Top Trends inSmart GridsOur aging energy infrastructure is looking for an upgrade, and the future lies in the Smart Grid. Smart grids provide automation and intelligence to services already available to us, making them that much more useful. The electrical grid collects information and acts on it in an automated fashion, covering everything from waste-reducing power plants to solar-powered personal homes. The technology’s automation allows for increased efficiency, and is often more environmentally friendly. Whether through an electric car or a remote-controlled heating system, smart grid technologies will touch almost all aspects of our lives.

Seven top experts have come together to delve into the top trends defining this space. Together, they identified these three common trends

and discussed how they may shape our future.

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Rather than adjusting the “supply” side of electric power, demand-response technology works to adjust the “demand” side by actively communicating with consumers. For example, a power company might offer discounts to customers who use less air conditioning during the hottest part of the summer. On a long-term basis, they could even offer lower general rates in exchange for mandatory blackout periods. Because of the many difficulties in storing electrical energy, using demand-response technology reduces waste and has the potential to save costs for both the consumer and the supplier.

Demand-Response (DR) Technologies:

Participants:

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Energy Systems Manager at CSIRO

James McGregorPresident, André Reif

Consulting, Inc.

André ReifSenior Asst. Professor,

MVGR College of Engineering

Susarla Sastry, Ph.D.

Founder, Micro Grid Development Group

John SarterSr. Engineer, Chief of

Testing & Development, Champion Engine

Technology

James Dehn

Independent Consultant

Andrew Eil

“DR technologies let grid operators and power consumers minimize their power demand in a time-sensitive way. Both large-scale industrial users, as well as small-scale residential and commercial users can curtail electricity use when the grid is under stress— such as during extreme hot and cold weather periods and during peak hours of the day. DR allows for automated and manual shutdown or scale-down of energy-consuming activities and devices. Grid operators can now deploy DR resources as if they were a power plant themselves, which will significantly reduce expenses for costly and heavily polluting ‘peaker" plants.’”

“Independent Consultant

Founder, Micro Grid Development Group

Energy Systems Manager at CSIRO

Andrew Eil

Electric vehicles not only reduce emissions, they also have great smart grid potential. They can be charged at any time while they are being stored, which makes them highly adaptable. An electric car has the flexibility to draw energy from the grid when it needs it, or to refrain from drawing energy during the grid’s peak hours. Some experts even see potential for electric vehicles to easily store and transport electric energy where it’s most wanted. It’s a trend that we will certainly be seeing more of in the coming years.

Cloud Computing

“The interesting aspect of electrical vehicles lies in their relationship with the grid that they are ‘plugged into’. At the moment, it’s a one-way relationship: electric vehicles simply take a load of energy from the grid. However there has been lots of interest lately in the role of the electric vehicle as an integral piece of smart grid infrastructure. If you think of an electric vehicle as a mobile energy storage system (rather than just a personal transportation device) you begin to see exciting new applications.”

“James McGregor

“There is great potential for electric vehicles to be a grid asset. Their programmability allows them to take up excess energy that is not being used by the grid. Conversely, they can be programmed not to draw from the grid during peak energy demand. In this way both electric vehicles and stationary storage can help level out and balance large penetration of variable renewable energy systems, which many grid operators point out as a problem.“

John Sarter

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Smart Meters record the consumption of electric energy and provide that information regularly to both the supplier and consumer (usually once an hour). They allow for direct, two-way communication between the meter and the central system, which sets them apart from traditional, automatic meters. On an individual level, smart meters let consumers receive more accurate bills for their energy consumption. On a more broad scale, smart meters provide utility companies with never-before-known levels of consumption details, and let them make more informed decisions—which is why most utility companies are hoping to see their usage grow.

Smart Meters:

“In my experience one of the most dominating trends in the smart grid evolution is still the physical deployment of smart meters at individual home-owner locations. Obviously there is a need to get ALL consumers tied into the information harvesting system—so utility supply chain decisions can be made with ALL consumers contributing to the decision. This requires that ALL consumers be provisioned with the data harvesting equipment, and the said 'upgrade' process is a long-term effort. That said, a sufficient number of smart meters have been deployed to make good decisions from the data they do have, and those decisions will only get better as more smart meters are installed.”

“President, André Reif Consulting, Inc.André Reif

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Principal Consultant, DYNOMOTOR

Dean Boe