FERC Report Sees IT Smarts to Link Smart Meters, Smart Grid

Linking the electrical grids with smart electric meters in homes and businesses should create many job opportunities for IT professionals in the coming years.

Two trends in efficient energy management are converging. One involves advanced meters that monitor and manage electric use in homes and businesses. The other is advance response programs utilities offer that manage customer consumption of electricity in response to supply conditions.

According to a just-released report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 2008 Assessment of Demand Response and Advanced Metering the ratio of advanced meters to all installed meters has reached 4.7% for the United States, a significant jump from the less than 1% in 2006. On the demand response side, 8% of energy consumers in the U.S. participate in some kind of demand response program and the potential demand response resource contribution from all such U.S. programs is nearly 41,000 megawatts, or 5.8%, of U.S. peak demand, according to the FERC report. This represents an increase of about 3,400 MW from the 2006 estimate.

The report suggests the need for IT know-how to expand smart grid and smart metering use:

One way to mitigate risks in planning AMI (advanced metering infrastructure, the technology for gathering and disseminating information at a utility meter) communications networks is to ensure interoperability. Interoperability allows seamless sharing of data and integration of functionality between digital electronic systems (e.g., computing networks, communications networks, computers, computer programs, advanced metering systems, etc).

The technological means of achieving interoperability is through standards for software, hardware, or firmware. Recognizing a need for standards that would enable interoperability, the U.S. Congress in EISA (Energy Independence and Security Act) 2007 directed the National Institute of Standards and Technology to establish “protocols and model standards for information management to achieve interoperability of smart grid devices and systems.”

In the meantime, many utilities proceeding with AMI plans are doing so cautiously, relying to some extent on open standards to mitigate technological risk exposure or planning and budgeting for periodic technology upgrades to their advanced metering system over the life of their system.

Design of Smart Electrical Grid Should Mirror the Internet

A posting, Smart Grid for a Smart Planet, on smartmeters.com explains why the experts designing the next generation of the electrical grid need IT smarts.

Technological advances of the modern age can take the power grid out of the dark ages and make it smart. Power grids around the world can be monitored and managed in much the same way a computer network is.

Smart meters can be applied to the power grid in a way that every aspect is constantly monitored from the point of generation, through transmission to consumers’ homes and businesses, and as it is consumed. In fact, the smart grid system would look much more like the Internet than it would resemble a conventional power system. A smart grid can handle multitudes of power sources no matter how widely distributed they are – including intermittent, but renewable, power sources such as wind turbines and solar panel arrays.

A piece of advice for IT pros: many information-tech jobs of the future will focus on battling carbon emissions and making energy use more efficient. Successful IT pros combine their IT know-how with industry knowledge, so learn more about the power generation industry and the environmental movement to cut carbon emissions.

Employing Smart IT Seen Reducing Energy Use, Industry Study Says

An analysis by the industry trade research arm Electric Power Research Institute shows how IT smarts can help reduce electricity use.

In a web posting this week, the institute contends a smart grid could potentially reduce annual U.S. energy consumption by 56 to 203 billion kWh in 2030, corresponding to a 1.2% to 4.3% reduction in projected retail electricity sales in 2030.

In addition, according to the institute, a smart grid can provide the catalyst for greater integration of renewable generation resources and greater deployment of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. The combined deployment of seven applications enabled by a smart grid could reduce CO2 emissions by an estimated 60 to 211 million metric tons in 2030.

A smart grid is one that incorporates information and communications technology into every aspect of electricity generation, delivery and consumption in order to: minimize environmental impact; enhance markets; improve service; reduce costs and improve efficiency.

(Click on image to enlarge)

The above diagram, from the institute, depicts the interaction between consumer devices with communication capabilities, energy providers and transmission and distribution functions enabled by smart-grid network operations.

Report: Info Tech Seen Reducing CO2 Emissions Significantly

Much must and can be done by the information and communications technology (ICT) industries to reduce their own carbon emissions. But a just-released addendum to last June’s study for the Global e-Sustainability Initiative, Smart 2020: Enabling the Low Carbon Economy in the Information Age says ITC can help reduce 97% of emissions for the rest of the economy.

Written by the Boston Consulting Group for Ge-SI, the addendum says information and communications technologies are powerful enablers because they give people the information to understand how carbon emissions hurt the environment and the economy. Technology can furnish energy-efficient alternatives to manual, mechanical and physical processes to reduce emissions. According to the addendum:

Replacing physical experiences with virtual experiences, providing information to make better decisions, or cutting waste where it won’t be noticed are just some examples. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy recently issued a report estimating that for every kilowatt hour of energy consumed by ICT, the U.S. economy increases its overall energy savings by a factor of 10. The report cites investment in ICT as a major factor in allowing both the population and economy of the U.S. to grow faster than its energy consumption.

ICT’s capacity to enable energy efficiency can help the economy and reduce the effects of climate change. By 2020, the ICT solutions outlined in this report can reduce an estimated 810 million to 1,410 million metric tons of CO2 from the U.S. baseline of emissions, representing a 13% to 22% reduction in the federal Energy Information Administration’s business-as-usual scenario. This translates to gross savings of $140 billion to $240 billion in avoided electricity and fuel costs. These savings also have significant national security implications as they translate to a reduction in total oil consumption of 11% to 21% and a reduction in dependence on imported oil of 20% to 36%. The range of estimates depends on the rate of adoption of ICT solutions.

In addition to the CO2 abatements sized by this report, ICT can be a powerful lever to change and influence behavior, because it touches the daily lives of people and provides powerful tools for understanding their decisions. ICT’s impact spans beyond technology; it enables the creation of radically new low-carbon business models. For example, ICT can ease coordination among different users to enable services like car-sharing or appliance-sharing to replace individual ownership. These solutions can help reduce the embedded carbon from manufacturing more goods. Thus, ICT’s ability to create transformative change makes it a critical pillar in an energy strategy for a sustainable and prosperous America.

Here's more from the addendum (click on charts to enlarge):