What is Smart Grid/Metering for electric distribution? Should they be implemented in the US? Presented by: Jeffrey Grodzki, April Romanishan, Cameron Hinkel, and Emily Grady

What is Smart Grid? ● Advanced technology aimed at increasing the efficiency of the country’s aging electricity infrastructure and accommodating emerging energy sources. ● Makes it easier for electricity distributors to gather and act on information, such as information about the behaviors of suppliers and consumers.

Smart Grid Cont’d... ● A smarter grid applies the three T’s to bring knowledge to power… o Technologies o Tools o Techniques ● They apply knowledge capable of making the grid work far more efficiently by… o Ensuring its reliability to degrees never before possible o Maintaining its affordability o Reinforcing our global competitiveness o Fully accommodating our renewable and traditional energy sources o Potentially reducing our carbon footprint

Smart Grid Cont’d… ● Transforming our nation's grid has been compared in significance with building the interstate highway, or the development of the internet. ● These efforts, which are rightly regarded as revolutionary, were preceded by countless evolutionary steps. Much like a highway is built or how the internet came to be today, the Smart Grid will evolve over time.

Smart Grid Cont’d… ● Power System Fact o Today’s electricity os 99.97% reliable, yet still allows for power outages and interruptions that cost Americans at least $150 billion each year. Which is about $500 for every man, woman, and child.

Viewpoint #1: Benefits for implementing Smart Grid in the US ● More efficient transmission of electricity ● Quicker restoration of electricity after power disturbances ● Reduced operations and management costs for utilities, and ultimately lower power costs for consumers ● Reduced peak demand, which will also help lower electricity rates ● Increased integration of large-scale renewable energy systems ● Better integration of customer-owner power generation systems, including renewable energy systems ● Improved security

● China’s smart grid is about 10,000 meters now but by 2020 they plan for it to about 300 million meters. ● If the test phase is successful, SGCC (Smart Grid Corporation of China) will cover about 80% of the country. Smart Grid technologies in other countries

Self-Healing Grid ● A self-healing grid includes these primary functions: o Real-time monitoring and reaction, which allows the system to constantly tune itself to an optimal state o Anticipation, which enables the system to automatically look for problems that could trigger larger disturbances o Rapid isolation, which allows the system to isolate parts of the network that experience failure from the rest of the system to avoid the spread of disruption and enables a more rapid restoration.

Consumer benefits of Self-Healing Smart Grid ● Beyond, managing power disturbances, a smart grid system has the ability to measure how and when consumers use the most power. This information allows utility providers to charge consumers variable rates for energy based upon supply and demand. ● Ultimately, this variable rate will incentivize consumers to shift their heavy use of electricity to times of the day when demand is low and will contribute to a healthier environment by helping consumers better manage and more efficiently use energy.

ViewPoint #2: Drawbacks of Implementing the Smart Grid in the US Security Cyber-security threats Theft Power loss Computer malware

Cont. Costs There is a huge initial investment cost for the utility company Energy prices rise for consumers (variable pricing) Heavy government support through grants and stimulus packages

Still Cont. Cultural Lag Consumer adoption to these smart grid technologies takes years Will consumers truly use this data in their homes and take advantage of it? Consumers may not benefit as much as the utility companies who are pushing smart technologies

Conclusion While both the benefits and drawbacks are significant, both sides seem to balance out the other … For example: Security problems might rise from this smart technology, Smart grids when used and implemented PROPERLY can save everyone time, money, and at the same time benefit the environment.

Conclusion Cont. Another stalemate between positive and negative is that despite the threat of possible cyber attacks a self healing grid can attempt to anticipate things going wrong, isolate the problem, and solve it before it gets out of hand.

Cont. So all in all, in the end with kinks ironed out, the smart grid could be a viable solution for issues related to both consumers and producers.

Work Cited