- Warren Causey of Sierra Energy Group, a division of Energy Central, a provider of information and media services to the global power industry; and
- Mak Tarnoff, Sr. Director, Product Marketing, Tendril, an energy management technology provider that provides energy management software, hardware and services for both consumers and utility companies
Sierra Energy Group provided some background on the state of the grid and the requirements to effect a smart grid:
- It will take $1-1.5 trillion over 20 years to effect the smart grid
- Issues range from artificial intelligence in substations, to base-load generation needs, and to enabling the public to conserve electricity
- The solution needs a holistic approach to how electricity is generated, delivered, and consumed
- Difficult to make renewable base load because of intermittency and lack of storage
Summary of current progress by utilities:
- 31% of utilities have created an executive position to be in charge of intelligent utility/smart grid planning and implementation overall
- 52% have created a task force or group though to oversee intelligent utility deployment
- Utilities are most concerned about uncertainty in regulatory/legislative policies, less concerned about long-term ability to financially deal with all the proposed changes, and even less about long-term reliability of the grid amid all the proposed change
- Among utilities awarded ARRA grants, 54% are still in contract negotiations; 27% havee begun work in anticipation of the funding
- In "Smart Grid City", the Xcel project in Boulder, there were "powerful learnings around the integration piece" - challenges associated with integrating disparate types of data
Tendril provided thoughts on Smart Grid themes and evolution.
Three underlying themes:
1. Openness, interoperability - define standards
2. Scalability - consistent benefit profiles from pilot to full implementations
3. Security
The utilities' priorities for the smart grid are to:
- Facilitate customer choice of energy efficiency and demand response programs
- Improve system performance and reliability
- Reduce the need for generation reserves
- Seamlessly integrate distributed generation
- Improve customer service
The initial face of the smart grid will come from demand response, with its success measured by its ability to engage customers. The three objectives we have today:
1. Improve operational efficiency through peak load reduction via dynamic pricing
2. Meet regulatory requirements (eg. emissions)
3. Improve customer experience - engage consumers, lower bills
Evolution of demand response and the smart grid will include:
- Market based pricing
- Expand through the Home Area Network (HAN) to include more devices
- Electric Vehicle (EV) management
- Renewable (distributed) energy integration
- Pay for performance program
To accomplish the establishment of a "future proof" grid, we will need flexible systems that support a variety of connectivity:
AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) + HAN + HEMS (Home Energy Management Systems) all will need to work together.
Here are the steps of evolution:
1. DR/HEMS over broadband
+ Engaging interface, web enabled, incorporates home devices through HAN
- Not interacting with meter, uses historical data
2. DR/HEMS utilizing existing AMR (Automatic Meter Reading)
+ Leverages AMR investment to obtain more timely data and greater feedback
- No meter communication with utility, so static data without price communication
3. DR/HEMS AMR with broadband
+ Transitional solution, improved customer experience, can update hardware pricing data
- Still not real time, limited by existing AMR capability
4. DR/HEMS with AMI
+ AMI provides for two-way communication with the meter allowing for real-time pricing, local automation that can make decisions for consumers
- Need AMI in place
5. DR/HEMS with AMI and broadband
Source: Tendril
Thoughts & Analysis:
Based on the discussion, the components of the Smart Grid will include smart meters, local and web-enabled dashboards, analytics engines, communications-enabling device adapters, and the communications infrastructure to connect these different components.
The two major technical hurdles it appears will be around network connectivity and integration of disparate data formats from the various devices on the grid. This could either result in significant integration work or regulatory bodies enforcing standardization, or the development of EAI (enterprise application integration) type technologies for this group.
Another interesting aspect is in predicting which supplier of value chain components will "win". Will it be the DR companies that penetrate large numbers of clients and have access to the first set of data being generated, or the HEMS set that can better enforce policies upon data analysis, or the communications set that is required to connect the dots?
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