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05.09

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05.09

Grid Upgrades: Smart Grid Boosts Renewables

By George McClure

Overview

Plans for upgrading the electric grid and adding renewable energy resources got a boost with the stimulus package, which includes $4.5 billion for low voltage smart grid pilot projects and $6.5 billion for existing wiring repair and maintenance — a total of $11 billion.

The scope of the problem is understood in the context of 250,000 miles of power lines and 9,200 electric plants in the United States. It will take an estimated investment of $1.5 trillion over the next twenty years just to maintain today’s level of service. [1]

The White House Web site lays out an ambitious program for energy and the environment. [2]

Smart Grid

As renewable energy sources become widespread, energy customers will be not only users but also suppliers of energy, from distributed photovoltaic arrays and other sources. This will require the application of new technology to accommodate the two-way energy flow.

Larry Makovich of Cambridge Energy Research Associates has described it:

“Many people think the smart grid is just the application of advanced meters. It’s a lot more than that, and the biggest impact of this innovation isn’t going to come from just a single metering or measurement technology.

“It’s going to be a combination of measurement devices, sensing technologies, information technology, communication technology and even things like nanotechnology and optimization software. I think that within five years a smarter grid will fundamentally change the way electric customers interact with their suppliers.” [3]

The nonprofit Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), which had developed the IntelliGrid concept, was awarded a $1.3 million contract in April by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to help determine the architecture and initial standards for an electric-power smart grid. [4]

In addition to working on interoperability, EPRI, based in Palo Alto, California, will work to create consensus around standards, NIST said in a press release.

Funding for smart-grid work comes from $10 million given to NIST by the economic stimulus package.

NIST will soon announce a three-phase plan for the smart grid with an end-of-the-year submission of proposed standards to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which has jurisdiction over interstate electricity sales and distribution. That plan will outline how to establish a public-private partnership and develop a certification and accreditation process for smart-grid technology. [5]

An interim road map is scheduled to be completed by midyear, EPRI said. It will inventory existing standards, identify gaps, and list priorities for reconciling differences among current standards or for developing entirely new ones.

"EPRI is in a unique position to launch this effort quickly and efficiently because our research and development programs have been focusing on a number of key aspects of the smart grid," Arshad Mansoor, vice president of the EPRI's power delivery and utilization sector, said in a statement. "We are already collaborating with many of the key players in smart grid in our R&D, and we understand who must be involved and the direction in which we must move." [6]

Boost for Renewable Energy

There were $31 billion in renewable energy tax credits in a Senate bill in January. [7]

A new energy bill published in March set tough goals to fight global warming with new clean energy technology.

The 648-page draft bill presented by the House Energy & Commerce Committee is the first move by this Congress to enact comprehensive energy and climate legislation. It is being welcomed by environmental groups, but it will likely face an uphill battle in Congress. The Senate has agreed to use the House version, rather than draft its own bill. [8]

The bill includes a requirement that 25 percent of future electricity be supplied from renewable sources, such as wind and solar power, by 2025. It also requires the United States to reduce its global warming emissions by 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.

The bill adopts a narrow definition of energy sources eligible to be included within the national Renewable Energy Standard, in particular with regards to the exclusion of nuclear.

Currently, the United States generates only a bit over 8 percent of electricity from renewable sources, and the vast majority of that comes from large scale hydropower. Under the new standard only the following energy sources would qualify: Wind power, solar polar, ocean and wave power, geothermal, biomass, landfill gas, and incremental hydropower. The contribution of existing hydropower is not included in the following increases.

From these sources then, in 2011-2012: 4 percent of the electric supply would have to be generated from renewable sources. In 2013-2015, 8 percent; in 2016-2018, 12 percent; in 2019-2020, 16 percent; 2021-2039, 20 percent. [9]

The FPL Group has broken ground on the largest photovoltaic generating facility in the U.S., at 25 megawatts. [10] FPL will provide solar panels to six Florida schools as an education tool which will also provide 5 kW power output in full sunlight. [11]

To move wind power from its electric generation locations to users, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved key components in a 230-mile, 765-kV transmission line across Kansas, to be completed by 2013. [12] [13 ]This project will be the first ultra-high capacity transmission line west of the Mississippi River. Westar Energy is a partner in the Prairie Wind Transmission LLC. Westar’s strategy to cope with increasing power demand using renewables is available online. [14]

Diversifying Generation

Since many renewable energy opportunities are small scale, the opportunity is presented for individual consumers to sell electricity back to their power companies, as industries have done for a long time. Cogeneration is the term for large scale industrial sales. Distributed generation on a small scale is now being provided for by electric utilities.

IEEE has surveyed the opportunities and technology. [15]

Two key elements needed to sell power from photovoltaic arrays back to the power company are inverters, to convert the power from DC to AC and condition it to match power distribution requirements, and bidirectional meters that measure power moving in both directions and keep track of the time of the transfer.

If consumers have an incentive (cheaper power when demand is low), they can save money by running their dishwashers after midnight, when baseload power plants have excess power available in their spinning reserves. PHEVs can be recharging their batteries overnight. With a goal of a million PHEVs by 2015, we will have a power reserve that can be drawn on at times of peak demand on the grid.

Last year, Duke Energy proposed a program to install photovoltaic solar panels on the rooftops of up to 400 homes and businesses in North Carolina. In addition to generating enough power for 1,300 homes the project would help the utility gain experience in installing and operating such on-site electricity generation facilities.

Power Utilities Have Own Offerings

Various utilities are already setting their own standards and requirements for buying power from their customers. With 300 sunny days per year, Arizona is in the forefront of solar energy exploitation. [16]

Arizona Public Service (APS) is looking for renewable energy partners to supply 45,000 homes. Eligible resources include biogas, landfill gas, biomass, geothermal, solar, wind, hybrid wind and certain hydropower technologies. The projects must employ commercially proven technologies and provide at least 1,500 megawatt-hours per year. [17]

Energy sold back to the APS earns 5.7 to 9.6 cents/kWh. [18] Bi-directional power meters are provided by the utility. [19] A three-year pilot program covers added costs. Environmental Portfolio Surcharge (EPS) funding will be utilized to recover the metering costs and billing system modification cost.

Progress Energy has been setting its own standards. [20] It has established protocols for its customers in the Carolinas who want to participate in its renewable energy program.

Duke Energy is emphasizing energy efficiency on both sides of the meter—allowing customers to optimize their energy consumption while managing the overall generation load more efficiently. Over the next five years, Duke Energy plans to invest about $1 billion in smart grid equipment in homes and businesses. By mid-2009, they will have installed more than 70,000 smart electric meters in three states and about 40,000 digital gas meters in the Midwest. [21]

Job Creation Through Smart Grid

The GridWise® Alliance released a report last year entitled The U.S. Smart Grid Revolution: KEMA’s Perspectives for Job Creation. [22]Written by GridWise® Alliance member KEMA, Inc., the report estimated that up to 280,000 new jobs can be created directly from the deployment of Smart Grid technologies. In addition to the 280,000 direct jobs, the report noted that a smart grid could enable a substantial number of indirect jobs through the deployment of new technologies. [23]

References

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George McClure is Technology Policy editor for IEEE-USA Today’s Engineer and a member of IEEE-USA's Committee on Transportation and Aerospace policy. Comments on this article may be submitted to todaysengineer@ieee.org.

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