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ShareSmart Grid Integration A Daunting Task As Green Energy Comes Online
Posted by Mary Shacklett on March 4, 2010
As alternative green energy sources come online, power plants and energy distribution substations find their networks challenged by smart grid demands that call for rapid changes between traditional and alternative energy sources. System and network integration on a smart grid that manages hybrid energy sources is on technology road maps for virtually every
utility company now, but a majority are still not diversified with
alternative energy. Consequently, the prospect of integrating
traditional and alternative energy systems with networks looms large.
For instance, when California Independent System Operator (ISO) installed a new renewable energy market system with all of the features and capacity it thought it would need for its renewable energy sources, it was a $199 million project with extensive revisions to hardware and software infrastructure, entailing the training of personnel over a one year time period. The system had to be up to the challenge of running a very diverse energy management system with a variety of energy sources. "Right now, we use nuclear, gas, wind, geothermal, bio-mass and hydro energy sources," said Jim McIntosh, Director of Grid Operations for California ISO. "We wanted a system with all of the features and capacity that we felt we would need in a diverse energy environment."
California ISO isn't the only one working on revisions to system and network infrastructures for energy management that includes green energy. Utilities in Denmark, Germany, Spain and China are well along in incorporating and distributing wind power. In Asia-Pacific, the U.S. Navy is looking for reliable alternative energy sources to improve distribution options in often fluctuating conditions. "In Hawaii, when the power goes off, the entire island can go black," said retired Navy Captain Chris Honkomp. "One of the issues that we face there is that the power generation is almost 100 percent petroleum-based." To improve the situation, the Navy is looking to build power generation plants for bio-fuels and solar power. "We have a small power grid in Hawaii," said Honkamp, "But a major concern for us has been how we will integrate and manage all of these diverse energy sources."
"In particular, we see wind energy taking off," said Alison Silverstein, an independent energy consultant based in Austin, Texas, "But when it comes to the system and network integration needed to link all of these diverse energy sources together, it's more talk than action." Silverstein feels that the system and network integration required for the distribution of hybrid energy sources is one of the major drivers behind the smart grid. "Unfortunately, right now, enthusiasm for this kind of systems integration exceeds reality," said Silverstein. "We can do many things, but we still need to understand the detailed analytics, communications and controls that are used in utilities and other industries, and that must go into the integration."
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation's (NERC) Long-Term Reliability Assessment conducted in 2008 corroborates Silverstein's statements. It states that integrating diverse energy sources, many of them variable (e.g., wind, solar), will demand revisions to systems, networks and operations and a level of IT integration that utilities have not had to consider before.
Comment by John_with_a_B on March 4, 2010 3:42 PM
I really think that the "variability" of wind and solar energy resources is truly a red herring. For now, it is a challenge to be met. Over time, it will be a fact of life well handled by smart people that are up to the challenge. Even if the wind is calm, or the sun doesn't shine, for a while in any given area, it is ALWAYS blowing or shining somewhere.
I think the variability of electrical energy supply is not much greater than the variability of demand. We need people that can handle the changes that have always occurred. Eventually, we will have a smart enough grid that will take energy available from any source and absorb it into the grid. The more diverse the sources, the more stable the supply will become. One day, I hope, we will see renewable energy sources so abundant that we will have to have the grid managers decide which ones to reject, and no longer complain that there is not enough. To throw up minor concerns now that the integration of all that could be abundantly available in the future is like saying that childhood is too difficult to handle, and so, we should discourage maturity.
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Comment by ashleyna on March 6, 2010 5:26 AM
Our main goal was to create an open geospatial system to combine our databases and applications easily. We wanted to graduate from using paper-based maps, reports and multiple applications and move toward an IT system that delivers network asset information in a single digital system.
Tablet PC connectors
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Comment by BillB on March 15, 2010 7:41 PM
The problem with variable sources is that you have to build extra capacity to cover your needs. The wind may blow only half the time, so to make up for it you have to build twice as many windmills somewhere, or windmills and storage with twice the generating power that you need at any given time. This results in a multiplier effect on cost that coal, gas, and nuclear plants don't have to deal with.
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