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Working Smarter, Not Harder: An Introduction to the "Smart Grid"

Article  in  Electrochemical Society Interface · September 2010

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“ brain is a society of very in economic productivity, to place in While smart grid technologies
small, simple modules sharp focus the need to reinvest in have been studied and piloted by
that cannot be said to be transmission infrastructure.1 the Department of Energy (DOE),
By all accounts, however, the slow universities and research organizations,
thinking, that are not smart in pace of innovation and change on the in regards to federal support, the specific
themselves. But when you have a electric grid is about to change with the functions and features of the smart grid
network of them together, out of introduction of the smart grid. Precise are explicitly defined by Title XIII of the
that arises a kind of smartness.” definitions of what comprises the smart Energy Independence and Security Act
grid can vary, but generally speaking, (EISA).3
—Kevin Kelly, author of Out of Control: this term refers to the use of digital As defined by Title XIII, specific
The New Biology of Machines, Social information and controls technology features of the smart grid are:
Systems, and the Economic World. to improve the reliability, security, and • increased use of digital information
overall efficiency of the electric grid. and controls technology to improve
Consider, for a moment, how Proponents suggest that this will be reliability, security, and efficiency of
communications have changed in the accomplished by offering consumers the electric grid;
latter half of the 20th century through and utilities incentives to work together • dynamic optimization of grid
the first decade of the 21st. In the span of to create a more responsive and less operations and resources, with full
a few decades, we have progressed from polluting system. cyber-security;
rotary-dial telephones and expensive A popular description of the smart grid • deployment and integration of
long-distance calling to the Internet, invokes the idea of an “energy Internet” distributed resources and generation,
e-mail, cell phones, videoconferencing, with a two-way flow of energy, in much including renewable resources;
IP telephony, and video chats. We are the same way that the Internet allowed • deployment of “smart” technologies
more connected to information and greater interactivity and selectivity (real-time, automated, interactive
to distant people and places than ever in the flow of information. Just as we technologies that optimize the
before. have seen television programming physical operation of appliances
Now consider how our relationship move away from broadcast to cable to and consumer devices) for metering,
to the electric grid has changed over video-on-demand and DVR technology, communications concerning
that same time period. Odds are, you proponents of the smart grid imagine grid operations and status, and
still plug your appliances into an AC that we will see energy flow onto and off distribution automation;
outlet, and the way that the power is the grid as customer and utility exchange • integration of “smart” appliances
generated and brought to your home or information, a marked contrast from and consumer devices;
office doesn’t significantly affect how today’s one-way, utility-to-customer • deployment and integration
you consume that power. energy system. of advanced electricity storage
The development of the electrical
and peak-shaving technologies,
grid has been one of the key technical
advancements of the 20th century. Both
What is the Smart Grid? including plug-in electric and hybrid
electric vehicles, and thermal-storage
its scale and the scope of its distribution
Broadly speaking, the smart grid is a air conditioning;
speak volumes about how important it
fusion of the information technology • development of standards for
has become to modern life. The modern
that has enabled mobile telephony and communication and interoperability
grid, however, is still largely based on
the Internet with our existing electric of appliances and equipment
the original design that Westinghouse
grid. In addition to improvements in connected to the electric grid,
and Edison debated in the late 1800s,
system resiliency and responsiveness to including the infrastructure serving
and isn’t designed for modern electrical
outages, the smart grid will also enable the grid; and
loads, distributed energy sources, or
greater system efficiency, increased • identification and lowering of
optimal efficiency. Power is generated
installation of wind and solar energy unreasonable or unnecessary
and distributed by utility companies,
and active participation of consumers barriers to adoption of smart grid
without local competition to speak of,
in managing their electricity use. The technologies, practices, and services.
and with fairly little communication
Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)
between utilities and end users in terms Demand–response control can
has found that rollout of smart grid
of how to get more out of the system. assist utilities when unexpected
technologies could yield a 4% reduction
To date, the revolutions that we have supply losses occur or during periods
in energy use by 2030.2 As a point of
seen in communications have very few of unprecedented demand. Utilities,
comparison, that would be roughly
analogs in the electric grid. regional transmission authorities, and
equivalent to eliminating the emissions
Nearly all the existing electric independent system operators contract
of 750 million cars.1 Beyond the
transmission and distribution with customers who can support power
emissions impact, that translates to a
infrastructure in the United States was losses in their operations in exchange
$20.4 billion in annual savings for utility
built prior to 1965. Since then, that for compensation. If a system operator
customers nationwide. With a more
system has had five major outages. encounters an unexpected need for
robust and efficient system, and better
While this may seem like an impressive reserve power, they may temporarily
knowledge and control of demand, it
track record, three of the five outages disconnect these contracted customers
will be easier for utilities to manage the
have occurred in the past decade. to restore reserve availability until
integration of renewable energy sources
Every year, American businesses lose demand falls or additional generation
that produce intermittent power.
an estimated $100 billion as a result of comes online. Demand response
That will help states meet targets for
power quality problems and blackouts. capability is critical to creating a more
renewable power growth and minimize
Nonetheless, it took the massive resilient power delivery system, one of
fuel consumption by reducing their
blackout across the northeastern United the major goals of the smart grid. This
dependence on natural gas or diesel
States and southeastern Canada in 2003, communication between utility and
reserve generators and use of fossil fuel-
which resulted in a loss of $6 billion consumer already exists for a subset of
based power plants.
The Electrochemical Society Interface • Fall 2010 45
Harris and Meyers anticipated improvements of the smart prices are high, as those utilities and
(continued from previous page) grid. Through price signals and real- customers have the most to gain from
time consumption data, customers will improved system efficiency and demand
customers, but the communication may be given the information they need to management techniques. For example,
soon become more pervasive and subtle reduce their use, and hence, their utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), the energy
as new technologies are integrated into bills. Utilities will have access to the same provider for homes and businesses in
the system and device-to-device or data, giving them improved prediction most of northern California, began
device-to-subsystem communications of future demand. In addition, they introducing smart meters and variable
become standardized. will gain access to significantly greater pricing programs in 2006 and plans to
granularity in demand–response control have smart meters installed for all of
Smart Metering through the introduction of smart their customers by 2012.7 It is likely that
appliances. Furthermore, customers will utilities and balancing authorities will
and Variable Pricing be incentivized to take power from the accelerate smart grid implementations
grid at times when the utility is most as the deadlines for compliance with
A significant component of the future able to supply it. For some applications, state renewable portfolio standards
smart grid is composed of changes within customers will be willing to pay the approach, as these technologies will
homes and businesses that will provide premium for using the power whenever ease the integration of intermittent
customers with awareness of their real- they happen to need it, but for other renewable generation at the ambitious
time power consumption as well as the applications customers might be target levels many states have set.
ability to control that demand. Time-of- perfectly willing to delay a high-demand
day pricing, determined in such a way
as to minimize congestion on the grid
activity such as drying a load of laundry Grid-Scale Storage
or running the dishwasher until the grid
and to maximize generation efficiency, has more excess capacity and the cost
will allow customers to make informed One of the most interesting and
per kWh goes down. complicated aspects of grid-scale
decisions about how to lower their By way of example, the authors’
electricity costs, even if the total amount energy storage is that there are many
local utility, Austin Energy, has applications that create value on the
of energy used over the course of a day already begun implementing some
remains the same. grid. It is difficult to fully anticipate
smart grid technology. They have exactly what opportunities for arbitrage
One such innovation that should installed monitoring devices on
affect the grid’s operation is the will develop as more communication
their transmission and distribution among devices, consumers, producers,
introduction of smart electricity infrastructure and, through custom
meters, which differ from regular and distributers of electricity become
software, can observe their system and develop. A report by the New York State
meters by providing real-time two-way rapidly diagnose problems. Additionally,
communication between the meter Energy Research and Development
they have begun installing smart meters Authority (NYSERDA)8 covers the range
and the utility. This not only provides across their service area.4 Beyond
the utility real-time awareness of every of possible methods to create value
these improvements, Austin Energy is with grid-scale energy storage. These
customer’s usage, but also allows the a partner in the Pecan Street Project,
utility to share the information with applications include power-oriented
which a public–private partnership that (high rate, short duration) and energy-
that customer through online tools. seeks to open up the grid to try out new
This information can be aggregated to oriented (longer duration) options for
technologies.5 These will likely include operators, end-users, and renewable
provide various metrics to the customer, increased distributed wind and solar
giving them the opportunity to set goals power.
generation software allowing customer It is an interesting challenge for
to reduce their consumption. These goals interaction with smart meter data,
can be attained more easily with the storage, both in terms of the technology
smart pricing, user management of requirements for the energy storage
introduction of smart appliances. These smart appliances, and sufficient system
appliances have Internet connectivity, systems, as well as how to treat it.
resiliency to support the charging Electrical energy storage will need to
allowing them to share usage data with infrastructure for plug-in hybrid electric
the utility, and through the same online be very cheap and very efficient in
and battery electric vehicles. The project order to provide a compelling value
tool, the customer. This gives customers will build on the general concepts
the ability to observe not only how proposition, but some of the system-
inherent in any definition of the smart level requirements for portable power
much power they use in real time but grid, and implement communication
the specific devices in their home that and for automotive applications can be
and pricing tools to allow the Energy relaxed. It is worth noting that if storage
are using that electricity. Internet and clean energy systems
Smart appliances may also mean only exists at the customer location
being deployed to compare different to reduce demand during peak times,
utilities can use them as additional delivery and business models, including
tools in their demand–response arsenal, it can provide some value, but such
dynamic pricing, demand response, implementations will not handle the
allowing them to be remotely shut off decoupled pricing linked with net
during peak demand, reducing costs challenge of putting stored energy back
metering, and even rooftop solar leasing. onto the grid. A simple form of storage
for the utility and the customer. Smart An illustration of the distribution
meters can also enable real-time pricing, is thermal energy storage, particularly
system that the Project is seeking to attractive in warmer climates, where
which means customers pay a price create is shown in Fig. 1. As is shown,
more representative of the actual cost electricity, which is generally cheap
considerably more information flows in the middle of the night, is used to
of generating the electricity they use. back and forth between the grid and the
Real-time pricing provides a market produce ice, which can then be stored
user, in the form of demand–response, and used to offset air conditioning
signal to customers to reduce their use variable pricing, net metering, and
during peak demand, which is the most demand during the daytime.9,10 This
distributed resources that are equipped type of storage doesn’t allow for utilities,
expensive time of day for the utility to handle local changes in demand.
and also the most polluting, as it often generators, or customers to put energy
Other utilities have also begun back on the grid during peak demand
involves the use of peaking generators, introducing smart grid improvements.
which can respond to rapid demand times, but it does mitigate the demand
These implementations have largely on the system during the hottest, and
changes at the expense of efficiency and been confined to small local pilot
emissions. often most energy-intensive, parts of
projects, such as those in Fayetteville, the day.
All of these changes have several NC and Boulder, CO.6 It is likely that
benefits to utilities and their customers, The requirements for large-scale
in the near term, the most ambitious electrical energy storage systems are
and are perhaps the most publicly projects will be in states where electricity quite different from existing battery
46 The Electrochemical Society Interface • Fall 2010
Fig. 1. Proposed configuration of a smart grid electricity distribution system. Image courtesy of the Pecan Street Project.

systems. While batteries for portable power rating alone—the materials and electric vehicles (PHEVs). Utilities
and transportation applications place construction of the electrochemical have envisioned that PHEV owners
a premium on weight and volume, cell, as well as the mechanical and will plug their vehicles in at night to
stationary energy storage systems have electrical balance of plant scale with charge and, with the installation of
considerably less stringent weight the power requirement (kW), but the public charging stations, will also likely
and volume requirements. Backup total quantity of active material that be plugged in during the day while at
power systems and uninterruptible determines the discharge duration and work. In this scenario, since PHEV
power supplies are used to support the total quantity of energy stored batteries will be available to the grid
telecommunications and data centers (kWh) contributes significantly to the for most non-commute hours during
already, but are generally not expected cost. Costs are better understood as a the weekdays, PHEVs can essentially be
to survive large numbers of charge/ function of both the power rating and viewed as energy storage for the cost of
discharge cycles. Time-of-day pricing the discharge duration. public charging points. Encouraging or
on the grid, mandates for renewable The Sandia report identifies a market requiring PHEV owners to participate in
power sources, and the accompanying benefit of ~$700-900/kW for renewables a program that uses the batteries in their
intermittency of those sources are capacity firming for discharges of car in this way, however, will require a
creating demand for electrical energy 2-4 hours and a total U.S. installed significant shift in the way they interact
storage. Batteries and capacitors can capacity of approximately 36 GW.11 This with their utility.
serve to complement one another on provides an ultimate cost target for this Information regarding the utility’s
smart grid. Capacitors can smooth application of roughly $200 per kWh of and owner’s plans for how the car’s
short-term disruptions and ensure storage capacity. While there are other batteries are used must be coordinated
power quality, but batteries will be applications where energy storage might if each is to get what they want out of
required for long-term load-leveling and offer operating cost incentives at higher the car. Further, the utility will have to
peak shaving. We will need energy to be price points, thereby allowing market provide some incentive for PHEV owners
stored efficiently and to accommodate penetration as economies of scale are to participate in such a program, as the
several hours of continuous energy established, it is important to ensure utility’s use of the battery will probably
accumulation and release to the grid. that these ultimate cost targets can be shorten its life and occasionally make it
Sandia National Laboratory has met if the goal is to foster the adoption unavailable to the owner. Since there are
recently released a report on the benefits of renewable power sources on the grid. few battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and
and market potential analysis of energy A possible solution to the cost and PHEVs on the road today, it is difficult
storage.11 They correctly note that implementation problems facing to predict their popularity and how
cost figures for energy storage systems energy storage in the smart grid is owners will use them, however, the
cannot be expressed as a function of the use of batteries in plug-in hybrid logistics issues associated with utilities
The Electrochemical Society Interface • Fall 2010 47
Harris and Meyers
(continued from previous page)

FUTURE
Jeremy Meyers is an assistant professor
in mechanical engineering at The
sharing battery use with vehicle owners
University of Texas at Austin. He is
will present a significant challenge for
utility system planning.12 In such an
early stage of deployment, it is not clear
a winner of the UTC George Mead
Medal for Engineering Achievement
and the DuPont Young Faculty Award.
TECHNICAL
MEETINGS
that the automotive manufacturers will
He currently serves as Secretary of the
be comfortable taking on the additional
Energy Technology Division of ECS.
role of grid support as they are still
attempting to launch a new vehicle
technology in the marketplace. It will References
be interesting to see to what degree
vehicle batteries will allow for greater 1. Litos Strategic Communication,
exchange between the electricity and “Smart Grid: An Introduction,”
transportation infrastructures. DOE report, (2008).
Using storage for arbitrage will flatten 2. DOE, “President Obama Announces
the effective demand curve, that is, $3.4 Billion Investment to Spur
reduce the difference in the amount of Transition to Smart Grid,” http://
power generation during peak demand www.energy.gov/news2009/8216.
relative to the minimum demand. htm.
Reductions in effective peak demand will 3. Energy Independence and Security
mean fewer expensive power plants will Act of 2007, Sec. 1301. “Statement
have to be dispatched, reducing the cost of Policy on Modernization of
219th ECS Meeting

da
Electricity Grid,” http://www.

Montréal
Cana
of peak power and minimizing customer
incentive to change behavior. While oe.energy.gov/EISA_Title_XIII_
this use of storage may reduce customer Smart_Grid.pdf.
interest in reducing their peak use, 4. Reuters, “Austin Energy Launches
utilities operational goal of more stable One of the First Smart Grid May 1-6, 2011
demand would still be achieved. This Deployments in the Nation,”
may appear a far more expensive way to http://www.reuters.com/article/
reduce variations in demand, however, pressRelease/idUS140319+23-Sep-
if placed appropriately within the T&D 2008+BW20080923. 2011 Fall Meeting
system, using storage for arbitrage 5. Pecan Street Project, Phase I, http://
also ensures that all renewable energy pecanstreetproject.org/?page_ Oct. 9-14
generated will eventually be dispatched. id=30.
Even so, grid storage units have yet to 6. XCel Energy, “SmartGridCity,” Boston, MA
achieve economies of scale, and so the http://smartgridcity.xcelenergy.
capital costs of storage facilities might com/learn/frequently-asked-
questions.asp.
be hard to justify. Technologists who
work on developing batteries for these 7. Pacific Gas and Electric Company, 2012 Spring Meeting
applications will have to pay special
attention to capital and operating costs,
“PG&E Leads the Nation in Smart
Grid Deployment” (2009), http:// May 6-11
as well as to round-trip efficiency and
battery lifetimes.
w w w. p g e . c o m / a b o u t / n e w s /
medi a r e l a t i o n s / n e w s r e l e a s e s /
Seattle, WA
Elsewhere in this issue of Interface, q2_2009/090414.shtml.
authors explore some of the specific 8. NYSERDA, “Guide to Estimating
electrical energy storage technologies Benefits and Market Potential for
Electricity Storage in New York,”
2012 Fall Meeting
that are being considered for working
with the smart grid. The advancement Report 07-06 (2007). Oct. 7-12
of renewable technologies and the 9. I. Dincer and M. A. Rosen,
instantaneous exchange of information Thermal Energy Storage Systems and PRIME 2012
among managers and customers on Applications, John Wiley & Sons,
the grid may well create entirely new Ltd., West Sussex, England (2002). Honolulu, HI
markets for new energy storage and 10. J. K. Kaldellis and D. Zafirakis,
conversion technologies. Members of Energy, 32, 2295 (2007).
11. J. Eyer and G. Corey, Sandia
the ECS community are well-poised to
take advantage of, and to contribute National Laboratories, “Energy 2013 Spring Meeting
to, the development of these new
opportunities.
Storage for the Electricity Grid:
Benefits and Market Potential May 12-17
Assessment Guide, A Study for
the DOE Energy Storage Systems Toronto, ON, Canada
About the Authors Program,” Livermore, CA and
Albuquerque, NM (2010).
Chioke Harris is a graduate student in
mechanical engineering at the University
12. DOE, “Bottling Electricity: Storage
as a Strategic Tool for Managing
2013 Fall Meeting
of Texas at Austin. He is a winner of the
National Science Foundation Graduate
Variability and Capacity Concerns
in the Modern Grid” (2008).
Oct. 27-Nov. 1
Research Fellowship. A native of Seattle,
Washington, he received his BS degree San Francisco, CA
with a concentration in mechanical
engineering from Brown University in
May 2008.
www.electrochem.org
48 The Electrochemical Society Interface • Fall 2010

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