Public Power - May 2008 - (Page 32)

Journey to the Smart Grid work (HAN) is just the first of three hierarchical links in the communications chain, Van Dollen said. Data from a large number of HANs are fed upward through a data concentrator at the neighborhood level called a local area network (LAN). Data from numerous neighborhood LANS are then fed upward through a wide area network (WAN), which could be quite expansive, for example, the size of Los Angeles. Different technologies can be used for different links, although fiber optics has become the backbone of most WANS around the country. TXU Energy, in Texas, uses fiber optics for wide area communications and then shifts to power line carrier into the neighborhood and home. Centerpoint uses fiber optics for WAN and then switches to power line carrier for LAN, moving to a wireless communications system in the home. SCE is using mesh radio into the home. This mixing and matching of technologies calls for careful thought, said Von Dollen, who believes the selection of technology should be the last thing a utility does in trying to roll out a smart grid. There is a four-step process to getting things right, he said. “The first thing is to figure out what you are trying to accomplish,” Van Dollen said.. “What is your corporate strategy? What are the business drivers and the public policy drivers for your utility? For SCE, it was demand-response. For TXU, its CEO wanted the company to be one of the top 10 of U.S. utilities nationwide in terms of reliability, so they went with power line carrier to communicate and monitor the distribution system at the same time. Every company is different. They have different drivers, and for that matter, different infrastructure in place, and they are at different starting points. And so the journey is invariably going to be different for each of them.” Understanding the company drivers and the corporate strategy is the second step. These first two steps are strategic decisions, primarily involving non-technical decisions made by management. The third step requires the engineering team laying out specific technical requirements to accomplish applications. Finally, once the set of specifications are determined, the best technology can be logically identified. This can be an intensive process, said Von Dollen, who has been working with his team and several utilities to create a strategic roadmap to guide their smart grid implementation. “Don’t lead with technology. That’s the old days. Your system is going to evolve, step by step, so build a roadmap that starts with the most basic questions of all, ‘What is your mission, what are you trying to do?’” said Van Dollen. ❚ Brent Barker is a writer in Palo Alto, Calif., specializing in coverage of the electric utility industry. This is the first of a planned two-part series on the smart grid. The next article will examine smart grid projects at several public power utilities. 32 MAY 2008 PUBLIC POWER http://www.aeci.com

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

Public Power - May 2008 Contents Perspective LEEDing the Way Ontario Moves to Mandatory Time-of-Use Pricing Journey to the Smart Grid Right-Sizing Transformers Energy Audits for Large Industries Economic Development Community Broadband Reliability Hometown Connections Parting Shot

Public Power - May 2008

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