FIRST: SmartGridCity, Boulder, Colorado___WHAT NOT TO DO.
1. The Accuracy of “Smart” Meters.
Has anyone undertaken an analysis to see what the user profiles were for customers before he new smart meters were installed at a customer site?
We will provide an analytic evaluation of the transition process, before and after, based on the issues and concerns articulated in this EPRI Paper on the subject:
EPRI on accuracy of smart meters
2. GE Case History of Smart Grid Implementation
GE implemented this with 6,600 customer sites in Oklahoma City. They deployed an in-house system that lets the customer control himself. We should pilot the “hand-held meter” depicted in the following example:
Video on GE’s Okla Case History
3. OPOWER — A Customer software package that provides customers with an energy management capability. We would buy it and deploy a pilot of it. If they achieve XX% savings because of it we would deploy it throughout the PGN. This is the solution provider:
4. Two of Austin Energy’s “Light Bulb” Ideas:
A. Enabling its 700,000 streetlights to be turned “on and off with a flip of a switch”, saving $340K in electricity each year.
B. Volunteer program offering free thermostats to customers who allow PGN to remotely control their air conditioners during specific months and hours. Thousands of power-gulping air conditions cycled off for a short time when scarce electricity needed elsewhere.
5. Implementing Distribution Automation
THE NEED FOR NEW PRICING AND REGULATIONS. Demand response programs don’t operate unless you have some kind of dynamic pricing or incentive to induce customers to play along. Getting new rate structures can take years.
THE NEED FOR ADDITIONAL CONSUMER MARKETING AND SUPPORT. The power industry is ust now coming to grips with the need to ‘sell smart grid to customers.
THE NEED FOR CONSUMER BEHAVIOR CHANGE. Even if you can get additional equipment, new pricing and additional marketing, you still cannot be sure that consumers will change their energy usage behavior.
What about grid applications like distribution automation — Chattanooga-based EPB just signed a deal to buy as many as 1,500 S&C IntelliRupter PulseClosers along with S&C IntelliTeam software…?
This Distribution Automation solution is a major opportunity for a Request For Information from a number of SMEs and solution providers (Two Examples Follow)…
distribution_automation_low_cost__Subject Matter Expertise
6. Independent Power Storage — Common Resource Flywheels
Business Case for a common storage facility based on Flywheel technology that will be used by a number of small PGNs as well as a number of large users (e.g., shopping malls, office buildings, hospitals, etc.)
Frequency regulation is an essential grid service that is performed by maintaining a tight balance between electricity supply and demand. Beacon’s 20 MH plant has been designed to provide frequency regulation services by absorbing electricity from the grid when there is too much, and storing it as kinetic energy in a matrix of flywheel systems. When there is not enough power to meet demand, the flywheels inject energy back into the grid, helping to maintain proper electricity frequency (60 cycles/second).
According to a Pacific Northwest National Lab study from 2008, 1 MW o fast-responding flywheel-based regulation can be expected to provide the equivalent of 2 MW of conventional slow-responding regulation, based on a mix of conventional regulation resources like those used in California. In areas with less hydropower-based regulation than California, the comparative advantages of flywheels is even greater.
All about flywheel energy storage…
OTHER STORAGE ALTERNATIVES —
8. Transformer Monitoring and Management Service
Temperature and gas sensing solutions are being combined with fiber optic sensing technology that is used to measure hot spots in transformer windings in large as well as smaller transformer units. This technology directly measures transformer winding temperatures instead of attempting to simulate or calculate them. This is a PLUS for smart grid asset management. The ability to directly measure temperatures with probes makes for far less errors than more conventional simulation or calculation methods.
A pilot opportunity:
The Solution Provider, LUMASENSE…
9. The “Energy Happy Hours” —
Two firms have joined forces to create next-generation utility billing and customer energy management applications. What’s that? Why, how about “Energy Happy Hours”?
During the next decade, utilities will have to offer many different services and rate plans to many different customers. Energy geeks refer to this new world as “differentiated reliability”. The business types often call it ‘Multiple Services.” And glib marketeers will refer to “calling plans for electricity” or even “Energy Happy Hours”.
All this amounts to offering an array of different services in areas such as —
- Prepayment
- Low Income
- Time-Of-Use
- Critical Peak Pricing
- Net Metering Credits
- Demand Response
- Load Curtailment
- Energy Efficiency
Application To Be Piloted by us…
10. Co-Generation — How About Bloom Energy Servers?
Implementing a small population of Bloom Energy Servers at Large User Sites under Power Purchase Agreements that we use to recover our costs.
Compact Energy w/ 3 to 5 Year Payback…
11. Values of Agile Work Force Management Solutions
This may be a good service to develop and offer for our PGNs…
An RFI in this Solution Area is warranted…
12. Act as Early Adopter of a BPL / PLC version of this EPRI specified Standard Socket.
We are still learning how to do residential demand response and we do not yet know which approaches will work reliably, securely, and most of all, with consumer acceptance. As advanced as we’d like to imagine ourselves, the truth is that we are still many years away from broadband in every home or ubiquitous AMI. And so the central question is this: How can off-the-shelf products be made today that can provide demand response opportunity for all consumers, wherever they may live or move, and not become obsolete, even over 20 or 30 years?
One way to answer this question is by defining an open standard for a modular interface, rather than prescribing a fixed communication technology. EPRI has been working with a collaborative group of appliance manufacturers, communication providers, and utilities to study this concept, to prototype devices, and to perform interoperability testing. The industry group USNAP Alliance is also focused on this idea and has made significant contributions.
The general concept is that residential devices, or energy management consoles that control them, could be designed with a standardized connector or socket into which the homeowner could plug a communication module of their choosing―electing to connect to a local utility’s system, or to some other energy managing entity. With this approach, the socket interface can serve as a point of demarcation between the consumer’s asset (an energy management console or end device) and the utility’s asset (a communication system). It frees the consumer from the uncertainty and risk of communication systems and load management programs, and at the same time frees the utility to design and evolve their communication architecture as needed. Like the PCMCIA slot on a laptop computer, a standard demand response socket on residential devices would allow them to work with any communication technology, even those not yet invented, and would enhance free-market competition.
The EPRI study, which is open to anyone who would like to participate, has resulted in a draft specification for such an interface. This specification is currently being used by participants to develop a range of prototype devices and communication modules that will be interchangeable. Interoperability will be evaluated using these prototypes in actual installations and the feedback will be used to refine the specification. The work is being coordinated with NIST efforts in this area and will be a contribution to appropriate standards activities in the future.
A D V A N C E D A P P S F O R E S T A B L I S H E D S M A R T G R I D S
A. Tracking SCADA Records
B. Importance of GIS in Smart Grid Applications
Users of advanced applications need quick references to areas of interest in order to conduct more robust (spatial) searches, and tie critical asset definitions to operational workflows. This requires a largely unexplored tie between the GIS and advanced Smart Grid software. Because of the mix of legacy systems and emerging modules in distributed environments, using standards is key to a successful integration and interoperability strategy. Consequently, the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) may play a key role by working with other standards organizations to ensure that the Smart Grid standards framework includes a single set of standards for geospatial interfaces and encodings..”
“The physical divider between generation and transmission is the switchyard, and the divider between transmission and distribution networks is the distribution substation. The “gateway” into the home is the meter. Each market has its own regulations, systems, and system operators. Many utilities have started to use these network definitions, defined within the GIS as a basis for network state and operations.”
Traditionally, transmission operators utilize Energy Management Systems (EMS), distribution operations leverage Distribution Management Systems (DMS), and distribution dispatchers utilize Outage Management Systems (OMS). Until very recently, few industry drivers existed for these systems to share information. Each area had its responsibilities surrounding power grid monitoring and control. SCADA was (and still is) the clutch of successful grid management. Today to meet the pressing goals of improved efficiency and reliability, these systems need to communicate events and share network state data.
Systems that area operating devices through automation and workflow management need access to a network state. In many cases, the GIS system will be used as a basis for the expected or “normal state” of the network.
To drive interoperability between systems, the industry is largely focused on IEC and IEEE standards such as 61968 and 61850, which support the definition(s) of power disribution technologies.
However, the spatial information is not standardized. This is where spatial standards such as standards from the OGC could add value.
C. The “Community Energy Storage” system…
CES is a small distribution energy storage unit connected to secondary transformers that serve a few houses or small commercial loads. CES can also be configured to act like a virtual substation battery. In this layout, a number of CES devices are aligned, so that they feed into one substation through the CES integrated control system. These devices operate together like one fleet, whcih yields an aggregate storage capacity of multi megawatts and multi-hours to benefit the grid.
The Smart Grid can control distributed CES devices to act locally or for the greater benefit of the Utility.
Using CES devices where capacity upgrade needs are greatest would defer capital spending on transmission and distribution systems and instead pay for most of the batteries in CES.
Explore these CES solution alternatives…
D. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Application Platform
Management of business intelligence (including knowledge management), supply chain management, human capital, and financial. This will require an analysis of all business operations and development of an interface to the new solution platform.
E. Data Management — Not A ‘Slam-Dunk’ or a ‘Cookie Cutter’ Opportunity
Guidelines for Data Management
F. Hardening Smart Grid Security — Stuxnet Is A Warning
Samantec’s w32_Stuxnet_Dossier …22 Oct 10
G. Smart Grid Appliances and Time-of-Use Tariffs — How They Can Help Each Other
Recently, Jesse Berst, editor of Smart Grid News, posted out a discussion point that drew a bit of criticism: 1/4/2011 – Smart Appliances a dumb move — LG Electronics took the wraps off its full range of smart appliances at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show, highlighting its LG THINQ™ Technology. At first glance it’s great to see more grid-aware appliances hitting the market, but we see at least a couple of dangers. First is the proliferation of incompatible devices from different manufacturers that don’t meet what eventually will be the standards in this space. And second is the smart appliance overhyping that’s occurring before the vast majority of consumers can benefit. Sure, I can go out and buy a smart dishwasher. But until my utility offers time-of-use pricing, delaying my dishwashing until the wee hours for cheaper pricing isn’t an option. Are we pushing smart appliances too soon? Do we run the risk of alienating consumers?
The Power Grid Network should arrange a co-promotion agreement between smart appliance retailers and its partner utility, so that a time-of-use tariff can be introduced to benefit the rate-payer who purchases a smart appliance. The time-of-use tariff should apply ONLY to that smart appliance, and its benefit should be structured so that it helps to justify the ‘purchase case’ for the rate-payer to acquire the smart appliance.
Such a one-at-a-time smart applicant to smart grid tariffing approach is imminently doable with the PGN smart metering management facility on a case by case basis. As such, the PGN can become a bridge for more retail appliance sales, lower energy costs, and peak energy reductions.