UTILITIES PLANNING FOR SMART GRID

Utilities' Smart Grid Deployment Plans Show Nuance
Charles Newton, 23 February 2012 (Renew Grid)

"…[2012] is likely to be the first time global smart grid expenditures approach $10 billion…[but] the development of multiple systems, subsystems, equipment and devices to effectively monitor, measure, control and protect electricity grids has been under way for the past half century or longer. Each new generation of electrical equipment manufactured for electric power utilities and industrial companies has become more intelligent and powerful, with smaller footprints, than its predecessors.

"What's truly new is the attempt to better integrate so many disparate operational and engineering activities and to provide a more intelligent and visual approach to information management and telecommunications operations, as well as to include physical and cybersecurity safeguards as a foundation for an intelligent electricity grid…[or] a set of enabling technologies that will more easily and accurately inform utility management and staff by providing improved situational awareness through better visualization of real-time conditions…"

click to enlarge

"Eighty-four percent of all utilities surveyed responded that smart meters/advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) are a part of their smart grid plan…[J]ust 49% of all responding utilities indicated that dynamic pricing was an integral part of their smart meter implementation…Time-of-use (TOU) was the most often cited pricing model…The roles of control systems (e.g., SCADA) and substation automation were clear leaders in providing utilities with the greatest operating efficiencies relative to the investments…

"The top three overall factors that determine the success of smart grid initiatives are return on investment, communications network availability and IT technology availability…Just over a quarter of utilities overall said they plan on investing in V2G technology…Forty-one percent of all respondents are uncertain about whether or not they plan to implement V2G pilot projects. Thirty-six percent said they do not plan to try a pilot program…Most utilities do not have plans to invest in V2B technology. IOUs are an exception…"