http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/greenblog/2009/01/what_is_a_smart_power_grid_1.html

Boston Globe

What is a smart power grid?

Boston Globe

by bdaley January 26, 2009 02:12 PM

Lines bringing power to us (AP photo)

By Beth Daley, Boston Globe Staff

President Obama calls for it in his energy speeches. Al Gore says it’s critical to repower America. The U.S. Department of Energy says it will transform the nation’s electrical system the way the Internet did to the way we live, work, play and learn.

But what exactly is the smart grid? A few readers wrote in asking me this question. And while a smart grid is a lot of things, I’m going to try and lay out a brief layman’s explanation.

Think of it as a modernized, more efficient way to distribute
electricity to save energy and money. Right now, the electricity we get
tends to come in one direction: Power plants generate power and it is
distributed to the nation's homes and businesses through the electric
grid.

But those homes and business can't communicate very well with the
system, letting them know when they are over-burdened or when power
outages occur. Utility officials often have to rely on people to call
them to let them know when the lights are out - and can't "see" into the
system very well to spot potential problems with demand and supply.
When outages occur, repairmen often have to spend hours - or more than a
week if the recent storm outages in Fitchburg are any indication - tying
homes and businesses back into the grid.

A smart grid will use digital technology to allow two-way communication
between electricity generators and customers. It will, if promises hold
true, allow appliances in homes to use electricity when it is abundant
and inexpensive. It will allow electricity managers to peer into their
systems to identify problems and avoid them. It will provide rapid
information about blackouts and power quality.

It is also designed to link the grid to large scale solar and wind
projects that are built far away from the cities and suburbs where
people need electricity. Through these transmission lines - and better
management of the intermittent power from wind, for example - it will
allow the nation to incorporate large scale renewable power into the
power system.

It will also allow a community to use local power sources to keep the
lights on even when there is no power coming from a utility. Called
islanding, it will allow a home to grab power from "distributed
resources" - local rooftop solar, small hydro and wind projects for example - to
keep the lights on until utility workers can patch the community back
into the grid. At the same time, the entire nation of electricity
distribute will become interconnected.

"President Obama wants 10% of electricity to be renewable. And, our
current grid infrastructure is a barrier to meeting that goal. A smart
grid is crucial for sending electronic messages through the system for
power generation triggers and demand reduction calls,'' says Vincent
DeVito, a former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Energy for Policy and
International Affairs who is now a partner at Bowditch & Dewey LLP in
Boston.

Now this is a really ambitious proposal. The Department of Energy says
it's at least 10 years away. Others say more. It will cost billions of
dollars.

Yet DeVito and others say it's critical to do - and will save money in
the long run. The Department of Energy says if the grid were just 5%
more efficient, the energy savings would equate to eliminating the fuel
and greenhouse gas emissions from 53 million cars.

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/greenblog/2009/01/what_is_a_smart_power_grid_1.html

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