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The "Smart Grid"

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TEG

Teslafanatic
Moderator
Aug 20, 2006
22,101
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The "Smart Grid" seems to be a buzz phrase du jour that is coming on strong.

Here are some examples of places I have seen the term come up:

Power Firms Grasp New Technology for Aging Grid
Faced with the threat of a major crisis from handling increased loads over electricity bottlenecks with 100-year-old gear, electric power providers are eying new technology to help shore up America's aging grid with about $17 billion in spending by 2010.
...
"If we don't invest in technology and we continue to have an antiquated system that's not able to predict problems before they happen, we'll be looking at increasing power quality problems and blackouts," said David Brewster, president of EnerNoc , a provider of so-called "smart grid" technology.
...
Xcel Energy has been applying new grid technology in Boulder, Colo., which it's dubbing the nation's first "SmartGridCity." And Dominion's Virginia Power unit has been offering smart meters to home owners to tell them how much energy they're using and how much it costs.
Utility PG&E placing bets in solar tech race | Green Tech - CNET News
...In addition to its huge solar program, {PG&E} considered one of the most progressive and technology-savvy utilities in the U.S.--is in the process of rolling out smart-grid capabilities to 5 million homes. It is also exploring large-scale energy storage methods, including batteries, compressed air, and pumped hydro, executives said.


Silver Spring Networks fills coffers, eyes IPO | Green Tech - CNET News
...Smart-grid upstart Silver Spring Networks closed a round of funding on March 1, which the company hopes will be its last before going public ...
Silver Spring is one of the most established smart-grid companies in the burgeoning field. Founded in 2002, the company has a few large contracts with U.S. utilities, notably Pacific Gas & Electric, Florida Power and Light, and Pepco. It is negotiating deals with other utilities that could connect between 10 million and 12 million homes, Lang said.
The company makes software and chips to create a network that brokers communications between utilities and customers. For example, its products can be embedded in a smart meter so that it can send usage information to utilties in regular intervals and utilities can send electricity rate information to customers in real time.
From a technology point of view, Silicon Valley-based Silver Spring Networks is well known for its decision to use the Internet Protocol standard as the basis for its products.
"I believe that ultimately the trend is toward IP. It creates an open playing field," Lang said. "If the industry doesn't standardize on this, what are we going to standardize on?"
Speedy progress in California
Last July, Pacific Gas & Electric chose Silver Spring Networks as its supplier for a large-scale smart-grid project worth about $200 million, according to Lang.
He predicted that the roll-out of smart-grid gear to 5 million people will take two and a half years, rather than the five years as originally projected.
"The ramp-up is unbelievable. We are deploying over 100,000 homes a month and that will probably double next quarter," he said.
The massive government stimulus plan set aside billions of dollars for modernizing the grid, which includes smart-grid projects.
Lang said that Silver Spring Networks won't benefit directly from government incentives, but it will speed up existing projects. Its Florida Power & Light project is designed to bring smart-grid networking to 4.5 million people over the next four years, which could be shortened from the stimulus money, he said.
080522_smartgrids.jpg



GE Energy - Transmission and Distribution
GE has a comprehensive transmission and distribution portfolio with products and services that enable grid intelligence processes. These tools help utilities better manage assets and resources by converting data into knowledge that decision makers use to drive greater productivity and profitability.
Smart Grid: Smart Grid News - Grid Modernization and the Smart Grid
...Stimulus means $8.3B to grid, IDC predicts. Research firm IDC foresees a jump in technology sales owing to the Obama economic stimulus bill. High-tech provisions in the recently passed law could mean a $100B in revenue for technology companies. Money for Smart Grid and renewable energy will prime the pump for a total of $77B in spending, the report predicts (some of it from the required 50% match). The largest chunk, $66B, would go to renewable energy sources like solar and wind power. $8.6B could be spent on Smart Grid technology, such as smart meters. And another $3B could go to energy conservation technologies for commercial buildings, including programmable thermostats and other systems. Although Goldman Sachs has said that global technology spending could drop 9% this year, an IDC analyst expects the U.S. tech industry to expand by 0.1%....
Obama Feeling Smart (Grid)
When Does an Interest Start Being "Special"?
After years of railing against special interests, I find myself presented with a quandary. Special interests are lining up behind the Smart Grid technology I love and, in doing so, risk saddling this cool program with the baggage intrinsic to special interests.
Even as lawmakers spent yesterday grilling everyone from members of the DOE to representatives from Google about Smart Grids, the groundwork for a Smart Grid might already have been assumed. And, no, I’m not talking power lines and sub stations, I’m talking political donations....
smartgrid.jpg


Smart Grid Appliances to Call on AT&T
...Smart Grid Appliances to Call on AT&T While consumers sometimes must watch their volume of text messages to limit phone charges, new smart meters will automatically reduce utility bills using the same wireless networks. Smart grid company currently SmartSynch provides technology to more than 100 utilities to connect their equipment to the grid via IP (Internet Protocol) communications. The company has now developed services and software that similarly enable consumer devices to talk the grid over AT&T's ubiquitous wireless networks...
IBM Moving Smart Grids Up on the To-Do List | EcoGeek - Clean Technology
...IBM Moving Smart Grids Up on the To-Do List

...IBM is putting smart grids on their front burner by preparing a technical framework that will help to efficiently and effectively put new technology into the old electricity distribution grid....
etc.


Lots of activity happening here recently.
 
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Economic Stimulus Package: Will Obama Push for a Smart Grid? : Red, Green, and Blue
...As it is currently written, the plan includes $11 billion smart grid technology that helps consumers reduce their electric bills and the demands on their local power supply by encouraging them to use less energy during peak hours. Basically, building a smart-grid infrastructure would allow us to capitalize on an often overlooked source of new energy; a source of energy that is cleaner than solar, wind and geothermal. It has been said before, the cheapest source of new energy is the energy not used (or what Amory Lovins calls “negawatts“)...

Current Group Smart Grid testimony to the House Select Committee
 
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Some months ago, I was directed to a site (must have been a PG&E site) where you could plug in your location by zip code and see what percentage of the enegy that they delivered to your home came from wind, hydroelectric, solar, nuclear, coal, etc. I've tried searching the internet, but I can't seem to find that site now. Does this ring a bell with anyone here, and if so, could you provide a link to that site? Thanks.
 
The EPA hosts this site - I am not sure if it is the one you were thinking of or not:
How clean is the electricity I use? - Power Profiler | Clean Energy | US EPA

Power Profiler will:

o Determine your power grid region based on your ZIP code and electric utility
o Compare the fuel mix and air emissions rates of the electricity in your region to the national average
o Determine the air emissions impacts of electricity use in your home or business

Power Profiler is very easy to use and takes about 5 minutes. To start, all you need is your ZIP code.
 
Power, and pitfalls, of an electrical smart grid - Los Angeles Times

President Obama has made the smart grid a major plank of his "rebuilding America" plan, viewing it as a way not only to eliminate blackouts and power failures, but also to create jobs and cut greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.
...
In the economic stimulus act that the president signed in February, Congress allocated $4.5 billion for smart grid investments, a thin slice of the $38.7 billion that the package funneled to the Department of Energy.
...
The Electric Power Research Institute, a utility industry think tank, has estimated the cost of building a smart grid at a staggering $165 billion -- about $8 billion a year for two decades.

And one of the biggest challenges in rolling out a smart grid, energy experts say, is getting hundreds of industries, from power generators to appliance and auto manufacturers, to agree on a set of standards -- some already developed, many not ready yet.
...
 
Cisco enters smart grid technology field - SFGate.com

Cisco Systems will announce today a broad strategy aimed at using its routers and switches to improve existing energy networks that are often fragmented and slow to respond to real-time needs and outages. By installing Cisco gear, from the utilities down to a consumer's home, the company believes it can better monitor electricity needs, optimize power delivery, reduce consumption and ultimately benefit the environment.
 

Now that Cisco is involved, I supposed it is a good time to mention that Sun's Grid computing is something else altogether. Little bit of name confusion brewing between GE/Cisco/Google "Smart {power} Grid" and Sun's "Grid" / "Cloud" computing.
(Thankfully it looks like the term "cloud computing" is replacing "grid computing" for those "rent CPU cycles" offerings)
 
Not Smart enough

Critics slam New Zealand's "dumb" smart meters - 30 Jun 2009 - BusinessGreen.com

Power companies are in the process of replacing 800,000 outdated household electricity meters with newer models that would enable utility firms to obtain meter readings remotely. However, as there are no guidelines for the standard of the meters, different companies are installing varying types.
In a report presented to New Zealand parliament last week, Wright said that many of the new meters lacked basic real-time monitoring functions that would provide consumers with an incentive to curb energy use at peak times.
The devices also lack a microchip that would enable meters to "talk" to smart appliances, which are not yet available in the country.