Energy Biz - July/August 2008 - (Page 40g) Smart Grid: a FoundaTion For The FuTure smarT grid sysTEms arE a kEy Enabling TEchnology to achieve society’s clear interest in increasing efficiency, conservation and reliability, and have the potential to be the single largest solution for Global Warming available today. Various studies sponsored by the Department of Energy and the Electric Power Research Institute (“EPRI”) project that by 2025 the use of a Smart Grid could reduce electricity consumption by 10% and reduce carbon dioxide emissions from electric power up to 25%: approximately the equivalent of 10% of overall carbon emissions worldwide. EPRI’s Senior Vice President Mike Howard testified to Congress that the Smart Grid is “. . . a power system that can incorporate millions of sensors all connected through an advanced communication and data acquisition system. This system will provide real-time analysis by a distributed computing system that will enable predictive rather than reactive responses to blinkof-the-eye disruptions.” EPRI, the Department of Energy and the California Energy Commission have all identified three key components of a “smart” electric distribution: (1) high-performance low latency communications so that the utility can both monitor and control equipment throughout the electric grid in real time; (2) advanced sensing capability embedded throughout the network and capable of providing real-time information about the grid’s condition and operations; and (3) enterprise systems that can collect and analyze the multiple streams of data coming from the grid, integrate them with existing utility systems, and deliver actionable information to the utility in usable forms. CURRENT Group delivers a Smart Grid infrastructure to utilities based on the delivery and integration of these three components. This Smart Grid infrastructure serves as the foundation for the delivery of advanced applications today to increase efficiency, conservation and reliability in the future. A Smart Grid goes beyond the capability of an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system and provides: Advanced distribution asset monitoring to accurately identify potential asset failures prior to an outage; Real time system optimization to minimize the power needed to run the grid, reducing both cost and environmental impact; Automated fault analysis from across the distribution grid to accurately identify where and, in many cases, why an outage has occurred; A dynamic network model mapping homes to transformers to feeders allowing for improved system planning and advanced consumer-focused demand response programs; An advanced in-home energy management capability that can be remotely managed in real-time; and The real time bandwidth necessary to aggregate and manage renewables, distributed generation and plug-in hybrid vehicles, allowing these alternatives to replace conventional coal fired power plants. A key to the Smart Grid is investing in sufficient communications capabilities as well as distributed sensing. The CURRENT Smart Grid™ solution is being used by forward thinking utilities around the world interested in an enterprise-wide approach to the Smart Grid. For example, Xcel Energy believes its Smart Grid in Boulder, Colorado will result in a greatly improved power delivery system that optimizes environmental benefits, strengthens operations and asset performance and maximizes reliability. Xcel describes SmartGridCity™ as an ambitious project that will serve as a cornerstone for Xcel Energy’s strategy for addressing environmental and global energy challenges—and it brings us closer to a smarter, cleaner energy future. 7
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