DOE warning... Transmission investments rising... Grid-simulation laboratory

DOE report warns of transmission problems. The DOE's “National Electric Transmission Congestion Study,” ordered by Congress, identifies high-risk areas and plausible solutions for maintaining electric supply continuity. Among others, the report singles out transmission lines from Northern Virginia to New York and the electrical infrastructure in the Montana/Dakota region as in severe danger from over burdening.

   QuickTake: Identifying the problem is half the solution, according to the old saying. But we suspect that finding the money to improve these high-risk areas will be much harder than merely identifying them.

   DOE complete report (PDF)

Transmission investments rising. Standard & Poor's "Capital Spending On Electric Transmission Is On The Upswing Around The World," reveals that regions across the globe have realized the need to invest in grid reliability. The UK, US, Australia and New Zealand were the regions of focus. Australia's grid assets were judged to be sound. New Zealand needs regulatory reforms to encourage investments. Aging infrastructure and increased connection to wind and hydro power stations shot up outlays in the UK. And in the US, investor-owned utilities are scaling up capital expenditure after a lull in the late 90s.

   Electric Energy Online article

Colorado's new grid-simulation lab. Colorado State University and Spirae Inc. have collaborated to build one of the world's largest grid-simulation laboratories. The Colorado Grid Simulation Laboratory is funded in partnership with Denmark-based , Energynet.dk. The new research lab will develop technologies to better integrate renewable energy sources into complex power grids. One initiative will develop grid stabilization techniques to allow greater deployment of wind energy.

   QuickTake: Dozens of head-in-the-sand utilities are going to get a painful wake up call in the next few years. As wind contributes a larger and larger percentages of total supply, they will no longer be able to ignore its destabilizing effects on their grids. Let's hope this and other research efforts find quick and inexpensive solutions.

   IREC newsletter (Vol. 9, No. 8)

Microgrids in our future. Microgrids are neighborhood or campus-sized grids that can island themselves and be (at least partially) self-sufficient if the main grid has problems. The microgrid concept can provide energy reliability, security as well as reduce CO₂ pollution according to an article in Utility Automation & Engineering T&D. Before we will see large-scale deployments, however, we must see standardization, cost reductions and the easing regulatory procedures. If those things occur, say the authors, annual benefits from microgrids could total almost a billion dollars by 2020.

   QuickTake: A few years ago, before it became obvious, we were telling you that distribution automation was poised for growth. Now we're telling you that microgrids will be the Next Big Thing. You can start getting ready now. Or you can play catch up three years from now when it becomes obvious to everybody else.

   Utility Automation & Engineering T&D article

Self-sufficiency and distributed energy gain favor with consumers. Energy Insights recently conducted a consumer survey on the adoption of distributed energy (DE) technology. They found that 51% of the respondents intend to set up backup generation facilities in the next two years. Concerns about outages, cutting down energy bills and reducing dependence on electric utilities were the three key reasons. Presently, only 7% of the households have a facility for on-site generation. However, with 47% respondents keen on setting up base-load generation, 52 million households are expected to purchase residential generation equipment in the coming years.

   QuickTake: If you combine this growing preference for self-sufficiency with the microgrid concept discussed above you begin to see glimmers of a very different distribution landscape ten years from now.

   Utility Automation & Engineering T&D article

Lack of standardization affecting DR and AMI adoption. A new study by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) titled “Assessment of Demand Response & Advanced Metering” finds several reasons for the low adoption of demand response (DR) programs. Problems include differential wholesale and retail power prices, state regulatory barriers, and lack of tangible incentives. With a potential to provide about 37,500MW, DR programs have achieved a nationwide penetration of 6%. The report also suggests solutions such as better forecasting tools and transmission enhancements for easy DR and AMI implementation.

    FERC complete report (PDF)

Increased spending on automation and IT. InfoNetrix has recently released two reports on the North American utility automation/IT sector, which witnessed increased capital expenditure from January-June 2006. The first report focuses on real-time data projects, substation automation and field devices. Programmable Logic Controllers and Remote Terminal Units had the highest share of investments in this category. The second report studies Information Technology projects such as Asset Management Solutions, Field Automation Projects, Field Force Management, etc. Field force management preceded outage management in terms of capital spending.

   QuickTake: Competition and mandatory standards are inducing the North American utilities to take up automation and infrastructure replacement activities they deferred for many years. 

   Electric Energy Online article