ASHRAE Journal - November 2013 - B15

Figure 1: Illustrative construction and operation of a microgrid.
new smart grid, the majority of our current, physical infrastructure is very old, most of it put in place during the 1950s with
some pockets dating even as far back as the late 1800s. Much
of it, especially in urban centers on the East Coast, is above
ground, and was not intended to withstand the impact of increasingly severe weather or accommodate the dynamic energy
landscape taking shape today. In fact, the American Society of
Civil Engineers recently graded the U.S. electrical infrastructure with a "D+" thanks to rising network congestion and inability to adequately meet population and demand growth.2
This ever-aging infrastructure is being burdened as never
before. Electricity demand has increased by about 25% since
1990 while construction of transmission facilities decreased
by about 30%.3 Today's society has grown increasingly reliant
on devices that require this electricity to function. Whether
it's personal devices such as cell phones to ofﬁce equipment
such as PCs, laptops, and printers, to medical diagnostic and
university research equipment, it is hard to ﬁnd any facet of
residential, commercial or industrial life that is not "electriﬁed." Substantial investment in generation, transmission, and
distribution equipment will be required over the next two decades to keep pace with this demand, as much as $1.5 trillion to
$2 trillion by 2030 according to the Edison Foundation.4
The net result of an old, overburdened, and ever-threatened electricity grid is power outages. Today, the average outage duration
in the United States is 120 minutes and climbing. Compared to
outage durations for the rest of the industrialized world (less than
10 minutes5), the U.S. clearly has major room for improvement.
The annual costs from power outages are staggering, signiﬁcantly impacting key parts of our economy including manufacturing, transportation, and service industries that rely on
powered networks for communication, transaction, and data
storage. The Congressional Research Service in 2012 reported that data from various studies indicated the economic cost
N ovem ber 2013

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of storm-related power outages in the U.S. was between $20
billion and $55 billion per year.6 What's more, "costs" aren't
necessarily measured by economic criteria alone. Consider that
U.S. military bases rely on the civilian grid to power 99% of
their war ﬁghting capabilities, homeland security missions, and
rescue and relief operations, according to the Defense Science
Board Task Force on DoD Energy Strategy,7 with only limited
standby generation capabilities.
The character of power outages, however, is also changing.
In addition to an increased frequency and extended duration,
the geography or footprint of outages is much larger, often impacting entire communities and large portions of states. When
power is out for days and weeks at a time, many core services
are unavailable. Grocery stores, gas stations, and community
centers are closed, forcing residents to travel great lengths to
gain access to basic goods and services.
Further, the growing prevalence of both physical and cybersecurity threats also poses a signiﬁcant challenge to energy delivery. According to the U.S. Industrial Control System Cyber
Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT), in ﬁscal year 2012 the
organization responded to 198 cyber incidents across all critical
infrastructure sectors, with 41% coming from the energy sector.8
When electricity goes out, either suddenly or with notice,
and either for short- or long-term duration, there is a tremendous negative impact. How many times has a military installation's mission been jeopardized? How many times has a longterm research experiment been put at risk? How many times
has a hospital needed to evacuate its patients? How many times
has a water supply been compromised, with lower pressure and
lack of supply? Such critical facilities abound, and their susceptibility to these outages has never been greater.
In the context of our changing energy landscape, standby
generation systems are severely limited. They rely on a transfer switch, which means they cannot operate and be fully tested

b A C N e t ® t o d Ay A N d t h e S m A rt G r i d | A S u p p l e m e N t t o A S H R A E J o u R n A l

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ASHRAE Journal - November 2013

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