What is a Smart Grid Good for Anyway?

The Obama Administration has recently devoted millions of dollars to invest in smart grid technology. “Smart grid” sounds very high tech and far in the future to laypeople like me, but the effects of this investment will start to be noticed soon and the changes will be long lasting. The government projects that these investments will:

• Create tens of thousands of jobs across the country. These jobs include high paying career opportunities for smart meter manufacturing workers; engineering technicians, electricians and equipment installers; IT system designers and cyber security specialists; data entry clerks and database administrators; business and power system analysts; and others.

• Leverage more than $4.7 billion in investment by private companies and others to match the federal investment.

• Make the grid more reliable, reducing power outages that cost American consumers $150 billion a year -- about $500 for every man, woman and child.

• Empower consumers to cut their electricity bills. Combined with private investment, the federal money will help deploy more than 40 million smart meters in American homes and businesses over the next few years that will help consumers cut their utility bills.

• Install more than 1 million in-home displays, 170,000 smart thermostats, and 175,000 other load control devices to enable consumers to reduce their energy use. Funding will also help expand the market for smart washers, dryers, and dishwashers.

• Reduce peak electricity demand by more than 1400 MW, the equivalent of several large power plants. That will save consumers more than $1.5 billion in capital costs and help lower utility bills. Peak electricity is the most expensive energy and requires the use of standby power generation plants. The economic and environmental savings for even a small reduction are significant. In fact, some of the power plants that are designed to meet peak demand operate for only a few hundred hours a year, which means the power they generate is 5-10 times more expensive.

• Install more than 850 sensors - called ‘Phasor Measurement Units’ - that will cover 100 percent of the U.S. electric grid and make it possible for grid operators to better monitor grid conditions and prevent minor disturbances in the electrical system from cascading into local or regional power outages or blackouts. This monitoring ability will also help the grid to incorporate large blocks of intermittent renewable energy, like wind and solar power, to take advantage of clean energy resources when they are available and make adjustments when they’re not.

• Install more than 200,000 smart transformers that will make it possible for power companies to replace units before they fail thus saving money and reducing power outages.

• Install almost 700 automated substations, representing about 5 percent of the nation’s total. The substations will make it possible for power companies to respond faster and more effectively when bad weather knocks down power lines or causes disruptions.

• Help power companies prevent outages and respond faster with repairs. Today, many companies rely on customer calls to notify them of outages. With these smart grid devices, power companies will have the tools they need for a faster notification and response.

• Put the United States on a path to get 20 percent or more of our energy from renewable sources by 2020.

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