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Making the Smart Energy Grid Even Smarter
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Bryant, Randal E. |
| Copyright Year | 2010 |
| Abstract | Our nation’s infrastructure for generating, transmitting, and distributing electricity — “The Grid” — is a relic based in many respects on century-old technology. It consists of expensive, centralized generation via large plants, and a massive, centrally-controlled transmission and distribution system. It strives to deliver high-quality power to all subscribers simultaneously — no matter what their demand — and must therefore be sized to the peak aggregate demand at each distribution point. Power is transmitted via high voltage lines over long distances, with associated inefficiencies, power losses, and right-of-way costs. Local distribution, via step-down transformers, is expensive in cost and efficiency, and is a single point of failure for an entire neighborhood. The system demands end-to-end synchronization, and it lacks a mechanism for storing (“buffering”) energy, thus complicating sharing among grids or independent operation during an “upstream” outage. Recent blackouts demonstrate the existing grid’s problems — failures are rare, but spectacular. Average demand per consumer is a small fraction of the peak — a 25 kWhr/day home draws on average less than 5% of its 100 amp service. Consumption correlations, e.g., air conditioners on a hot day, drive demand beyond estimated aggregates, which can result in huge spikes in supply cost and may trigger blackouts. Moreover, the structure cannot accommodate the highly variable nature of renewable energy sources such as solar (generating power only during the day) and wind (generating power only when the wind is strong enough). Meanwhile, consumers are provided little information about their energy usage (just a monthly total) and even fewer opportunities or incentives to adapt their usage to better align their demands to the capabilities of the utility companies. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://www.cra.org/ccc/files/docs/init/Making_the_Smart_Energy_Grid_Even_Smarter.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
