SMART GRID

Smart grid is a technology that allows for communication between all the power system participants. This technology is an answer to the growing demand of the capacity, reliability and efficiency of the power systems. Basically the concept of smart grid is to add existing or prospective smart meters allowing for accurate energy flow analysis for the power utilities, increase the input of renewable and distributed energy sources in the grid and allow the power utilities for sharing the energy in more throughput way.

To illustrate how the smart grid works let’s imagine a paradigm (Figure 10). There are smart houses, offices, industrial plants which consume the energy, central power plant as well as various distributed generation and renewable plants. All the participants mentioned above are connected to the same smart network allowing for communication between them.

  • FIGURE 10: SMART GRID TAKEN FROM [16]

    • In the conventional grid, during the peak hours more electrical power would be transferred from far away central power plant to match the load demands. However such an example has some weaknesses. The energy generated during the peak hours is more expensive than the off peak one (chapter 1.2) which rises the average price for electricity. Another problem is transmission energy loss which grows in the power of 2 with the energy transmitted through the wires (chapter 3.1.2.1). Also the overall energy consumption grows by the time and every energy ‘peak’ may be deadly for the transmitting lines, especially for the old, less efficient ones.

    All the weaknesses mentioned above can be curbed by the smart grid. As can be seen on the figure 10 there are numerous kinds of renewable energy sources such as wind turbines and solar cells, as well as distributed generation sources such as microturbines. During the off peak hours those sources can generate power and load the energy storage systems. Then, the energy storage systems can move the stored energy to the grid when the power demands are higher. Also in the smart grid every consumer is equipped with smart meters and smart appliances. The smart meters will inform the end users whether the energy consumption is higher which consequently rises the electricity costs or when it is lower. That method will work as an incentive for the costumers, they will use less energy during the peak hours to minimize their electricity bills. All those efforts have vital influence on curtailing the peak demands.

    NEXT >>