The McDonnell Group

ATLANTA - January 16, 2010 – I'll be attending the IEES/NIST Smart Grid event with other IEEE PES members this coming week. I'll be blogging from the event that over 700 people are expected to attend. Meanwhile, I was re-reading this op-ed article we contributed to Smart Grid News back in October 2006 and thought it would make a good re-post for the 2010 new year.

Much of our 2006 article entitled Beyond The Buzz: The Potential of Grid Efficiency, which has since been referenced by US Department of Energy reports, still holds true except that Smart Grid now has more than its fair share of 2010 industry, media and political buzz. The utility industry is now evolving its view of Smart Grid to encompass efforts to modernize the entire electric energy system from "source" to "socket":

October 2006 : The term Smart Grid describes a collection of transmission and distribution (T&D) system technologies. Such a grid fuses the physical delivery network with intelligent sensors, software, communications, and distributed control. The result is new levels of security, reliability, economy and efficiency.

Many leading utilities have recently launched major smart grid projects under monikers such as ‘Utility of the Future.’ Although the taglines vary, the goals are very similar. They strike a theme of investment in the ‘last mile’ of physical delivery systems and in the information technology required as a foundation.

These programs typically include technology-enabled customer participation in the energy markets through smart metering, demand response, load control, and, ultimately, widespread distributed generation interconnection. But the Smart Grid also brings other significant industry and societal benefits. Those benefits include grid efficiency through time-tested “blocking and tackling” engineering and operations strategies such as:

· load balancing
· feeder voltage management
· real-time power flow analysis
· distribution automation

These methods reduce integrated system losses, lower CO2, SOX and NOX emissions while simultaneously increasing reliability as measured by IEEE 1366 standards. The grid can be green too: With these facts as a backdrop, T&D technology and infrastructure investment are finally becoming a hot topic in utility board rooms and in regulatory and local government reviews across the country. Long the red-headed investment step-child of the integrated rate case, these infrastructure and automation projects are finally getting their much needed day in the sun alongside advanced metering infrastructure.

Early adopter utilities are now investing ahead of the curve. Unfortunately, the efficiency efforts lag behind more ‘glamorous’ initiatives. Private equity interest in clean energy technology is undoubtedly soaring. And positive national sentiment towards renewable generation is on the rise. Even so, the public’s limited short-term appetite to pay for the Smart Grid — which they largely don’t understand — lags behind the headlines and the clean energy buzz.

For example,recent research indicates U.S. utilities have deployed SCADA to less than 70% of electric substations. And that feeder automation penetration is less than 20%. Widespread industry, political, and social barriers to mainstream Smart Grid adoption still persist. This fact is reflected by regulators and local politicians who face relentless consumer pressure to keep prices low, often to the detriment of long-term infrastructure investment that could provide economic security for their region.

Grid efficiency represents a vast ‘renewable’ energy resource hovering over our heads, waiting to be tapped. Although grid automation and efficiency lack the front page sizzle of green energy generation, they nevertheless play a critical role. They deserve funding, legislative and national leadership support.

It’s time to get beyond the buzz.