Smart Grid: What the Urban Consumer Needs to Know NOW! (Part I)

During a broadband literacy session I was holding for seniors in DC earlier this month, one female participant asked, “Is Broadband the same as the SmartGrid?” After pausing as I scanned the faces of the other class participants. I could only reply, “It’s more like its evil twin.”

 Don’t misunderstand me. It’s not that the SmartGrid vision itself is evil. On the contrary, switching to a SmartGrid system has the potential to revolutionize the use of electrical energy, reduce consumer bills, and open the door to a wide and exciting range of creative and “smart” electrically powered devices that will be able to communicate with each other as well as consumers.

 But based on this early phase of the SmartGrid implementation, it falls far short of its potential, at least from the consumer’s standpoint. Unlike Broadband, which empowers the end user (you and I as consumers), SmartGrid is empowering the utility companies (not the end user). This is because the first phase of Smart Grid, funded by the federal government, involves enabling utility companies to design the Advanced Meter Interface (AMI), which is really just a fancy name for a Smart Meter. This will allow utility companies to monitor the actual electricity you use, instead of estimate your use, which is how most bills are currently assessed.

What’s wrong with this? In my opinion, AMI is a created phrase that disguises an old-fashioned and wasteful revenue-producing, tax generating model as something “new” or “Smart.” As the source of electricity, utility companies are being given even more control in what is an inherently restrictive structure. What would really be Smart would be to involve consumers in the creative uses of electricity, not just utility companies. This would encourage innovation in a field that relies heavily on the consumer market, 

This way, consumer demand could be better incorporated into the very emergence of the SmartGrid – not the “Smart Meter.” For example, when I walk into a room, I want the lights and music to be on per my request. When I leave the room and say “Lights out,” a censure could turn the lights off for me. And if I forgot to say “Lights out,” the sensor would detect lack of human body temperatures after a certain amount of time and turn off the lights itself.  If there are enough consumers like me, our combined consumer demand could generate a better solution to reducing energy bills than meter tracking. 

Eventually the SmartGrid vision will include the consumer. But why not include the consumer now, at the initial stage? This is why communities, and urban communities in particular, need to educate themselves about the potential benefits and opportunities of engaging in SmartGrid technology. One step is to understand what’s at stake for each stakeholder. Another is to understand what’s at stake for the community, and how to engage with emerging opportunities whether on a political, educational, or economic level. This is the process that led to Broadband’s wide acceptance. 

The rest of this article is going to offers more information about the SmartGrid – what it is, who is involved, and what’s at stake in terms of value. If you want to find out more detailed analysis and how to prepare for jobs in this new segment of the economy, contact me at patrck@metamorfs.com with the subject line, “Interested in SmartGrid curriculum.” This curriculum was designed with local communities in mind. It is for anyone interested in the socially progressive uses of technology.

 What is the SmartGrid exactly?
At this point, the SmartGrid isn’t a thing, but rather a vision. I can only share my current interpretation of that vision based on what I researched and studied. The SmartGrid, as I understand it, is an emerging mixture of values, characteristics and belief systems. At its core, the SmartGrid will enable society to participate in a more efficient energy process with less greenhouse gas emissions. 

The SmartGrid vision, if implemented correctly, has the potential to provide consumers with an active role in the energy trading industry. How? Imagine, enabling financial, informational, and electrical transactions among consumers, grid assets, and other authorized stakeholders. If this sounds familiar to Broadband transactions, you are right. The following characteristics will clarify the similarities:

1. The SmartGrid will give consumers information, control, and options that enable them to engage in new “electricity markets.” Grid operators will treat willing consumers as resources in the day-to-day operation of the grid. Well-informed consumers will modify consumption based on the balancing of their demands and resources with the electric system’s capability to meet those demands.
2. It will seamlessly integrate all types and sizes of electrical generation and storage systems using simplified interconnection processes and universal interoperability standards to support a “plug-and-play” level of convenience.   Large central power plants, including environmentally friendly sources such as wind and solar farms and advanced nuclear plants, will continue to play a major role even as large numbers of smaller distributed resources, including Plug-in Electric Vehicles, are deployed.
3. The SmartGrid will link buyers and sellers together – from the consumer to the Regional Transmission Organization. It will support the creation of new electricity markets, from the home energy management system at the consumer’s premise to technologies that allow consumers and third parties to bid their energy resources into the electricity market.
4. It will monitor, diagnose, and respond to power quality deficiencies resulting in a dramatic reduction in service losses currently experienced by consumers due to insufficient power quality.
5. Operationally, the SmartGrid will improve load factors, lower system losses, and dramatically improve outage management performance. The availability of additional grid intelligence will give planners and engineers the knowledge to build what is needed when it is needed, to extend the life cycle of assets, to provide preventative maintenance of equipment before it fails unexpectedly, and to improve workforce management. 
6. If it reaches the sophistication of healing itself by performing continuous self-assessments to detect and analyze issues, taking corrective action to mitigate them and, if needed, rapidly restoring grid components, then it will show its maturity to handle problems too large or too fast-moving for human intervention.
7. It will be mandatory to incorporate an inter-dependable solution that reduces physical and virtual vulnerabilities and enables a rapid recovery from disruptions. Its resilience will be forced to create a standard that will withstand attackers – both human and natural.

• The asset management segment integrates the grid intelligence acquired in achieving the other segments with new and existing asset management applications. This integration enables utility companies to reduce operations and maintenance and capital costs and better utilize assets during daily operations. Furthermore, the utilities companies can significantly improves its performance of capacity planning, maintenance, engineering and facility design. The customer service processes, and resource management cost will also be reduced and with the consumer petition filed with Congress (recommended by the columnist) shared with consumers as service discount.  
• The distribution operations segment improves reliability and enables alleged “self-healing.” This would imply a feature not yet available in Broadband but would include solutions such as smart sensors and control devices, advanced outage management, distribution management, and distribution automation systems, geographical information, and other technologies to support bi-directional power flow and sub-grid operations.
• The transmission operations segment integrates the distribution system with Regional Transmission Operator (RTO) operational and market applications to enable improved overall grid operations and reduced transmission congestion. The advanced transmission operations (ATO) includes substation automation, integrated wide area measurement applications, power electronics, advanced system monitoring, and protection schemes and modeling, simulation, and visualization tools to increase situational awareness and provide a better understanding of real-time and future operating risks.
• The consumer enabled segment empowers consumers by giving them the information and education they need to effectively utilize the new options provided by the SmartGrid.  This includes solutions such as Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), home area networks with in-home displays, distributed energy resources (DER), and demand response programs as well as upgrades to utility information and communication technologies (ICT) architecture and applications that will support “plug-and-play” integration with all future Smart Grid technologies.

• Economic. An economic grid operates under the basic laws of supply and demand, resulting in fair prices and adequate supplies. This value makes me suspicious. W does ‘fairness’ surface in 2009, and should consumer expect some rebates for the unfair practices of the past?
• Reliability. A reliable grid provides power, when and where its users need it and of the quality they value. In my opinion, this should be standard in return for the current fees consumers pay to utility companies. The last I checked no US location had to endure loss of electric power for more than several days. By contrast, I’m aware of cases where broadband has been lost for several weeks and more in many areas, which is one of the reasons I ‘m surprised Smart Grid does not allow consumers to access government funding.
• Security. A secure grid withstands physical and virtual attacks without suffering massive blackouts or exorbitant recovery costs. It is also less vulnerable to natural disasters and recovers quickly. This is the most interesting value because telecommunication and cable companies experience both physical and virtual attacks constantly and there are far more ISP providers than there are utility companies. The importance of this value is important and it may behoove utility companies to provide consumers guarantees that the revenue requested will address the consumers’ residence security concerns first.  
• Efficient. An efficient grid employs strategies that lead to cost control, minimal transmission and distribution losses, and efficient power production while providing consumers options for managing their energy usage.
• Environmental. An environmentally friendly grid reduces environmental impacts thorough improvements in efficiency and by enabling the integration of a larger percentage of intermittent resources than could otherwise be reliably supported. The environmental impacts for generating electric power are enormous and if we are planning to leave some of the planet for future generations, then we most reduce greenhouse grass emission which past electric power production exacerbated.
• Safe. A safe grid does no harm to the public or to grid workers and is sensitive to users who depend on it as a medical necessity. This is the most reasonable and practical value of all. I’m confident that everyone will benefit when this value is perfected. I expect consumers will openly report the process of this value using the appropriate ICT-enabled services which the utilities companies should co-finance (if you agree, send an email to patrick@metamorfs.com).