Energy Storage – Essential to Renewable Energy

Electric energy storage has becoming a more dominant topic of the overall energy management discussion primarily because of the: Increased production of electric vehicles being plugged into outlets for recharging every evening, Advent of net-zero homes, and Expansion of intermittent solar and wind generation into the mainstream of energy supply options. As these factors begin to take on greater...

Introduction to Micro Grids

Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle With the increased importance of electricity in our day-to-day lives and overall economic prosperity, the notion of depending on outdated, centralized power grids that inefficiently deliver power and occasionally fails to meet basic needs for power may be insufficient, if not outdated. This has brought about the application of localized power grids, as part of an...

Customer Acceptance of the Smart Grid

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb-Energy Efficiency Significant investments have already been made in designing and constructing an electric grid that is automated, managed, and controlled by information and communications technologies. Thus far, the approach has been to place these enabling capabilities on top of a relatively aged and obsolete infrastructure, somewhat offsetting the potential...

SmartGrid and Renewable Energy: The Unresolved Questions

Wind Turbine Farms As the electricity industry forges ahead in defining and ultimately implementing SmartGrid and transitioning to a supply portfolio that includes renewable energy sources, there are a number of unanswered questions and obvious objections that must be confronted to ensure the full benefits of improved reliability, increased energy efficiency, and reduced CO2 emissions.  These...

The Inevitability of Smart Grid

Expansion of Driving Forces Point to Smart Grid Wind Turbine Farm Much of the current industry discussion around Smart Grid tends to focus on its benefits related to improved environmental stewardship through energy conservation and the introduction of renewable energy resources. Although these benefits will have a permanent role in the overall business case for Smart Grid investments, there are...

Basics of Wind Power in the U.S.

Current and Potential Usage According to American Wind Energy Association, there is more than 9,000 MW of generating capacity attributed to wind power. These units provide 25 billion kWh of electricity or one percent of the power generated in the U.S. each year. They also estimate that wind power could potentially account for 10.8 trillion kWh per year – equal to the amount of energy in 20...

Smart Grid – Driving Forces and Benefits

Electric Transmission Infrastructure Electricity provides over 40 percent of the overall energy consumed in the U.S. and it has a well-established relationship to GDP growth. Consequently, the strength and resilience of the electric grid is a matter of critical importance to the overall economy. The current U.S. electric transmission and distribution grid is generally considered to be aging,...

Cyber Security – A Growing Priority for the Electric Grid

Cyber Security Requires a Change in Strategy Electric Grid With the electric industry trend toward implementing Smart Grid and AMI, the definition of electric grid security has broadened from guarding against weather-related outages to protecting against the possibility of cyber attacks. The challenge is even more pronounced as the nature of the threats is likely to evolve as the sophistication...

Network Planning for SmartGrid Communication

There are a number of factors that drive the plans and programs of a SmartGrid implementation; these include: Economic Pressures, Cyber Security, Overall System Reliability, Energy Efficiency, and Customer Participation However, one can argue that none of these factors is more important to overall success than the manner in which an electric utility incorporates communications into its Smart...

Broadband Communications and the Smart Grid

Smart Grid and the Need for an Improved Communications Infrastructure Electric Grid The U.S. electric grid consists of over 200,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines and more than 6 million miles of distribution lines that serve over 100 million customers (283 million people). Electricity usage continues to grow and it now represents over 40 percent of overall energy consumption in the...