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Smart Grid TechnologySmart grid a giant conspiracy claims new report
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Nov 27, 2012
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See press release on page 2 >>
By Jesse Berst
An anti-smart-grid activist has authored a new policy report that claims the stimulus funds set aside for smart meters were "misspent." The press release (see page 2) makes a number of extreme claims, including:
- Smart meters do NOT contribute to a more reliable grid
- Congress and ratepayers have been deliberately misled about the benefits of smart meters
- The President's National Science and Technology Council "evidences a fundamental lack of understanding of… electricity and energy"
- The decision by a few ratepayers in a few locations to opt out of smart meters heralds "and epochal transformation of the political economy of energy."
- Investor-owned utilities (IOUs) are "unsustainable" and may eventually require a government bailout
The report -- Getting Smarter About the Smart Grid -- was authored by engineering and policy consultant, Dr. Timothy Schoechle of Boulder, Colorado, who is described in the press release as an expert in smart grid technologies who serves on several international smart grid standard setting committees. It was published by the National Institute for Science, Law & Public Policy (NISLAPP) in Washington, D.C., which you can read more about here.
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Another view from the science community…
We've been saying it to ourselves for years -- smart meters and smart grids make electric power more reliable and resilient. But we've never been very good about explaining it to customers. That's why it's great to see a highly regarded, highly trusted publication like Scientific American come to the same conclusion. You'll want to read and then save this one to share with confused or skeptical customers.
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You might also be interested in…
Video: Separating the Facts from the Fiction about Smart Meters
Free eBook:Smart grid 101 - Everything you wanted to know about grid modernization in 5 easy lessons
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Jesse Berst is the founder and chief analyst of Smart Grid News.com, the industry's oldest and largest smart grid site. A frequent keynoter at industry events in the U.S. and abroad, he also serves on advisory committees for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the Institute for Electric Efficiency. He often provides strategic consulting to large corporations and venture-backed startups. He is a member of the advisory boards of GridGlo and Calico Energy Services.
See press release on page 2 >>
| RE:Smart grid giant conspiracy |
| It must be a conspiracy... the link for NISLAPP doesn't work..... yawn! Oh well. My argument with smart meters is and will be for some time that we (USA) are spending money for fixing the wrong things... little stuff like metering, when we have bigger SMARTGRID problems like deploying PMU's, smart reclosers, smart transformers, etc. In urban areas much of the benefit for outages from storms could have been accomplished by using SMART (LED) STREETLIGHTS which report back voltages, status, etc to the utilities. That would also allow curtailing and dimming the street lights if needed for demand reduction, etc. Smart meters may be desirable in the future, but with so many other problems waiting to be solved - why make it the FOCUS of the work to build a SMARTGRID. Smart meters are the low hanging fruit and focusing on them becomes a diversion from the good things that are happening. Build out SMARTSUBSTATIONS, SMART TRANSMISSION LINES, SMARTSTORAGE, microgrids, get the utitily back end business/operation IT systems modernized and then phase in the meters. As for congress being misled, with all the lobbyist, consultants, staff members and Washington DC think tanks how is that possible? (rhetorical question of course) If members of congress got the wrong impressions from the smartgrid presentations and they were not able to filter out noise from reality --- well I am not sure I would want that person representing me and making decisions on how to spend tax dollars. The point is that congressional members have staff and experts that spend a lot of time looking at things like smartgrids and there is a significant testimony given where they can ask questions if they don't understand. As for the few customers that opt out of smart meters... there will always be a few that opt out. It doesn't herald anything! Too small of a number now to be significant. |
| Dennis Heidner - 11/27/2012 - 12:41 |
| Smart Grid |
| Honestly the smart grid based on the current philosophy is completely useless. It’s a pity that the utilities do not realize that. Instead of focusing on developing new, and improving the existing technology that will make the grid more reliable we have decided to put microprocessor on each fuse. There is a lot to say about smart grid and how to make it useful and the most important how to make the people allies of the utilities, but when I patent it I will share my thoughts with you. |
| Stefan Enev - 11/27/2012 - 13:01 |
| RE:Smartgrid |
| Utilities DO understand what is needed to make the grid more resilient and they are paying close attention. Here is the catch, utilities in general are told by regulators (and the customers -- us) that we expect lowest cost and least risk. Changing to ANY new technology implies some risk and possible additional cost. Utilities as a result are being cautious and waiting for someone else to test the waters and demonstrate that smartgrid technologies work. Smartmeters unfortunately are something they deploy do with little perceived risk and cost that is subsidized by the american recovery act. (Yes there are problems and risks - but small in their view compared to HUGE MEGAWATT smart substations.) In the Pacific Northwest we have two utilites that have been actively deploying SMARTGRID infrastructure (substations, etc) Snohomish PUD in the Everett Washington area and Avista in the Spokane Washington area. The results from their implementations will be more well known and tested in the next couple of years -- at which time many other more conservative utilities will likely follow suit. Avista in addition to deploying smartgrid for the distribution system is trying a very active smartmeter, demand reduction system near Pullman Washington. In a couple of years we may see results from that also - but honestly in my mind until we see the results from several well implemented small scale smartmeter tests that work well - the wide spread smartmeter deployment that is occurring may be less effective. I see a lot of hype on how smartmeters will help the smarthomes of the future - and I believe that is mostly hype based on the fact that there are some pretty good homeautomation/energy management systems already on the market AND they haven't been widely adopted by residential customers. The focus for smartgrid needs to be on the major infrastructure, (transmission/distribution), then the large commercial uses combined with streetlights and government buildings. Residential improvements will come slowly overtime as the economy improves. |
| Dennis Heidner - 11/27/2012 - 15:36 |
| Smart Grid Giant Conspiracy? |
| Too bad Jessie’s account is so inaccurate and misleading, starting with the headline: “Smart grid a giant conspiracy claims new report” gets it wrong on two accounts. First, the REPORT does not claim there is any “conspiracy”, but rather an institutional problem related to the structure of the utility industry and its regulators. Second, the REPORT is critical of the Smart METER, not the Smart GRID. These are not the same--but it is not surprising that even Jessie gets as confused as most of public. The REPORT actually seeks to salvage the Smart GRID idea and take it where it needs to go – to decentralized, distributed, and renewable generation – and it recognizes that the meters won’t get it there. Jessie’s article then lurches further in confusion. The author of the REPORT is not “An anti-smart-grid activist,” but rather is a pro-smart-grid advocate, design engineer, and standards developer with decades of experience in the utility, computer, and communication industries. If Jessie gets around to actually reading the full REPORT, he will find that the author was involved in the development of the AMI meter standards and actually built utility meter reading and demand response gateways as far back as the late 1980s. In any case, Jessie has done us all a service by calling this topic to his reader’s attention – and I am one. It is now time for a national debate over where the smart grid and renewable energy should go – and the ironic and inaptly-named “smart meter” is a good place to start that debate. |
| Timothy Schoechle, PhD - 11/27/2012 - 19:43 |
| RE:Smart grid giant conspiracy |
| Thanks for the reply. I have read your report. * Many forget that, SMARTGRID is not SMARTMETERS -- and using SMARTMETERS does not imply you have a SMARTGRID. * An institutional problem is probably the kindest description for what has happened. Personally I believe much of the blame falls not on the utilities, but on the political processes. * I've gone to many a conference in which a great deal of effort is being exerted by academia trying to explain all the many uses for smartmeters equating them with smartgrid. This includes conferences in Europe. The demand response models with smartmeters depends heavily on fully decoupled electrical rates and generally time of use rate structures. In the northwest (where I live) we have lots of hydro so our rates are much lower. That makes smartmeters significantly less valuable as a buy/sell "conservation" device. The smartmeters would still be valuable eventually for voltage optimization -- however in urban areas there are other means to accomplish the same goals. In remote rural areas advance meter reading is often already deployed. In the remote areas - voltage optimizing and outage detection would depend heavily on smartmeters. * By focusing on smartmeters as is the general tendency, we may have lost opportunities for more wide spread deployment of smartgrid (PMU's for example) into the critical infrastructure. The need for two way smartmeters is to provide voltage, outage, tampering detection AND ensure that there is a "secure" two way path for "energy transactions" between the consumer and the utility. That is a requirement if smarthome is going to have the ability to "bid" on electricity at a variable rate and then perform an opportunistic activity (heat water). The problem of course is that very few houses currently have that ability even if a smartmeter is/was installed. You need to also replace appliances or add smart appliance controllers in the loop. * But alas, with the economy having nearly crashed consumers are not in the mood to spend money on something that MIGHT save them $35/year. * Utility companies would benefit with a smartmeter from the operations side because it means that they can better detect tampering (power theft) and disconnect or reconnect power if the bills are not paid. However trying to use those arguments to sell a program to rate payers and consumers will not go very far. Smartmeter deployment programs have largely turned into jobs programs. |
| Dennis Heidner - 11/27/2012 - 20:41 |
| RE:Smart grid giant conspiracy part2 |
| Depression era (1930's) jobs programs have built a lasting legacy that many of us enjoy and use daily. Roads, dams, locks, levees, parks, etc... I certainly would not want to give those up. * But I have a hard time equating the functionality of a road or the beauty of a trail in a national park with the smartmeter on the side of my house. * I disagree with you in that we need to focus smartgrid on renewables -- (and I have solar PV). * We need to have more of the fundamental items done first, then large scale "smart storage". The problem with decentralized distributed energy generation is that there are MANY (thousands) of utilities in the US that have different goals and objectives. For nearly every utility (thousands) there is a regulating authority (local, regional, state, national, etc) also with different ideas, goals and views of how the costs can be spread. * In the world of energy - entropy always wins. * For years I have resisted the idea, but I think the real solution in the end will be a carbon tax added into all sources of energy that reflect its "carbon cost" long term. That levels the playing field -- and yes it may mean that natural gas generation is more expensive and perhaps "next gen2 coal" is practical for baseline. * I believe, real smartgrids with a carbon/MWh tax might even make large scale storage very attractive - and still promote wide spread deployment of wind and solar. (The catch is that virtually everything including hydro has some kind of embedded carbon cost). |
| Dennis Heidner - 11/27/2012 - 21:08 |
| The slowly getting smarter grid... |
| As one who has been generally critical of most utilities about their smart meter programs (particularly my own), I would have to say that time has mellowed me somewhat. It's absolutely true that while smart meters are a possible component of a smart grid, they haven't yet done much to make the grid (or anybody else) much smarter. What they primarily had going for them was that they were "shovel-ready" when ARRA money became available. That being said, let's look on the bright side: 1) you have to start somewhere and improved access to information is the first step in "engaging" customers to be more intelligent energy consumers; 2) smart meters improve efficiency of utility operations, in data collection, remote disconnect, and potentially service reliability; 3) you have to crawl before you walk, and walk before you run. With millions are smart meters installed, there's far more brain power now at work figuring out useful things to do with them. And, when the "Green Button" universally becomes a "Green RESTful API" useful services and applications will become as ubiquitous as picture sharing apps on smart phones. It's unfortunate that more early "real" smart grid investments couldn't have been made in technologies that would have demonstrated value in natural disasters such as Sandy, or in locations pushing the envelope on high renewable penetration. It will happen however. We're in the midst of a massive paradigm shift in energy production and use. Just look around. We're still stringing wires on wooden poles to charge advanced plug-in hybrid cars. It's tough to argue that we don't need some major investments in improved infrastructure that provide some of the resilience, reliability, and diversity that we now take for granted in network communications. There will be fits and starts, with some utilities being leaders, others followers, and still others dragged into the future kicking and screaming. However, trying to turn back the clock or even slow down progress will be like holding back the ocean. I intend to be the first person in my town who asks the utility to downgrade my 200 amp service to 20 amps (just enough to keep my batteries topped off.) The inevitability of that option should be a wake up call to every utility. Their choices are to lead, adapt, scream in vain for a regulatory bailout, or just die. |
| Greg Tinfow - 11/28/2012 - 16:58 |
| RE:The slowly getting smarter grid |
| Greg, I agree. I can also think of a number of cases where smartmeters are critically important to the customers as well as the utilities. * Remote areas - think irrigation pumps and various industrial processes. Here in the northwest there are large farms in the middle of Washington that depend heavily on pumps to pressurize the sprinklers for food crops. If the power is gone, they may loose the crops. Population is sparse - so to verify the operation farms would need to travel over wide areas. Smartmeters would notify the utility of an outage and the problem could be fixed quickly often without the farmers even knowing about it. Likewise irrigation is seasonal - at the end of the season the utility could at the request of the farmers send a "disconnect" and disable power to the pumps. Since there are great distances between pumps and buildings - voltage optimization is a possiblity. Across the US there are many opportunities where smartmeter features like this would be useful AND eventually in urban areas. But the utility backend IT systems need to be ready first, operations need to be ready and we really need to ensure that the transmission systems and substations have been modernized. I just think the widespread deployment of smartmeters themselves was pushed a little to fast - at the expense of other grid needs. |
| Dennis Heidner - 11/29/2012 - 14:45 |
| Yes do it! And more! |
| I have read up a bit on this subject in a report in Oz, One thing that really sold me on the idea of smart metres was the fact that power plants are basically guessing what power we use at any moment. As such, they over-compensate by providing 100% power most of the time to cover their bases. With smart metres they will be able to see in real time what power is needed, and accordingly ramp down (or up) the output if demand lowers or jumps thus saving wasted power output! Which should translate to less burnouts of transformers & cheaper power bills. Why did they do this instead of the cableing, transformers first? Probably because it was the cheapest with the biggest return and quicker to implement. Seriously though.. losing 25% of your power in transmission is disgustingly inefficient. And being AC power you have to sync up all the power transmitted to differing phases and frequencies, if you want to "divert power" from one area to the next. These substations that sync up the different power grids lose energy in the process.. stupid! Honestly perhaps we should make the shift back to DC which would do away with the need for sync-up stations and the need for inverter boxes on every house with a solar system. Remember solar power is DC? And the storage problem, reminds me of a old Indian saying: "The best place to store you left-over food is in your neighbours stomach". Apply that to the Grid and we should connect all power grids across the world internationally together. We would never need storage as somewhere they would have too much wind or Solar and need a buyer. We can leave this bit to the free market to sort out the prices. Power loss you say? HVDC dude only loses 5% power every 1000km's thus making it economical to wire up the worlds grids. Might even stop a few wars being that we'd all become interdependent on each other.. Also would it kill you guys to switch to metric? |
| John Smith - 12/03/2012 - 08:38 |
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