US Smart Grid - $8 Billion investment including $4.3 from Government

The US Government and the power industry will invest more than US$ 8,000,000,000 in improving the electric delivery system in the US. 100 private companies, utilities, manufacturers, cities and other partners received the Smart Grid Investment Grant awards on October 27, 2009.

The Government has awarded many groups with a total of $3.4 Billion! These groups will invest an additional $4.7 Billion.

Millions of Smart Meters, 850 Phase Measurement Units, more than 200,000 Smart Transformers, almost 700 automated substations, ... will be installed by these projects. There seems to be a high potential and need for the application of standardized information and information exchange.

Click HERE for the DoE press release October 27, 2009.
Click HERE for the list of grands awarded by category.
Click HERE for the list of grands awarded by state.
Click HERE for a map of the awards.

More to come in other countries.

What do you expect from Smart(er) Grids?

Saifur Rahman has summarized in the September 2009 issue of the IEEE "power & energy" magazine what experts believe could be expected from Smart(er) Grids.

In the first paragraph he states: "The term “smart grid” is almost becoming a household name. From the U.S. president talking about the smart grid to television commercials on this topic, we have a plethora of activities around the world where engineers, policy makers, entrepreneurs, and businesses have shown a keen interest in various aspects of this technology. There are smart-grid-related funding opportunities, projects, seminars, conferences, and training programs going on in Europe, the United States, Japan, and China to name a few." There are millions of Dollars, Euro, ... waiting for "smart" managers to be spend by "smart" engineers.

Mr. Rahman's view on what is required for a Smart(er) distribution Grid is the implementation of:

• Automated Meter Reading
• Security and Privacy Issues
• Advanced Communication Infrastructure and Cybersecurity
• Ineroperability standards
• Greening of the Grid
• Business Model for Customer Level Integration

He asks, what is next? The answer is: "

I can see many nonutility players entering this smart-grid market and attempt to provide solutions. For example, many computer networking companies have plans to deliver an end-to-end, highly secure network infrastructure that helps utility customers take the most advantage of energy efficiency, demand reduction, and the integration of renewable energy sources in their homes and businesses. The end result may not be cost reduction but more value for the money spent and an environmentally friendly power grid."

Click HERE to read the view of Saifur Rahman as published in the IEEE "power & energy" magazine.

I took a photo of an interesting ad by IBM at the Berlin Tegel Airport (Germany) on 2009-09-15:

What I see allover is that ICT (information and communication technology) is meeting the power distribution world. BUT: Where are the utility (automation and protection) experts that can understand the impact of ICT on the availability and stability of the grid? There is not much automation implemented in distribution networks today. So, the ICT companies will provide smart solutions for a market that uses very little automation. Usually ICT experts know the "I" and "C" in ICT very well - but the distribution grid is mainly a huge electrical system between the already smart transmission grid and many users.

I hope that the people in charge for the distribution grids have a good understanding of the real-time electrical network! The electrical grid is quite different compared to a business dealing with bananas, orange juice or books.

Smart(er) Distribution Grids require first smart (electrical) engineers! There are smart engineers for the transmission grid ...

Click HERE for some information regarding the Lack of Power Engineers - A Risk for Smart Grids.

US President's commitment to energy research and education

US President Obama has committed to high increase in funding for the future of the US energy supply. I a speech to the National Academy of Sciences he made a very strong commitment to support R&D, education, ... to "enlist the talents and skills of the very best American scientists
and engineers to address current fundamental scientific roadblocks to clean energy and energy security."

"In the 1950s and 1960s, Sputnik and the space race inspired young people to pursue careers in science and engineering. The average age of NASA’s Mission Control during the Apollo 17 Mission, for example, was 26.
President Obama believes that we have a similar opportunity to inspire today’s young people to tackle the single most important challenge of their generation – the need to develop cheap, abundant, clean energy and accelerate the transition to a low carbon economy." ...

"The President’s initiative will empower young men and women to invent and commercialize advanced energy technologies such as efficient and cost effective methods for converting sunlight to electricity and fuel, carbon capture and sequestration, stationary and portable advanced
batteries for plug-in electric cars, advanced energy storage concepts that will enable sustained energy supply from solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources, high-efficiency deployment of power across “smart grids” and carbon neutral commercial and residential buildings."

Click HERE for the complete ARPA-E news letter.

Education on international standards is one of the pillows of the future "smart grids" - education of people that want to become engineers and education of engineers that are already working for years. In some years down the road most young engineers are likely to have a solid knowledge of modern information and communication technologies. In the meantime many well experienced power engineers need to understand better the change in power system automation: the shift from wires to smart networks: to the distributed energy web. Every node in the network would have to be awake, responsive, flexible, and – most important – interconnected with everything else!

Click HERE for a comprehensive paper on "Seamless Communication with IEC 61850 for Distributed Power Generation" (presented in 2002 at the DistribuTech 2002, Miami)