NE Sun-Autumn 2010-Smart Grid

%ffiffitrW ffiwgffi%ffiThe 6Y JOgt GORDES :+.., lthough most of us are in- ; 7u,. volved as professionals in en- :-""-+. ergy and/or building science .; , i:ii. in one way or another, there are few who have a complete grasp of the entire field. Occasionally, important new developments may be lost in the static ofincreased activity in these disciplines. Two years ago, the term "Smart Grid" was hardiy known outside a small circle of people who have actually been working on it for quite some time. Only with it being featured in some popular, widely disrribured prinr and digital publications has it gained recognition by a much broader audience and more recently in NESEAs BE09 and BE10 conference sessions. Its importance to NESEA members is still diltrcult to gauge, but, sulice it to say, it may be immense and so cannot be ignored. If the touted capabilities come even to partial Fruition it will have immense im- pacts for the implementation of energy eliciency for zero net energy building, renewable energy and other allied aspecrs of what we think of as the "built environment." As with any new technologies, a lot of promises have been made on how the Smart Grid will revolutionize the way we think about electricity. Some of these claims may be overhyped, lack a thor- ough understanding of the technological challenges involved, and may even mask some of the negative effects such new technology introduction often brings. In reality, the Smart Grid has not just appeared out of nowhere. Like most other technologies, it comes as an evolu- tion from what has come before-going all the way back to Thomas Edison. za I xoRrHEASr SuN I Fer-r- Vhen Edison energized the first grid {rrom his famous Pearl Streer station in lower Manhattan in 1882, it r,r.as, in many respects, what might be considered a forerunner of what today we call a "microgrid," which is a forerunner of the Smart Grid. A microgrid by one definition is: ...an agregate of small loads and dis- tributed energt resources which operate as a single rystem th/tt prouides both power and heat.' In Edison's case, it was developed pri- marily in order to market his prize prod- uct, the electric light bulb. It was powered with direct current (DC), which had a limited range of operability measured in blocks rather than miles. Earliest gen- erations often partly conformed to this model, but the need to iower the cost of power led to abandonment of this small DC grid concept in order to obtain economies of scale needed to lower cost then only available through larger, cen- tralized power rransmitted over an AC In actuality, it was largely this TABLE I Disfribuled Generotion Chqrqcterislics technical factor oflarge size and atten- dant cost reductions that led to the regu- lated monopolies rather than the com- monly thought redundancy of wires. As a result of those economic factors, the electric grid has grown and: 7he electicdl power grid, a massiuely complex machine, the /argest on earth, was recently acclaimed by the National Acddemy of Engineering ds 'the most s ignif cant engineering ac h ieuement of the 20rh century'."' Todal', industry has come full circle. The technologies that in the past have driven the electric industry by economies ofrscale dependent upon size are giving way to the lesser known economies of scope. Based on these economies of scope, "mass production in factories with qualiry control was able to bring price decreases to make up for loss of economies of scale found in larger units..." This also be- came possible through higher elficiency, or-rce only afforded by large steam plants, now in relativeiy small generators that could be economically located for on-site Custom Built Cookie Cutter" Uniformity Smoll, Modulor Relotively High Efficiency Long Leod Times Significoni Losses Vulneroble Less Vulneroble ulnerobility of T&D Fossil/Nucleor Finonciol Risk per Proiecl Optimol Fuel Environmeni Low Fuel Cost Environmenl High Fuel Environment 2010

NE Sun-Autumn 2010-Smart Grid

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