For much of the twentieth century, then-modern power grids were the technological marvels of their time and stood as an embodiment of the engineering triumphs of the age. Plentiful and cheap electricity fundamentally transformed and improved everyday life.However, in the 21st century, times have changed. Energy isn’t so cheap anymore and the impact on the natural environment has become a priority where before it was never considered. Power companies weren’t considering customer service as they strung thousands of miles of transmission wires throughout the world – the goal was merely to provide the world with power.
The original designers of the world’s power grids couldn’t have foreseen the need to manage a global network of energy supply and demand; of course they also lacked the know-how.
The inherent inefficiencies of the antiquated power grids currently in place around the globe have resulted in an incredibly wasteful system. Since there is no way to manage the flow of energy or balance loads on the system, enough energy is wasted every year that could supply Canada, Germany, or India for an entire year. Incremental advances would have a huge, and lasting, effect. For example, if the American power grid were only 5 percent more efficient, the amount of greenhouse gases saved would be equal to the output of 53 million gas-guzzling cars. Because the focus is on having enough power supply to meet demand without knowing precisely what the level of demand or what the supply is, billions of dollars worth of power is wasted daily generating power that is never used.
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.
The smart meter network itself would generate a wealth of new information that could be analysed in order to provide insight into consumption patterns that allow consumers to make informed decisions in real time. Utility companies will also be able to use this information to better manage load on the smart grid. Taking this concept further, governments can make macro-level decisions on how to better preserve the environment based upon trends observed in the information provided by smart meter data. As a result, the world’s power grids would evolve into an intelligent system.
smart meter projects have already demonstrated that they can save consumers an average of 10 percent on their utility bills and reduce peak demand for utilities by 15 percent. The savings are huge when this percentage is scaled nationwide or worldwide. The power grids of the world can once again become symbols of progress – if they become smart.
