisco and discuss collaboration.
“We’re all on this road to a true end-to-end smart grid together,” he told the audience.
While Koch noted that there have been—and still are—obstacles on the road, the path is getting smoother and the industry is making progress.
“The smart grid has persevered,” Koch said, despite challenging economic conditions, complex integration issues, consumer skepticism, regulatory pressures and evolving standards.
While Koch admitted that financing is still an issue, he pointed to the Obama stimulus money for smart grid as being “on the right path” and noted that third party private investors are stepping up, offering nearly $500 million for smart grid products this year alone.
“On the private side, [companies] believe in smart grid opportunities,” he stated.
In the end, that investor faith in the smart grid was the one idea Koch really hoped every audience member would take away from his speech at Autovation.
“Investors are following [the smart grid] closely. They are willing to put capital to work,” he added.
Koch added that the smart grid market has a number of positives that investors look for, including growing market opportunities (1.3 billion electric meters around the world, for example), unique technology solutions and scalable business models.
While the gray area of emerging-but-not-definitive standards and significant consumer issues still remain, Koch doesn’t see those as impossible mountains to climb.
He said, “There will always be challenges in a market this size, but they will be overcome. It’s a great time to be in the [smart grid] market.”
“We’re all on this road to a true end-to-end smart grid together,” he told the audience.
While Koch noted that there have been—and still are—obstacles on the road, the path is getting smoother and the industry is making progress.
“The smart grid has persevered,” Koch said, despite challenging economic conditions, complex integration issues, consumer skepticism, regulatory pressures and evolving standards.
While Koch admitted that financing is still an issue, he pointed to the Obama stimulus money for smart grid as being “on the right path” and noted that third party private investors are stepping up, offering nearly $500 million for smart grid products this year alone.
“On the private side, [companies] believe in smart grid opportunities,” he stated.
In the end, that investor faith in the smart grid was the one idea Koch really hoped every audience member would take away from his speech at Autovation.
“Investors are following [the smart grid] closely. They are willing to put capital to work,” he added.
Koch added that the smart grid market has a number of positives that investors look for, including growing market opportunities (1.3 billion electric meters around the world, for example), unique technology solutions and scalable business models.
While the gray area of emerging-but-not-definitive standards and significant consumer issues still remain, Koch doesn’t see those as impossible mountains to climb.
He said, “There will always be challenges in a market this size, but they will be overcome. It’s a great time to be in the [smart grid] market.”
Monday, August 30, 2010
CIGRE and the smart grid
I spent last week in Paris for the CIGRE exposition at a conference center just down the street from the famously triumphant Arc de Triomphe. But, while Napoleon’s victories may still be celebrated in the stone arch of the Arc, I was surprised that CIGRE’s exposition showed few victories for the area of transmission and distribution we all hear so much about---the smart grid.
CIGRE stands for Conseil International des Grands Reseaux Electriques---or, in the not-so-queen’s-English: International Council on Large Electric Systems. Established in 1921, the group is one of the leading organizations on electric power systems, covering their technical, economic, environmental, organizational and regulatory aspects. A non-profit association based in France, CIGRE leans heavily toward transmission and pops up in Paris in exhibition form every two years for a week of complicated sessions.
When I first went to CIGRE two years ago in 2008, they were breaking record attendance numbers at 4400. While my contact hasn’t told me what the numbers were yet for this year, I guarantee you they were large, as always. That’s not surprising. They’re always large. What was surprising was the lack of smart grid focus. (There was more on it two years ago, actually.) No long sessions on the subject, few exhibitors touting it. The show was heavy on hardware and light on the PR of the smart grid. Since smart grid is pretty much all anyone talks about with transmission and distribution these days here in the U.S., color me surprised to show up at a large international conference that chats most about overhead lines, audible noise and transformers---that really is all about the basics of the electric grid.
And, yet, it was not a ghost town. The floor was packed. The sessions were full. And, it got me thinking about rabbits.
Yes, rabbits. Well, one rabbit in particular.
After a long day of sessions at CIGRE, I wandered up to the art district by the Sacre Coeur church. I have a soft spot for that area, a place of poets and artists from the turn of the last century. Down a side street is a cabaret called Au Lapin Agile which has been around, in one form or another, since the time of green fairies and Toulouse-Lautrec. (Latrec used to use the owner as a model for some of his posters). There’s a famous story about this spot, translated into The Nimble Rabbit in English. An early 20th century French novelist so hated modern artists like Picasso, so thought them fluff and garbage and a bunch of hooey, that he tied a paintbrush to the tail of a donkey and showed the finished product as art at a salon, naming it “Sunset over the Adriatic.”
France has always been a place of rather pointed commentary, and, while I actually like Picasso and other cubists that the novelist was attempting to skewer with his donkey canvas, I have to admit that the French ability to preach a novel without saying a single actual word seemed poignant given what I’d encountered that day at the conference center. It crossed over to the CIGRE floor and sessions in my overactive imagination. Was the decided lack of smart grid information, smart grid details and smart grid exhibits at CIGRE a commentary on what the smart grid actually is---or, more pointedly, what it actually is not?
Granted, some of this is because the smart grid, as we know it, has focused almost entirely on the distribution end of the game, but, the fact is, that we need to make this grid intelligent from the meter all the way back to the power plant, and, if transmission isn’t in the equation yet (as CIGRE might show us), we have millions of miles to go before we sleep, to steal a bit from Frost’s little poem, which isn't about rabbits at all.
CIGRE stands for Conseil International des Grands Reseaux Electriques---or, in the not-so-queen’s-English: International Council on Large Electric Systems. Established in 1921, the group is one of the leading organizations on electric power systems, covering their technical, economic, environmental, organizational and regulatory aspects. A non-profit association based in France, CIGRE leans heavily toward transmission and pops up in Paris in exhibition form every two years for a week of complicated sessions.
When I first went to CIGRE two years ago in 2008, they were breaking record attendance numbers at 4400. While my contact hasn’t told me what the numbers were yet for this year, I guarantee you they were large, as always. That’s not surprising. They’re always large. What was surprising was the lack of smart grid focus. (There was more on it two years ago, actually.) No long sessions on the subject, few exhibitors touting it. The show was heavy on hardware and light on the PR of the smart grid. Since smart grid is pretty much all anyone talks about with transmission and distribution these days here in the U.S., color me surprised to show up at a large international conference that chats most about overhead lines, audible noise and transformers---that really is all about the basics of the electric grid.
And, yet, it was not a ghost town. The floor was packed. The sessions were full. And, it got me thinking about rabbits.
Yes, rabbits. Well, one rabbit in particular.
After a long day of sessions at CIGRE, I wandered up to the art district by the Sacre Coeur church. I have a soft spot for that area, a place of poets and artists from the turn of the last century. Down a side street is a cabaret called Au Lapin Agile which has been around, in one form or another, since the time of green fairies and Toulouse-Lautrec. (Latrec used to use the owner as a model for some of his posters). There’s a famous story about this spot, translated into The Nimble Rabbit in English. An early 20th century French novelist so hated modern artists like Picasso, so thought them fluff and garbage and a bunch of hooey, that he tied a paintbrush to the tail of a donkey and showed the finished product as art at a salon, naming it “Sunset over the Adriatic.”
France has always been a place of rather pointed commentary, and, while I actually like Picasso and other cubists that the novelist was attempting to skewer with his donkey canvas, I have to admit that the French ability to preach a novel without saying a single actual word seemed poignant given what I’d encountered that day at the conference center. It crossed over to the CIGRE floor and sessions in my overactive imagination. Was the decided lack of smart grid information, smart grid details and smart grid exhibits at CIGRE a commentary on what the smart grid actually is---or, more pointedly, what it actually is not?
Granted, some of this is because the smart grid, as we know it, has focused almost entirely on the distribution end of the game, but, the fact is, that we need to make this grid intelligent from the meter all the way back to the power plant, and, if transmission isn’t in the equation yet (as CIGRE might show us), we have millions of miles to go before we sleep, to steal a bit from Frost’s little poem, which isn't about rabbits at all.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Do mere meters define the smart grid future?
This week, research company Berg Insight predicted that installed smart meters will shoot past the 300-million mark worldwide by 2015. That’s a lot of meters. A whole lot. But, are we circling, here? Smart meters may be the heart of the smart grid, but where is the rest of the infrastructure we were promised? How is it developing? Are we going to get that intelligent overlay all the way up the path to the power plant, or is the concept of smart meters the only bit of fruition in our smart grid dreams?
The smart grid, overall, has had a lot of setbacks here in the U.S. recently: Boulder’s SmartGridCity project is facing serious doubts and extreme cost overruns (not to mention regulatory issues), utilities like Baltimore Gas & Electric have had their smart grid dreams shattered by public utility commissions that don’t share the vision, and many other utilities have significantly scaled back their smart grid plans to reflect growing consumer fears and economic issues.
But, apparently, the meter is just gonna keep on keeping on, keep on beating. It’s going to shed its problematic smart grid outer shell and emerge new and fresh and victorious.
According to Berg, during the next five years, penetration rates for smart metering technology are projected to increase from around 15–20 percent today to nearly 50 percent in Europe and North America, while Asia-Pacific is projected to soar from less than 1 percent to 25 percent by 2015.
Granted, a lot of this is helped by two things (at least in Europe and Asia): state-run utilities (especially in China and Korea) and regulation. While the regulatory bodies here in the U.S. balk, the regulatory bodies in Europe push. As even Berg admits, the key role in this meter overload is government. Even here in the U.S., while we don’t have the EU legislation demanding change, we do have an administration investing in grid technology as part of the stimulus, a suggested path, if not a push. And, the single most proven part of smart grid technology is, indeed, the smart meter.
“Smart metering is now a globally accepted mature mainstream technology,” said Tobias Ryberg, senior analyst with Berg Insight and author of the report on this meter influx. “All over the world we can see how IT and telecommunication has transformed the metering industry from a business of mechanical devices and manual labor to an arena for state-of-the-art technology in everything from wireless networking to data warehousing and complex system integration.”
Additionally, Berg Insight believes that a number of places around the world may near the 100% smart meter mark by 2020. While that’s all fine and dandy, it still leaves us to wonder where the rest of the smart grid tin man resides. Smart metering may be the heart he’s seeking, but it seems like the bulk of him is still significantly lost, running behind, forgotten along this yellow brick road to meter penetration.
The smart grid, overall, has had a lot of setbacks here in the U.S. recently: Boulder’s SmartGridCity project is facing serious doubts and extreme cost overruns (not to mention regulatory issues), utilities like Baltimore Gas & Electric have had their smart grid dreams shattered by public utility commissions that don’t share the vision, and many other utilities have significantly scaled back their smart grid plans to reflect growing consumer fears and economic issues.
But, apparently, the meter is just gonna keep on keeping on, keep on beating. It’s going to shed its problematic smart grid outer shell and emerge new and fresh and victorious.
According to Berg, during the next five years, penetration rates for smart metering technology are projected to increase from around 15–20 percent today to nearly 50 percent in Europe and North America, while Asia-Pacific is projected to soar from less than 1 percent to 25 percent by 2015.
Granted, a lot of this is helped by two things (at least in Europe and Asia): state-run utilities (especially in China and Korea) and regulation. While the regulatory bodies here in the U.S. balk, the regulatory bodies in Europe push. As even Berg admits, the key role in this meter overload is government. Even here in the U.S., while we don’t have the EU legislation demanding change, we do have an administration investing in grid technology as part of the stimulus, a suggested path, if not a push. And, the single most proven part of smart grid technology is, indeed, the smart meter.
“Smart metering is now a globally accepted mature mainstream technology,” said Tobias Ryberg, senior analyst with Berg Insight and author of the report on this meter influx. “All over the world we can see how IT and telecommunication has transformed the metering industry from a business of mechanical devices and manual labor to an arena for state-of-the-art technology in everything from wireless networking to data warehousing and complex system integration.”
Additionally, Berg Insight believes that a number of places around the world may near the 100% smart meter mark by 2020. While that’s all fine and dandy, it still leaves us to wonder where the rest of the smart grid tin man resides. Smart metering may be the heart he’s seeking, but it seems like the bulk of him is still significantly lost, running behind, forgotten along this yellow brick road to meter penetration.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Sharing the Smart Grid in Bits and Bytes
I don’t care what your momma told you, sharing sucks. I share a driveway. (My house was built in the 1920s before the great auto explosion in American culture.) I’m always courteous---painfully aware of keeping the driveway access open for the consideration of those people right next door. My neighbors, however, are not courteous. They take over. They hog. They plant their little rubber car feet in the driveway in multiples I cannot begin to describe---nor can I begin to describe how it irks me.
For two years, I’ve been overly nice and they’ve been overly nasty. After a particularly bad incident a couple of weeks ago involving a tan Malibu that blocked me in the drive for nearly two days, I stopped being so nice. Now, I wasn’t overly nasty, either. I didn’t block them in. I wasn’t quite that childish. Childish wasn’t going to help, even if I really, really, really wanted to be childish at the time. But, I did park in an area of the drive that was a bit “in the way” for them---just to give them a taste of what I’ve been dealing with daily for two years.
In less than 10 days, they were at my door to ‘talk’ about the drive and access---because it finally became a personal problem, an issue for them. They didn’t suddenly get the hint that they were being jerks. Nah. They never will. I had simply figured out that, to get even close to a compromise, I had to make it about them, specifically. I had to get them emotionally involved, make it impact their own daily lives.
I think Duke Energy learned a similar lesson about their smart grid Indiana plan: make it personal, make it impact the individual, and show them how it can benefit all to talk more about it. Forget greater good, energy efficiency and development for renewables. Target individual desires.
Duke’s Indiana plan for the smart grid was breathtaking---an over-arcing, 800,000-meter proposal that was a real beauty in its coverage, a showstopper. There would be a meter in just about every house and every business in all of the 69 counties Duke served in Indiana. A multi-pronged, five-year blueprint worthy of the Chrysler Building, really, Duke’s Indiana plan had all the bells and whistles a smart grid could ask for.
Duke packaged it up nicely, neatly and went along to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission with the $450 million proposal. The Commission stopped the show literally. They denied the proposal. They weren’t impressed by the scope and breadth. They weren’t impressed by the technology. As a group in place to buffer costs and watch out for the consumer, they didn’t look at the beauty of the plan; they wanted to know, specifically, how that plan was going to impact them and their neighbors and the people they represent.
When they didn’t find the information they wanted, they said, “No way. Try again.”
That was last November. And it appears that Duke has learned my driveway lesson. (I always assumed the neighbors would want to be courteous to me the way I was courteous to them. Duke assumed that the regulatory commission would, to an extent, take their word about benefits with the plan. We both learned a painful lesson on trust and concessions. In the end, benefits to the individual must be laid out, spelled out, colored in and made directly, perfectly, crystal clear.)
This week, Duke returns to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission with a new proposal---one that’s significantly smaller and involves a bit of lag time. Duke wants to put in about 40,000 meters and then read the data for a year, hoping to put together a good, solid argument at the end of that year for those regulators---hoping to show, in real numbers, those benefits to the individual.
We often assume---as individuals and as corporations---that a situation will be seen from our own point of view. Alas, in many cases, personal and corporate “blinkers” and “blinders” keep us from seeing anything but what falls directly into our own paths.
This psychology may need to be applied to the smart grid more often. Rather than the big picture approach, we may have to drive the path to a fully-realized smart grid in easier-to-digest, individual portions. To teach society to share, we might need to appeal to the self-centered individual preferences in all of us.
For two years, I’ve been overly nice and they’ve been overly nasty. After a particularly bad incident a couple of weeks ago involving a tan Malibu that blocked me in the drive for nearly two days, I stopped being so nice. Now, I wasn’t overly nasty, either. I didn’t block them in. I wasn’t quite that childish. Childish wasn’t going to help, even if I really, really, really wanted to be childish at the time. But, I did park in an area of the drive that was a bit “in the way” for them---just to give them a taste of what I’ve been dealing with daily for two years.
In less than 10 days, they were at my door to ‘talk’ about the drive and access---because it finally became a personal problem, an issue for them. They didn’t suddenly get the hint that they were being jerks. Nah. They never will. I had simply figured out that, to get even close to a compromise, I had to make it about them, specifically. I had to get them emotionally involved, make it impact their own daily lives.
I think Duke Energy learned a similar lesson about their smart grid Indiana plan: make it personal, make it impact the individual, and show them how it can benefit all to talk more about it. Forget greater good, energy efficiency and development for renewables. Target individual desires.
Duke’s Indiana plan for the smart grid was breathtaking---an over-arcing, 800,000-meter proposal that was a real beauty in its coverage, a showstopper. There would be a meter in just about every house and every business in all of the 69 counties Duke served in Indiana. A multi-pronged, five-year blueprint worthy of the Chrysler Building, really, Duke’s Indiana plan had all the bells and whistles a smart grid could ask for.
Duke packaged it up nicely, neatly and went along to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission with the $450 million proposal. The Commission stopped the show literally. They denied the proposal. They weren’t impressed by the scope and breadth. They weren’t impressed by the technology. As a group in place to buffer costs and watch out for the consumer, they didn’t look at the beauty of the plan; they wanted to know, specifically, how that plan was going to impact them and their neighbors and the people they represent.
When they didn’t find the information they wanted, they said, “No way. Try again.”
That was last November. And it appears that Duke has learned my driveway lesson. (I always assumed the neighbors would want to be courteous to me the way I was courteous to them. Duke assumed that the regulatory commission would, to an extent, take their word about benefits with the plan. We both learned a painful lesson on trust and concessions. In the end, benefits to the individual must be laid out, spelled out, colored in and made directly, perfectly, crystal clear.)
This week, Duke returns to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission with a new proposal---one that’s significantly smaller and involves a bit of lag time. Duke wants to put in about 40,000 meters and then read the data for a year, hoping to put together a good, solid argument at the end of that year for those regulators---hoping to show, in real numbers, those benefits to the individual.
We often assume---as individuals and as corporations---that a situation will be seen from our own point of view. Alas, in many cases, personal and corporate “blinkers” and “blinders” keep us from seeing anything but what falls directly into our own paths.
This psychology may need to be applied to the smart grid more often. Rather than the big picture approach, we may have to drive the path to a fully-realized smart grid in easier-to-digest, individual portions. To teach society to share, we might need to appeal to the self-centered individual preferences in all of us.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Obama, the Smart Grid and Idealist Ideology
Obama and I have a couple of things in common.
One: We were both born during a Chinese cycle of the ox---although he was born the cycle before I was. So, we have that going for us if we need to make small talk at some imaginary state dinner that I can script in my head. But, secondly, we both seem to be a tad too pragmatic in a time of idealists. And idealists, whether red, white or blue, seem to truly abhor pragmatists---abhor to the point of verbal stone-throwing, really, although Obama gets it way worse than I ever will.
The idealist far left is angry at Obama that he hasn’t made gay marriage legal, stopped the wars, freed all the Gitmo detainees and tapped out the BP oil leak with his burning laser-eyed superpowers. The idealist far right is angry that he tried to stimulate the economy more because economists think that’s a darn tootin’ good idea, wants to continue to help the poor and unemployed, and hasn’t freed corporations from the regulation slavery that’s bringing down the true American spirit of Capitalism.
Instead, Obama seems genuinely focused on trying to make progress on laws, bills, war fronts and economic changes---on political details, if you will. Whether or not you see those details as fitting into your particular ideal for this country, it’s obvious the man is more about connections and thinking than he is about emotions and praying, despite that campaign based on hope. That’s pragmatism.
But, unfortunately for Obama, pragmatism isn’t really an American ideal these days, if the comments section on CNN’s Belief Blog or the responses to the BBC’s Mark Mardell (a British reporter discussing life in America, as he once discussed life in Europe) are any indication. We are an angry bunch of idealists, as a national whole. We are fighting amongst ourselves, loudly. We call the other side “stupid” and “evil.” We have left “live and let live” and “let’s talk about this calmly” behind and have, instead, picked up “if I yell at you long enough, you will see all how wrong you’ve been your whole darn life.” We’ve adopting rather polarizing mantras.
Reports on the smart grid have often followed this same blind idealist climb to the summit over the last few years since the term has become household-known. You either believe the smart grid will save the industry, or you think it’s a bunch of hooey. You either love it, or you hate it. And, there’s not a gray area. And, if you’re in the wrong room, you may be cornered by a mob trying to change those beliefs. (Last year, I wrote two articles for POWERGRID International titled “Will Smart Grid Take Over the World?” That title was a play on this concept of growing smart grid idealism.)
But, back in reality, there is a gray area in the smart grid---and a lot of it, for us pragmatists in that mobbed-up room. The smart grid (more than Obama, CNN or the BBC’s Mardell) lends itself to a lot of gray areas, a lot of pragmatism, a lot of maybes. The technology involved in the smart grid may not be the “end all, be all” of a technological savior, but it is an improvement for a system that, in many cases, hasn’t seen much improvement in half a century.
And, on the other end, there is a lot of hype, a lot of expectations that may not come to fruition. Should we really be looking at solar installations and wind installations and sinking money hand over fist down the renewables road when the smart grid, alone, cannot possibly overcome the limitations of intermittency? Personally, as a pragmatist, I’d look first toward solving energy storage before I’d be sketching out plans for a multi-country, offshore grid infrastructure, as Friends of the Supergrid are working on. However, that spending isn’t money wasted if it brings us to a better system and a better end---albeit, perhaps a roundabout one. And, yay for them for finding a positive “button” to stimulate some funding.
Americans tend to feel strongly about everything from presidents to Pepsi, from couches to Congress. In many cases, that makes us fascinating. However, in entrenching ourselves in personal ideals without a willingness to find that gray area, meet there and see if we like it, we often prevent real technological progress and any actual development, instead miring ourselves down, holding ourselves back.
The smart grid needs fewer zealots and more pragmatists---according to this particular pragmatist, at least. No, the smart grid is not the electric messiah, but it’s also not the devil himself. It’s not everything we need for the next generation; it’s not a ridiculous waste of funding. Now that all those waving flags are out of the way, let’s meet and think---as Pooh said, “Think, think, think, think.”---about what the smart grid really is, can really bring to the table and what its limitations are. And, let’s do so honestly. It’s time to step out from behind ideals and spiels and truly come to terms with what can be accomplished with smart grid technology and, realistically, what cannot.
To the idealist industry left, I wish I could tell you that the smart grid is going to allow you to plug in various solar panels, a personal wind turbine and your PHEV with the ease of plugging in your hair dryer. But, it’s not. On the plus side, it will help you manage appliances and energy. To the idealist industry right, I wish I could tell you that the smart grid is going to infuse mountains of capital into the industry to the point that you could swim in it and then use the leftover cash for a towel. But, it’s not. After initial stimulus funding, you will still have to convince the fearful to overcome the hump of investing in the relative unknown of the future---oh, that pesky unknown future. On the plus side, that pragmatist Obama has opened that investment door a crack and helped you get your foot into it. Now, wiggle. Wiggle what your momma gave you and work that gray area.
Cuz, that gray area is all you’re gonna get.
One: We were both born during a Chinese cycle of the ox---although he was born the cycle before I was. So, we have that going for us if we need to make small talk at some imaginary state dinner that I can script in my head. But, secondly, we both seem to be a tad too pragmatic in a time of idealists. And idealists, whether red, white or blue, seem to truly abhor pragmatists---abhor to the point of verbal stone-throwing, really, although Obama gets it way worse than I ever will.
The idealist far left is angry at Obama that he hasn’t made gay marriage legal, stopped the wars, freed all the Gitmo detainees and tapped out the BP oil leak with his burning laser-eyed superpowers. The idealist far right is angry that he tried to stimulate the economy more because economists think that’s a darn tootin’ good idea, wants to continue to help the poor and unemployed, and hasn’t freed corporations from the regulation slavery that’s bringing down the true American spirit of Capitalism.
Instead, Obama seems genuinely focused on trying to make progress on laws, bills, war fronts and economic changes---on political details, if you will. Whether or not you see those details as fitting into your particular ideal for this country, it’s obvious the man is more about connections and thinking than he is about emotions and praying, despite that campaign based on hope. That’s pragmatism.
But, unfortunately for Obama, pragmatism isn’t really an American ideal these days, if the comments section on CNN’s Belief Blog or the responses to the BBC’s Mark Mardell (a British reporter discussing life in America, as he once discussed life in Europe) are any indication. We are an angry bunch of idealists, as a national whole. We are fighting amongst ourselves, loudly. We call the other side “stupid” and “evil.” We have left “live and let live” and “let’s talk about this calmly” behind and have, instead, picked up “if I yell at you long enough, you will see all how wrong you’ve been your whole darn life.” We’ve adopting rather polarizing mantras.
Reports on the smart grid have often followed this same blind idealist climb to the summit over the last few years since the term has become household-known. You either believe the smart grid will save the industry, or you think it’s a bunch of hooey. You either love it, or you hate it. And, there’s not a gray area. And, if you’re in the wrong room, you may be cornered by a mob trying to change those beliefs. (Last year, I wrote two articles for POWERGRID International titled “Will Smart Grid Take Over the World?” That title was a play on this concept of growing smart grid idealism.)
But, back in reality, there is a gray area in the smart grid---and a lot of it, for us pragmatists in that mobbed-up room. The smart grid (more than Obama, CNN or the BBC’s Mardell) lends itself to a lot of gray areas, a lot of pragmatism, a lot of maybes. The technology involved in the smart grid may not be the “end all, be all” of a technological savior, but it is an improvement for a system that, in many cases, hasn’t seen much improvement in half a century.
And, on the other end, there is a lot of hype, a lot of expectations that may not come to fruition. Should we really be looking at solar installations and wind installations and sinking money hand over fist down the renewables road when the smart grid, alone, cannot possibly overcome the limitations of intermittency? Personally, as a pragmatist, I’d look first toward solving energy storage before I’d be sketching out plans for a multi-country, offshore grid infrastructure, as Friends of the Supergrid are working on. However, that spending isn’t money wasted if it brings us to a better system and a better end---albeit, perhaps a roundabout one. And, yay for them for finding a positive “button” to stimulate some funding.
Americans tend to feel strongly about everything from presidents to Pepsi, from couches to Congress. In many cases, that makes us fascinating. However, in entrenching ourselves in personal ideals without a willingness to find that gray area, meet there and see if we like it, we often prevent real technological progress and any actual development, instead miring ourselves down, holding ourselves back.
The smart grid needs fewer zealots and more pragmatists---according to this particular pragmatist, at least. No, the smart grid is not the electric messiah, but it’s also not the devil himself. It’s not everything we need for the next generation; it’s not a ridiculous waste of funding. Now that all those waving flags are out of the way, let’s meet and think---as Pooh said, “Think, think, think, think.”---about what the smart grid really is, can really bring to the table and what its limitations are. And, let’s do so honestly. It’s time to step out from behind ideals and spiels and truly come to terms with what can be accomplished with smart grid technology and, realistically, what cannot.
To the idealist industry left, I wish I could tell you that the smart grid is going to allow you to plug in various solar panels, a personal wind turbine and your PHEV with the ease of plugging in your hair dryer. But, it’s not. On the plus side, it will help you manage appliances and energy. To the idealist industry right, I wish I could tell you that the smart grid is going to infuse mountains of capital into the industry to the point that you could swim in it and then use the leftover cash for a towel. But, it’s not. After initial stimulus funding, you will still have to convince the fearful to overcome the hump of investing in the relative unknown of the future---oh, that pesky unknown future. On the plus side, that pragmatist Obama has opened that investment door a crack and helped you get your foot into it. Now, wiggle. Wiggle what your momma gave you and work that gray area.
Cuz, that gray area is all you’re gonna get.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
The Death of Smart Grid Has Been Mildly Exaggerated
When a cousin of Mark Twain’s took ill and died in 1897, it was mistakenly thought by entire throngs of gossipers, cynics and fans that Twain himself had passed on, prompting his famous “The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated” quotation.
I couldn’t help but think of that quotation when Baltimore Gas and Electric had the proverbial “head” of their smart metering program handed back to them on a shiny regulatory platter last week by the state of Maryland.
Was this a problem for the smart grid? Sure. Was it the end? Should it be looked upon as a death knell? Should we be asking smart grid programs if the bell tolls for them? Nah.
What happened? Well, we had a little setback. That’s for darn sure. We thought we had all the smart grid ducks quacking and walking along together in a neat little row. We thought it was all set, everyone was on board, and we were good to jump---in one big ol’ happy group---into the smart grid pond. But, we learned, instead, that some of our ducks were wandering astray, some had stopped dead in the path and decided to sit this one out and some had simply found the pond just too darn cold.
Maryland definitely found the water too cold. The New York Times reported that the cost of deploying approximately 1.36 million electric meters and 730,000 gas meters and related technology in that Baltimore Gas and Electric program would have clocked in at nearly $835 million, about $200 million of which would have come from a DOE grant. The Public Service Commission (PSC), however, was more worried about where the remaining $635 million might come from---namely a surcharge on customers. And, so, they turned the utility down.
Baltimore Gas and Electric stated they were “shocked” at the decision, but it seems rather odd to be shocked that a PSC would balk at raising consumer bills. It’s pretty common for PSCs to be rather difficult to navigate for rate increases, even ones that are supported by evidence of necessity.
While Constellation, the parent company for Baltimore Gas and Electric, was willing to kick in about $280 million of stakeholder money, the PSC still didn’t want to put a burden on the customer. And, unfortunately, that’s how they saw this program---as a financial burden and a bit of tech folly that wasn’t necessary for the future.
And, that denial was the shot heard round the world, effectively drawing out speculation in articles, blogs and conferences that this would mean the end to all smart grid programs---that it has been discovered that the smart grid was a type of boondoggle normally reserved for the Old West days of snake oil salesmen.
It is true that Baltimore’s program could collapse under this denial. The regrouping may not happen for them, but that doesn’t mean that the smart grid overall is ready for burial. That doesn’t mean we are out of ducks, you might say. We still have lots of ducks, and many of them aren’t so afraid of a cold pond.
Today, Duke Energy announced it has signed an agreement with Cisco to pilot and further develop a smart grid-enabled home energy management solution that will provide Duke Energy customers with secure and reliable energy information and a simple-to-use tool to help them reduce the amount of energy wasted in their homes.
This week, Texas-New Mexico Power has selected SmartSynch’s Residential SmartMeter solution for a 231,000 unit point-to-point deployment to residential customers throughout the utility’s Texas market, which will mark the first mass residential deployment of smart metering solutions that use a public wireless network as the communications backbone.
Last week, Elster and Webster Electric Cooperative, a locally owned and governed not-for-profit cooperative in Marshfield, Missouri announced they will work together on a metering project featuring Elster’s EnergyAxis AMI Smart Grid solution to replace the co-op’s existing self-read electric meter base. Webster Electric Cooperative plans to deploy 18,500 EnergyAxis smart meters between July and December 2010.
So, while it’s both prudent and healthy to reexamine our systems, plans and motivations with Baltimore’s big smart grid setback---to tweak a few things here and there---it’s a bit too early to be placing that bucket out front of the industry and whispering that the smart grid needs to give a big ol’ boot to that five-gallon container.
The smart grid ain’t dead yet.
I couldn’t help but think of that quotation when Baltimore Gas and Electric had the proverbial “head” of their smart metering program handed back to them on a shiny regulatory platter last week by the state of Maryland.
Was this a problem for the smart grid? Sure. Was it the end? Should it be looked upon as a death knell? Should we be asking smart grid programs if the bell tolls for them? Nah.
What happened? Well, we had a little setback. That’s for darn sure. We thought we had all the smart grid ducks quacking and walking along together in a neat little row. We thought it was all set, everyone was on board, and we were good to jump---in one big ol’ happy group---into the smart grid pond. But, we learned, instead, that some of our ducks were wandering astray, some had stopped dead in the path and decided to sit this one out and some had simply found the pond just too darn cold.
Maryland definitely found the water too cold. The New York Times reported that the cost of deploying approximately 1.36 million electric meters and 730,000 gas meters and related technology in that Baltimore Gas and Electric program would have clocked in at nearly $835 million, about $200 million of which would have come from a DOE grant. The Public Service Commission (PSC), however, was more worried about where the remaining $635 million might come from---namely a surcharge on customers. And, so, they turned the utility down.
Baltimore Gas and Electric stated they were “shocked” at the decision, but it seems rather odd to be shocked that a PSC would balk at raising consumer bills. It’s pretty common for PSCs to be rather difficult to navigate for rate increases, even ones that are supported by evidence of necessity.
While Constellation, the parent company for Baltimore Gas and Electric, was willing to kick in about $280 million of stakeholder money, the PSC still didn’t want to put a burden on the customer. And, unfortunately, that’s how they saw this program---as a financial burden and a bit of tech folly that wasn’t necessary for the future.
And, that denial was the shot heard round the world, effectively drawing out speculation in articles, blogs and conferences that this would mean the end to all smart grid programs---that it has been discovered that the smart grid was a type of boondoggle normally reserved for the Old West days of snake oil salesmen.
It is true that Baltimore’s program could collapse under this denial. The regrouping may not happen for them, but that doesn’t mean that the smart grid overall is ready for burial. That doesn’t mean we are out of ducks, you might say. We still have lots of ducks, and many of them aren’t so afraid of a cold pond.
Today, Duke Energy announced it has signed an agreement with Cisco to pilot and further develop a smart grid-enabled home energy management solution that will provide Duke Energy customers with secure and reliable energy information and a simple-to-use tool to help them reduce the amount of energy wasted in their homes.
This week, Texas-New Mexico Power has selected SmartSynch’s Residential SmartMeter solution for a 231,000 unit point-to-point deployment to residential customers throughout the utility’s Texas market, which will mark the first mass residential deployment of smart metering solutions that use a public wireless network as the communications backbone.
Last week, Elster and Webster Electric Cooperative, a locally owned and governed not-for-profit cooperative in Marshfield, Missouri announced they will work together on a metering project featuring Elster’s EnergyAxis AMI Smart Grid solution to replace the co-op’s existing self-read electric meter base. Webster Electric Cooperative plans to deploy 18,500 EnergyAxis smart meters between July and December 2010.
So, while it’s both prudent and healthy to reexamine our systems, plans and motivations with Baltimore’s big smart grid setback---to tweak a few things here and there---it’s a bit too early to be placing that bucket out front of the industry and whispering that the smart grid needs to give a big ol’ boot to that five-gallon container.
The smart grid ain’t dead yet.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Projects of the Year Award Winners Named
The editors of POWERGRID International magazine (including little ol' me) and PennWell Corp. have announced four winners for the magazine's annual Projects of the Year Awards program.
The winners were selected for four specific categories: Best Energy Efficiency/Demand Response Project, Best Grid Integration of Renewables Project, Best Smart Grid Project and Best Smart Metering Project.
The awards were given out during the keynote presentation at the DistribuTECH 2010 conference in Tampa, Fla.
For more details on these award winners, see the April issue of POWERGRID International magazine.
Best Energy Efficiency/Demand Response Project
The winner of the Energy Efficiency/Demand Response Project of the Year Award is PJM for the organization's Interconnect Demand Response Integration project.
The PJM Interconnection regional transmission organization is the world's largest power grid, serving 51 million people across 13 states and the District of Columbia.
In June 2009, PJM implemented a next-generation software system to expand demand-side resources and improve the operational efficiency of demand-side programs in its wholesale electricity markets. The software, eLRS, based on UISOL's DRBizNet, links and automates wholesale power market transactions that involve PJM, utilities and demand response curtailment service providers. Some 750 users in 200 market participant organizations are using eLRS to enable more than 7,500 MW of demand response in PJM energy, capacity or ancillary services markets.
PJM sought a flexible secure, standards-based system that could cost effectively adapt to meet future needs and market rule changes. It markets over 7,000 MW of demand resources that represent approximately 450,000 end-use customers. The eLRS solution is one of the largest and most sophisticated production deployments of a demand response management system in the world.
Best Grid Integration of Renewables Project
The winner of the Grid Integration of Renewables Project of the Year Award is Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) for the GRU Feed-in Tariff project.
In the fall of 2008, The Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) awarded Ed Regan, Assistant General Manager for Strategic Planning for Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU), and several utility executives throughout the country a grant to visit Germany and witness first-hand Germany's booming solar industry. The stimulus behind that solar boom is Germany's feed-in tariff, a pay-for-performance policy mechanism designed to encourage the adoption of renewable energy.
On January 15, 2009, the Gainesville City Commission unanimously approved a solar feed-in tariff (FIT) ordinance, thereby making Gainesville Regional Utilities the first entity in the nation to offer such an incentive. The ordinance allows GRU to accept a maximum of four cumulative MW of PV installations into the FIT program per year. GRU treats projects on a first-come-first-serve basis, with a queue available for when the yearly MW allotment fills. GRU began accepting applications on March 1, 2009. Within one month of the program's initiation, the queue filled through 2012. In November of 2009, the queue filled through 2016 and GRU placed a hold on accepting applications.
GRU's FIT model has been replicated throughout the country, with feed-in tariffs now available in states such as California, Vermont, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington.
Best Smart Grid Project
The winner of the Smart Grid Project of the Year Award is the City of Ruston, Louisiana for the City of Ruston Smart Grid Innovation project.
Ruston, located in Lincoln Parish between Shreveport and Monroe in north Louisiana, is home to 20,546 residents. The coverage area is approximately 16 square miles, containing a meter population estimated at 10,600 electric meters and 8,872 water meters.
While the centerpiece of Ruston's program is AMI, the planning also includes an integrated MDM system, which will be closely integrated with the AMI system to provide enhanced smart grid/AMI functionality, including: data integration/normalization, aggregation/settlement, load profiling, centralized meter data storage and a loss analysis reporting system (LARS).
LARS will provide a comprehensive view of line loss by systematically reconciling wholesale power purchase records with power purchase sales down to the substation and individual feeder circuit. This allows pinpointing where losses occur and operational corrections can be made to recover revenue and increase the efficiency of the distribution network. Additionally, the system will provide a real-time, multi-layering graphical interface, enabling a view of overall system state-of-the-utility network.
Ruston's leadership in pursuing a holistic smart grid vision is forward-thinking, especially compared to peer-sized utilities across the nation.
Best Smart Metering Project
The winner of the Smart Metering Project of the Year Award is Pulaski Electric for the Lightspeed AMI project.
Pulaski Electric System (PES) provides power to 15,000 homes and businesses in Giles County, Tennessee. As Tennessee's oldest municipal utility and the first in the state to receive power from the Tennessee Valley Authority, PES has a long history of providing top tier service through the use of technologies. Getting full Smart Grid functionality – namely Advanced Metering, Demand Response & Distribution Automation – from a fiber optic network was a logical step for a city-owned utility that prides itself on being one of the most progressive in the state.
PES reasoned that fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) is really an extension of municipal infrastructure and is as important as good roads, schools and other essential services. When attracting a big name provider for a project that involved laying 130 miles of optical fiber to connect a mere 5000 premises in Pulaski city proper became a problem, the utility decided to build its own FTTH network—a decision that gained overwhelming endorsement from residents and unanimous approval from town council. It also put PES on a short list of municipal utilities to own and operate its own FTTH network.
PES leverages the high-speed FTTH network for smart grid functionality, implementing a multi-application hybrid AMI network that offers flexible expansion options using either fiber or RF communications and putting PES ahead of many larger IOUs in the smart metering arena. With the FTTH system in place, PES can move quickly into customer service and monitoring options without delay.
About POWERGRID International
POWERGRID International magazine (formerly Utility Automation & Engineering T&D magazine) celebrates its 15th year as the voice of the electric T&D industry in 2010. More than 35,000 T&D professionals read POWERGRID International magazine for expert coverage of the industry's important news and emerging trends. The magazine and DistribuTECH are owned by PennWell Corp., a worldwide media company based in Tulsa, Okla.
PennWell Corporation is a diversified business-to-business media and information company that provides quality content and integrated marketing solutions for the following industries: oil and gas, electric power, water and wastewater, renewable, electronics, semiconductor, contamination control, optoelectronics, fiberoptics, enterprise storage, converting, nanotechnology, fire, emergency services and dental.
Founded in 1910, PennWell publishes over 100 print and online magazines and newsletters, conducts 60 conferences and exhibitions on six continents, and has an extensive offering of books, maps, web sites, research and database services. In addition to PennWell's headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma the Company has major offices in Nashua, New Hampshire; Houston, Texas; London, England; Mountain View, California; Fairlawn, New Jersey, Moscow, Russia, and Hong Kong, China. In 2010, PennWell celebrates 100 years in business.
The winners were selected for four specific categories: Best Energy Efficiency/Demand Response Project, Best Grid Integration of Renewables Project, Best Smart Grid Project and Best Smart Metering Project.
The awards were given out during the keynote presentation at the DistribuTECH 2010 conference in Tampa, Fla.
For more details on these award winners, see the April issue of POWERGRID International magazine.
Best Energy Efficiency/Demand Response Project
The winner of the Energy Efficiency/Demand Response Project of the Year Award is PJM for the organization's Interconnect Demand Response Integration project.
The PJM Interconnection regional transmission organization is the world's largest power grid, serving 51 million people across 13 states and the District of Columbia.
In June 2009, PJM implemented a next-generation software system to expand demand-side resources and improve the operational efficiency of demand-side programs in its wholesale electricity markets. The software, eLRS, based on UISOL's DRBizNet, links and automates wholesale power market transactions that involve PJM, utilities and demand response curtailment service providers. Some 750 users in 200 market participant organizations are using eLRS to enable more than 7,500 MW of demand response in PJM energy, capacity or ancillary services markets.
PJM sought a flexible secure, standards-based system that could cost effectively adapt to meet future needs and market rule changes. It markets over 7,000 MW of demand resources that represent approximately 450,000 end-use customers. The eLRS solution is one of the largest and most sophisticated production deployments of a demand response management system in the world.
Best Grid Integration of Renewables Project
The winner of the Grid Integration of Renewables Project of the Year Award is Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) for the GRU Feed-in Tariff project.
In the fall of 2008, The Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) awarded Ed Regan, Assistant General Manager for Strategic Planning for Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU), and several utility executives throughout the country a grant to visit Germany and witness first-hand Germany's booming solar industry. The stimulus behind that solar boom is Germany's feed-in tariff, a pay-for-performance policy mechanism designed to encourage the adoption of renewable energy.
On January 15, 2009, the Gainesville City Commission unanimously approved a solar feed-in tariff (FIT) ordinance, thereby making Gainesville Regional Utilities the first entity in the nation to offer such an incentive. The ordinance allows GRU to accept a maximum of four cumulative MW of PV installations into the FIT program per year. GRU treats projects on a first-come-first-serve basis, with a queue available for when the yearly MW allotment fills. GRU began accepting applications on March 1, 2009. Within one month of the program's initiation, the queue filled through 2012. In November of 2009, the queue filled through 2016 and GRU placed a hold on accepting applications.
GRU's FIT model has been replicated throughout the country, with feed-in tariffs now available in states such as California, Vermont, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington.
Best Smart Grid Project
The winner of the Smart Grid Project of the Year Award is the City of Ruston, Louisiana for the City of Ruston Smart Grid Innovation project.
Ruston, located in Lincoln Parish between Shreveport and Monroe in north Louisiana, is home to 20,546 residents. The coverage area is approximately 16 square miles, containing a meter population estimated at 10,600 electric meters and 8,872 water meters.
While the centerpiece of Ruston's program is AMI, the planning also includes an integrated MDM system, which will be closely integrated with the AMI system to provide enhanced smart grid/AMI functionality, including: data integration/normalization, aggregation/settlement, load profiling, centralized meter data storage and a loss analysis reporting system (LARS).
LARS will provide a comprehensive view of line loss by systematically reconciling wholesale power purchase records with power purchase sales down to the substation and individual feeder circuit. This allows pinpointing where losses occur and operational corrections can be made to recover revenue and increase the efficiency of the distribution network. Additionally, the system will provide a real-time, multi-layering graphical interface, enabling a view of overall system state-of-the-utility network.
Ruston's leadership in pursuing a holistic smart grid vision is forward-thinking, especially compared to peer-sized utilities across the nation.
Best Smart Metering Project
The winner of the Smart Metering Project of the Year Award is Pulaski Electric for the Lightspeed AMI project.
Pulaski Electric System (PES) provides power to 15,000 homes and businesses in Giles County, Tennessee. As Tennessee's oldest municipal utility and the first in the state to receive power from the Tennessee Valley Authority, PES has a long history of providing top tier service through the use of technologies. Getting full Smart Grid functionality – namely Advanced Metering, Demand Response & Distribution Automation – from a fiber optic network was a logical step for a city-owned utility that prides itself on being one of the most progressive in the state.
PES reasoned that fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) is really an extension of municipal infrastructure and is as important as good roads, schools and other essential services. When attracting a big name provider for a project that involved laying 130 miles of optical fiber to connect a mere 5000 premises in Pulaski city proper became a problem, the utility decided to build its own FTTH network—a decision that gained overwhelming endorsement from residents and unanimous approval from town council. It also put PES on a short list of municipal utilities to own and operate its own FTTH network.
PES leverages the high-speed FTTH network for smart grid functionality, implementing a multi-application hybrid AMI network that offers flexible expansion options using either fiber or RF communications and putting PES ahead of many larger IOUs in the smart metering arena. With the FTTH system in place, PES can move quickly into customer service and monitoring options without delay.
About POWERGRID International
POWERGRID International magazine (formerly Utility Automation & Engineering T&D magazine) celebrates its 15th year as the voice of the electric T&D industry in 2010. More than 35,000 T&D professionals read POWERGRID International magazine for expert coverage of the industry's important news and emerging trends. The magazine and DistribuTECH are owned by PennWell Corp., a worldwide media company based in Tulsa, Okla.
PennWell Corporation is a diversified business-to-business media and information company that provides quality content and integrated marketing solutions for the following industries: oil and gas, electric power, water and wastewater, renewable, electronics, semiconductor, contamination control, optoelectronics, fiberoptics, enterprise storage, converting, nanotechnology, fire, emergency services and dental.
Founded in 1910, PennWell publishes over 100 print and online magazines and newsletters, conducts 60 conferences and exhibitions on six continents, and has an extensive offering of books, maps, web sites, research and database services. In addition to PennWell's headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma the Company has major offices in Nashua, New Hampshire; Houston, Texas; London, England; Mountain View, California; Fairlawn, New Jersey, Moscow, Russia, and Hong Kong, China. In 2010, PennWell celebrates 100 years in business.
Friday, January 8, 2010
The Rise of the Smart City
The concept of a smart grid powers up imaginations around the world—and not just inside the transmission and distribution industry. The cultural phenomenon of smart grid touches everyone from presidents to preschoolers. There are articles and documentaries on the subject. There are entire magazines and conferences on the topic. But, why stop there? Why stop with just the confined concept of a smart grid?
A smart grid is just the beginning; it's the infrastructure on which modern urban centers can build brighter futures. Renewables can be more easily integrated—both small and large, distributed and structural. Consumers can manage energy systems via the Internet, as can businesses. Data can flow two ways, rather than just one, allowing for use, interpretation and change at every point on the system. A smart city doesn't just have a better power grid with smart grid technology; it has a better municipal backbone, one that can reach into and benefit aspects beyond electricity, such as transportation and water distribution.
Amsterdam leads the way in developing a smart city. Rather than leaving the power company to find the half-dozen ways the utility can utilize a smarter grid, Amsterdam saw more potential for this game-changing technology. The city brought together businesses, officials and citizens to dream up the perfect power system from every angle, with benefits that flow past the power utility and into every home. Amsterdam's Climate Street project alone has reorganized industry thinking about how to approach the smart grid. Climate Street dramatically changes a few blocks in the city as a test bed of what can be possible with the integration of energy management systems, solar panels, water management and trash disposal. All of these items work together harmoniously, guided by smart grid technology, which juggles pulling solar energy with distributing data to the correct sources to run items on time and the most efficiently.
Other cities around Europe have stopped thinking of the smart grid as a technology push and started thinking of that technology in relation to urban living. Amsterdam is certainly not the only smart city on the horizon: Stockholm and Lyon are frontrunners as well. Additionally, in the U.S., there's a similar push in Boulder, Colorado. In China, the City of Yangzhou is moving in the smart city direction. And, in the Middle East, there's brilliant city planning using grid technology within the Masdar project.
POWERGRID Europe's session on smart cities this summer will feature speakers from Amsterdam, Stockholm and Masdar to enlighten attendees on this latest step forward in intelligent power infrastructure. No longer is smart grid the future. The smart grid is now; it's moving into our infrastructure daily. The future lies in building on that infrastructure. The future is smart cities: Using intelligent grid technology holistically in connection with city planning to create a greener, more efficient municipality.
A smart grid is just the beginning; it's the infrastructure on which modern urban centers can build brighter futures. Renewables can be more easily integrated—both small and large, distributed and structural. Consumers can manage energy systems via the Internet, as can businesses. Data can flow two ways, rather than just one, allowing for use, interpretation and change at every point on the system. A smart city doesn't just have a better power grid with smart grid technology; it has a better municipal backbone, one that can reach into and benefit aspects beyond electricity, such as transportation and water distribution.
Amsterdam leads the way in developing a smart city. Rather than leaving the power company to find the half-dozen ways the utility can utilize a smarter grid, Amsterdam saw more potential for this game-changing technology. The city brought together businesses, officials and citizens to dream up the perfect power system from every angle, with benefits that flow past the power utility and into every home. Amsterdam's Climate Street project alone has reorganized industry thinking about how to approach the smart grid. Climate Street dramatically changes a few blocks in the city as a test bed of what can be possible with the integration of energy management systems, solar panels, water management and trash disposal. All of these items work together harmoniously, guided by smart grid technology, which juggles pulling solar energy with distributing data to the correct sources to run items on time and the most efficiently.
Other cities around Europe have stopped thinking of the smart grid as a technology push and started thinking of that technology in relation to urban living. Amsterdam is certainly not the only smart city on the horizon: Stockholm and Lyon are frontrunners as well. Additionally, in the U.S., there's a similar push in Boulder, Colorado. In China, the City of Yangzhou is moving in the smart city direction. And, in the Middle East, there's brilliant city planning using grid technology within the Masdar project.
POWERGRID Europe's session on smart cities this summer will feature speakers from Amsterdam, Stockholm and Masdar to enlighten attendees on this latest step forward in intelligent power infrastructure. No longer is smart grid the future. The smart grid is now; it's moving into our infrastructure daily. The future lies in building on that infrastructure. The future is smart cities: Using intelligent grid technology holistically in connection with city planning to create a greener, more efficient municipality.
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