Smart Grid
Bringing intelligence to the grid
If you were to visualize the current grid, you might look at it as a star, with energy and information flowing in one direction from the center—from utilities to end users. The smart grid of the future will reflect the way we live today. It will act much more like an interactive web, or “energy Internet,” with two-way communication, multi-directional power flow, and closed-loop automation at its core.
What is the smart grid?
The smart grid marries information technology with our current electrical infrastructure, helping us support the energy needs of our 21st Century society. The smart grid is, in essence, an “energy Internet,” delivering real-time energy information and knowledge—empowering smarter energy choices.
Considering the energy challenges we currently face, we must find a way to do more with less—and quickly. This is the role for a smarter grid, which:
- Enables the integration and optimization of more renewable energy (such as wind and solar) and plug-in electric vehicles.
- Drives significant increases in the efficiency of our network.
- Empowers consumers to manage their energy usage and save money without compromising their lifestyle.
Smart grid technologies provide utilities and consumers with real-time knowledge and decision-making tools that will empower them to save energy, resources, money, and the environment. The smart grid is not a product, but rather a collection of hardware and software that works together to make today’s grid, well, smarter.
Think about how you used computers before the Internet. They were useful, yes, but isolated. With the growth of the Internet, all the computers in the world could be easily linked, allowing for better communication, information sharing, and data transfer. The Internet turned a regular computer into a much more powerful tool.
The same is true of the smart grid. Overlaying the current power infrastructure with smart grid technology is like connecting the Internet to the computer, making an already useful machine much better and providing people with information to make intelligent decisions. Similarly, the smart grid, or the “energy Internet”, empowers consumers, businesses and utilities to make smarter energy choices.
Key Components of Smart Grid
The smart grid will include automation software and intelligent electronic hardware systems that control the transmission and distribution grids. Smart grid automation technologies — such as energy management systems and distribution management systems — help provide real-time knowledge and control over the distribution and transmission grids.
Energy Management
Most utilities today operate with a relatively smart transmission grid enabled by Energy Management Systems (EMS), which provide real-time information on the grid’s status, helping utilities automate various grid functionalities remotely. This automation technology helps utilities:
- Choose the best, most affordable generation mix (known as economic dispatch), keeping costs lower for consumers and businesses.
- Reduce losses and waste in the delivery of power to drive a more efficient system.
- Maintain system reliability to help ensure a steady supply of power to customers
Distribution Management
Very few utilities in North America have a Distribution Management System (DMS), the smart grid automation technology that provides them with real-time information about the distribution network and allows utilities to remotely control switches in the grid.
The DMS is the heart of a smarter distribution grid, enabling utilities to manage distributed renewable generation, support grid efficiency technologies, and control the isolation and restoration of outages. Without DMS, the utility gets very little real-time information about the distribution grid and can't realize many of the benefits of a smarter grid.