Public Power - June 2008 - (Page 60)

Investing in the Smart Grid “The operator has a good window to view not only his own area, but even outside his area.” The PMUs measure the phase-angle of voltages and currents at each location with great accuracy, said Fardanesh. The measurements are time-synchronized with all other locations by GPS, enabling computations that result in a complete geographical map of grid behavior, minute by minute, and, eventually, even second by second. The use of PMU-based data began in the early 1990s, when it was used to study the root causes of unusual system events. In the aftermath of the 2003 Northeast blackout, “we were one of the few at the time that could provide this synchronous data to the study group under [the North American Electric Reliability Corp.] NERC,” said Fardanesh. The national movement toward using synchronized data has been give new impetus by the creation of the Department of Energy’s North American Synchro-Phasor Initiative. The advantages of PMU go well beyond after-the-fact analysis. “What I see as the wave of the future is being able to use this synchronized data for real-time operation and control, and even helping with implementing more automation system control. When technical people say ‘real-time,’ it could in fact be intervals of a minute or two. We want to get to the point where real-time is a half second, or 30 cycles or even less.” The future smart grid will be able to respond automatically to measurable synchronized data, “to quickly calculate, for example, what a power-electronic controller should do and have it take action,” said Fardanesh. NYPA, he proudly points out, now has the world’s most sophisticated powerelectronic controller operating at its Marcy Substation, a major hub for power flowing into New York City. The controller—a “convertible static compensator” installed in 2001—has the ability to instantaneously control the system voltage and power flows. On the West Coast, the Bonneville Power Administration is at the leading edge of smart grid operations and research. ““How we integrate PMU data into our wide-area control strategy is a big deal,” said Terry Oliver, BPA’s chief technology innovation officer. 60 JUNE 2008 In terms of immediate implementation, “BPA will be rolling out some parts of the smart grid as early as next year. We will start with the small, obvious things, like communications within substations, and changing how we use our fiber network for grid operation,” Oliver said. “The latter should give us around 1,000 times more bandwidth in our network to enable us to do more things. Advanced interoperability is a core component of the smart grid.” One opportunity to be seized by BPA and many other utilities will be monitoring components prone to failure, such as transformers. They will be equipped with heat, vibration and other sensors providing early overload warning or pending malfunction. Another target will be the operation of capacitor banks used to maintain voltage on the distribution system. Capacitor banks have traditionally been controlled manually or set to come on and off by time clocks based upon calculations. In the world of the smart grid, distribution voltage will be continuously monitored and capacitor banks automatically activated at the precise moment when needed. The 800 capacitor banks in metropolitan Kansas City, for example, are already automated, according to Jeff Wolf, Kansas City Power and Light’s director of resource management. “We have true two-way communication to these devices, not only to control the capacitor banks but to retrieve voltage and current information from each bank in real time. This is part of a larger effort. We’ve recently created a whole new department at KCPL around smart grid technology. Some of the distribution automation goes back 10 years, as does automated meter reading. Metering still involves one-way communication for our residential customers, but it is true two-way for our largest customers. I would say in terms of AMI functionality, we are 80 to 90 percent of the way there.” The growing use of sensors feeding information to electronic controllers on the grid will prove overwhelmingly beneficial for electric utilities. It will not only reduce outages, but will lead the way to predictive-maintenance practices. Maintenance will no longer be a by-the-book routine, but one based upon real world conditions. Furthermore, the information can be integrated with end-use. “Take all this operational information about the distribution system and combine it with consumer use patterns and you have a pretty powerful dynamic to manage loads, optimize usage of substations, and minimize capital investment,” said Oliver. Oliver is also excited about the potential of the “grid-friendly” appliances of the future. Recent experiments carried out on the Olympic Peninsula, in Wash., by the Pacific Northwest Labs offers a glimpse into “a class of devices we have never had before on the grid.” These involve water heaters and a set of new Kenmore dryers outfitted with PNL-designed computer chips that sense and respond to the frequency of the power supply. If the grid is straining and the frequency starts falling below 59.892 cycles per second, for example, the appliance withdraws from the grid until things stabilize. The dryer, however, is not turned off entirely—just the heating element. The drum continues to turn and the air continues to blow so that the clothes will not wrinkle. The heating element can be turned back on automatically without the customer experiencing any inconvenience. Conversely, if the frequency of the power supply were to rise a fraction above 60 cycles per second, the water heater would be set to “increase water temperature a few degrees, and soak up a bit more electricity, until things stabilized.” With thousands of such appliances “playing nice” with the grid (and presumably getting paid for it), a new resource for grid support and demand response will have been created. “This has tremendous potential to benefit the grid and the consumer,” said Oliver. Stepping back and looking at the journey of the smart grid, Oliver said: “We are at the beginning of a long process, involving a long chain of capital investments. If the smart grid delivers the value that Pacific Northwest Labs, EPRI, Modern Grid and leading utilities think it will, then we might see a big acceleration.” ❚ Brent Barker is a writer in Palo Alto, Calif., specializing in coverage of the electric utility industry. PUBLIC POWER

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Public Power - June 2008

Public Power - June 2008 Contents Perspective 10 Questions Finding Common Ground on Climate Change Solutions A Patchwork Approach to Renewable Energy Whose Grid Is It Anyway? The Little Utility That Could Benchmarking Customer Service Can Prairie Hay Power Your Town? Storming the Control Room Investing in the Smart Grid Coming of Age: Superconducting Cables Community Broadband Economic Development Customer Service Human Resources For Governing Boards Safety Parting Shot

Public Power - June 2008

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