Americans are starting to take sustainability and their future power delivery very seriously. They are approaching the predicament with a holistic view, developing and rolling out innovations such as more efficient photovoltaic panels, domestic sized vertical wind veins called wind spires, and smart / wireless home automation devices that monitor, track, alter and conserve household power consumption.
However, it is the development of the Smart Grid, costing billions, that is the most interesting. And remarkably, from what I have learned recently at Townsville’s Smart Grid, Smart City project meetings, the Clean Energy Innovation Centre’s meetings and from ‘Smart Grid Australia’, Australia does not seem to be too far behind in the smart grid race!
What is a Smart Grid and why do we need a Smart Grid?
The simplest way of describing what a smart grid is, is to draw a parallel with what the internet did for the transfer of information, so too the smart grid will do for the transfer of power. In the past power flowed from the power plant to the user: one-way traffic. The smart grid allows for multidirectional follow of electricity and data.
Our current electricity grid was designed around 100 years ago, is mechanical, clunky and is stretched to overload in many parts of the country – when demand peaks we overload it and brown or black outs occur, which take long times to rectify. As it stands, the existing grid is inefficient, costly to maintain and constantly needs the creation of more coal-fired power plants to deliver the extra power that society now demands.
However, with a smart grid, efficiencies can be made, as it is self-diagnostic and self-healing. Thus surplus power can be routed from one area to another when peak power is required in that area. This is more efficient, results in a more stable system and excess power is not lost.
Besides these benefits, the smart grid also uses new technology that can deliver several cool features:
- The two-way flow of information between the utility company and the user allows the consumer to see how much and when they are using power and at what rate is being charged for that power. This allows the consumer the ability to alter and adapt when they use power to save money and power.
- Smart meters will enable consumers to control the power that enters their home, through optional and fairly inexpensive wireless and hard-wired products that interface with PCs or smart phones. Users are able to set when appliances such as air conditioners, lights, and hot water units are turned on or off, thus optimising power usage and reducing costs.
- The smart grid’s two-way flow capability seamlessly facilitates wind and solar photovoltaic connections and these green power generators lessen demand on the grid at peak times. This is a boon for consumers with grid-connected wind or solar power units, as it handsomely rewards them with 2.5 to 3 times the going rate per KWh for renewable power that is exported to the grid.
- The smart grid also allows for plug-in electric vehicles to be charged at home rather than at charge stations – allowing the user to choose when power is drawn e.g. when power prices are cheaper at off-peak times. Electric cars are already being tested in Australia so expect to see them become mainstream city transport items from the end of 2012. Electric vehicles would also allow (with the owner’s permission) for power to flow back into the grid from the batteries during peak demand times. It may sound silly, but just imagine the impact if the stored battery power of 10,000 electric vehicles in a given area could be drawn on by the grid during peak demand – it could just avert a crisis. The vehicles can then be programmed to drawn power back at a later time at a cheaper rate. This would also offset some of the vehicles running cost.
- An Australian smart grid would require fewer power stations to be built to cover base load demand, which will mean less greenhouse gas emissions.
The greenhouse gas emissions savings, along with the fact that it becomes more and more efficient, the more home-based solar and wind power units are connected to it, makes it simply irresistible to my mind. We may well see a new age of power delivery in the not too distant future – and then: May the smart grid be with you!
Check out the Green Times Business Directory to find businesses that can help with your energy needs.
Resources:
www.smartgridaustralia.com.au/
www.environment.gov.au/smartgrid/
Written by Sean Cochrane
Sean Cochrane is a Director at All Safe
