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Stuart Nathan
Features editor
Communication will allay resistance to smart grids
The ways that we generate and use power are, as regular readers will know, among the most daunting challenges facing engineers today. Whether it’s developing new forms of electricity generation, refining existing processes or improving efficiency of machinery and appliances, the landscape of energy involves pretty much every engineering discipline, and there are no easy solutions.
In our upcoming issue, we look at one of the least-understood but possibly most important aspects of the energy landscape — distribution, and more specifically the concept of the smart grid. It’s a term that’s been thrown around by many players in the energy sector, all of whom seem to have a different take on what it means. Perhaps as a result of this, it’s already becoming a target for cynicism — just another buzz-phrase to justify increasing bills, the critics allege.
But introducing data processing into the grid is a vital step in the way that electricity distribution will be managed in the coming decades. As we move towards generating from many diverse sources, operating at different — and, in the case of renewables, often uncontrollable — times of the day, the grid needs to be more flexible in the way that it receives and manages power.
That’s uncontroversial; the tricky bit is the other end of the process. Introducing smart metering for energy consumers is the part where it could all fall down, because it means bringing new, unfamiliar equipment into people’s homes and expecting them to change an aspect of their lives which they’d not paid much attention to until now. This sort of thing is notoriously difficult. Moreover, the equipment in question will transmit data about energy usage back to the supplier — and this at a time when everyone is being warned to be much more cautious about who has access to personal information.
Our feature reports about the efforts in the Canadian province of Ontario, where smart grid pilots are being introduced in many communities. The message from there is that domestic buy-in is vital, and the information sent out to people has to be carefully drawn up to allay possible fears and point out the advantages — access to cheaper tariffs at different times of day, the information needed to conserve electricity. Anyone setting up smart grid infrastructure has to build data privacy safeguards into the system.
There are several ways that UK firms could approach the introduction to smart grids. One might be to make the domestic side as easy to handle as possible, minimising anything that could change the way people currently interact with their energy supply. But this would also reduce the opportunities to save energy and reduce bills. The idea of the data link, with its advantage that you only ever pay for the energy that you use and don’t have to worry about estimated bills or meter readings, has to be very carefully handled; its downside is that there will be, for the first time, a piece of telecommunications equipment in every home which cannot be switched off. People will, quite rightly, be wary about this and their fears must be addressed.
Perhaps more than any other introduction of technology, smart grids depend as much, if not more, on the way that users are educated, rather than the development of the technology itself. And let’s be honest, addressing the public is not one of the historical strengths of any of the UK engineering sectors. Anyone involved in this field has to pay attention to how they communicate, and to look carefully at the efforts of other countries approaching these issues.
Readers' comments (8)
Robert Freer | 11 Apr 2012 1:24 pm
Managing the grid is perfectly easy, leave it alone.
The attempts to tweak it to suit the tiny and unpredictable amounts of energy generated from windmills and solar panels is equivalent to the tail wagging the dog.
Ignore the so called environmentalists and luddites.
The idea that you can power a modern economy on sunshine and windmills is just moonshine and hot air
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Anonymous | 11 Apr 2012 1:25 pm
The smart grid as I see it:
The supplier will see when you need the energy most and will raise the price accordingly just after you switched on the washing machine.
Better smart grid:
At first only inside the home.
The user buys average usage and peak performance.
Then he (his appliances) manages energy usage locally to avoid peak performance and higher prices.
With a private energy profile the user will be able to choose the right supplier.
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Ralf | 11 Apr 2012 1:34 pm
Smart metering in operation already in Hong Kong:
Meters are visible from outside the apartment and house.
Every 2 months the meter reader reads the meters.
Then the user gets his energy bill (nothing estimated here) in a neat A5 format (1 page), with units used, price per unit, discounted price for lower consumption, consumption graph of last 24 months, average daily consumption for each of the last 24 months.
Choice between English bill and Chinese bill.
Advantages:
less unemployment, less benefits, lower taxes;
no estimated bills, no corrections necessary, saved costs and happy customer;
clear and concise bill;
user can see this month's usage and compare it to last month's and last year's;
User pays less per unit for first 400 units, than for units over 400; can save money with changed behaviour;
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Anonymous | 11 Apr 2012 1:58 pm
Surely the way to go is make electrical appliance more efficient, so that they us less power. Todays answer seems to be the more power the better.
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Anonymous | 11 Apr 2012 2:03 pm
Any comparison with last month's or last year's consumption are futile. Few if anyone will be able to analyze exactly why it is different in any meaningful way that allows a change of use. The Smart Grid is just an excuse to allow charging for so called different tariff times, just because the wind did or did not blow at the right time. Without every item of domestic equipment being fitted with a smart interface, use discrimination will only really amount to time of day rather than type of use, eg washing machine, TV, power tools etc.
Far better to build a better generation system and stop playing politics and/or "green" arguments.
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Chris Graham | 12 Apr 2012 0:13 am
There is a smart meter rollout in Victoria Australia. I have had one for nearly two years. The [LAN] icon is active, however, they are not configured for time based tariffs yet (apart from the traditional hot water offpeak). Basically they are for now being used as a direct replacement for the old motorised meters. That is the way to go really, get the infrastructure in place and then... One difference I do have already is that there is an extra 'account' I can scroll to that documents my solar generation to the grid (power distribution multi-ring main). As an incentive I get credited or paid nearly three times the rate per kWh that I am charged for consumption. Also in Australia the connection for the inverter is parallel to the grid, relative to the meter. This means that consumption is not even seen by the meter if my usage is under or equal to my solar generation.
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Mike | 12 Apr 2012 3:06 pm
I was helping to design these types of meters some years ago, and although there is added benefit to the supplier, there is no benefit to the consumer.
New meters are not useful to anyone generating their own power, since these types of meter cannot be back driven.
It would need to have a different meter at added cost to the consumer/generator.
Unless the suppliers are willing to pass on instantaneous reading to a central database, together with localised weather patterns, then the smart grid concept is completely useless and would only be used to set billing to ever higher rates. Use less does not mean lower bills, it just means that the lower rate can be raised to catch more customers more efficiently for the service providor.
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Wesley | 18 Apr 2012 3:06 pm
I agree with the discussions, although there are always the sceptics to a change in these types of systems. Yes, we will need to be careful of energy companies exploiting this information to make more money out of the consumers. On the other hand these types of systems can only benefit society as a whole in the future wen we have a more varied energy infrastructure. Also this will benefit microgenerators who will need these types of systems to make the most of their investment in home generators.
Don't give up on technology for the future.
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