Smart Grids Everything You Need to Know

Smart Grids Everything You Need to Know © Shutterstock.com | monicaodoThe introduction of smart grid technology has caused a fundamental re-engineering of the electricity services industry. This article takes a look at 1) what are smart grids why do we need them, 2) features and benefits, 3) chief technologies used, 4) security and other concerns, 4) a few of the top smart grid companies, and 5) some key research programs.WHAT ARE SMART GRIDS WHY DO WE NEED THEM?Smart grids are electricity networks founded on digital technology that is utilized to deliver electricity to consumers by means of two-way digital communication. The whole smart grid system is automated for monitoring electricity usage at all the locations. This system enables monitoring, control, and communication, and analysis within the supply chain to assist with curbing energy use and expenses, improving efficiency and maximizing reliability and transparency of the energy supply chain. Thus, the need for future electrical systems or smart grids can be trac ed to four drivers:Efficiency: This is about improving the efficiency of power generation and decreasing losses in consumption, transmission and distribution of electrical energy.Reliability: This means delivering quality electrical energy whenever required.Capacity: This means fulfilling the increasing worldwide demand for electrical energy.Sustainability: It has to do with ensuring the effective incorporation of renewable power generation.The smart grid was brought in with the objective of overcoming the shortcomings of traditional electrical grids by utilizing smart net meters. A lot of government institutions worldwide have been encouraging smart grid utilization for their latent ability to control and cope with global warming, energy independence scenarios, and emergency resilience. The smart networks are equally beneficial for retail stores, enterprises, hospitals, multinational corporations, and universities. FEATURES AND BENEFITSThe Smart Grid is associated with many feature s and benefits.Demand response support: This gives users an automated way to decrease their electricity bills by directing them on how to utilize low-priority electronic devices when prices are lower.Load handling: The total or sum of the power grid load is not steady, and it changes over time. In situations of heavy load, a smart grid system can counsel consumers to temporarily reduce energy consumption.Decentralization of power generation: A decentralized or distributed grid system enables the individual user to produce onsite power by utilizing any suitable method available to him / her.Quicker reinstatement of electricity following power disturbances, more efficient electricity transmission and increased incorporation of large-scale renewable energy systems are all benefits of Smart Grid.Reduced management and operations expenses for utilities and finally lower power expenses for consumers, decreased peak demand that would assist with reducing electricity rates, and better incor poration of customer-owned power generation systems are also some noted benefits.Smart Grid can spot power theft and equipment failures: Some “smart grid” networks have dual functions. This incorporates advanced metering infrastructure systems which, when combined with different software can be utilized to recognize power theft and by way of elimination, identify where equipment failures have occurred. These are in addition to their key functions of measuring the time-of-use of electricity and doing away with the requirement for human meter reading.Currently, an electricity disruption like a blackout, can result in a domino effect â€" a sequence of failures that can impact banking, traffic, security, and communications. This is a specific cause for concern in winter, when homeowners may be left without heat. A smarter grid would contribute resiliency to our electrical power system and ensure it is better prepared to tackle emergencies such as earthquakes, severe storms, terroris t attacks and huge solar flares. Owing to its two-way interactive ability, the smart grid would enable automatic rerouting whenever outages or equipment failures occur. This would help to lessen outages and limit the effects when they do occur.Should there be a power outage, smart grid technologies would identify and isolate the outages, restraining them before they take the shape of large-scale blackouts. The new technologies would also assist with ensuring that electricity recovery starts quickly and strategically following an emergency- routing electricity quickly. What’s more, the smart grid would take better advantage of customer-owned power generators to create power when it is not available from utilities. The combination of these “distributed energy resources” would help a community ensure operation of its police department, health center, phone system, grocery store and traffic lights during emergencies. CHIEF TECHNOLOGIES USEDIntegrated communicationThese technologie s enable smart electronic devices and users to interface as an integrated system. This incorporates two-way, fully integrated, high-speed technologies that would make power exchange and real-time information possible. This would help optimize asset utilization, system reliability and security. An open architecture would produce a plug-and-play environment that would enable grid components to listen, talk and interact. Some examples of individual technologies in this area are: WiFi, one cycle control controller, advanced on-load tap-charger and advanced protective relays.Advanced control methodsThis category incorporates technologies that can monitor power system components facilitating rapid diagnosis and reaction to any event. Three technology categories in this category are analytical tools (high-speed computers and software algorithms), distributed intelligent agents (control systems) and operational applications (such as SCADA, demand response, and substation automation). By way of artificial intelligence programming methods, the Fujian power grid in China developed a wide area protection system that is quickly able to precisely calculate a control strategy and implement it. The Voltage Stability Monitoring Control (VSMC) software utilizes a sensitivity-based successive linear programming technique to find out reliably the optimal control solution.Advanced componentsThese technologies play an active role in finding out the grid’s behavior. The foundation for these technologies is RD in these areas: superconductivity, power electronics, chemistry, materials, and microelectronics. The next generation of devices would put the latest research in superconductivity, materials, microelectronics, power electronics, and energy storage into practice. This would create enhanced real-time diagnostics, more reliability, and higher power densities. Technologies in this category include:cables, transformers, advanced or smart switchesmicro grids â€" these are local el ectricity grids that can function independently of the main electricity grid whenever necessary“smart,” grid-friendly appliances such as air conditioners, clothes dryers, and washers, and hot water heaters that have the capacity to hold up operations in response to price signalsSensing and measuringThese technologies will improve power system measurements and identify and react to problems. They assess the health of equipment and grid integrity and support advanced protective relaying. They prevent energy theft and do away with meter estimations. They facilitate consumer selection and demand response and assist with alleviating congestion. Technologies that fall into this category include wide-area monitoring systems, advanced microprocessor meters (smart meter), advanced cables and switches, electromagnetic signature analysis/measurement, dynamic line rating, time-of-use and real-time pricing tools, digital protective relays and backscatter radio technology.Enhanced interfaces and decision supportThere are many situations where the time operators have to make decisions, has come down to seconds. As a result, the modern grid would call for seamless, real-time, wide utilization of tools and applications that allow grid operators and managers to quickly make decisions. Decision support with better interfaces will augment human decision making at all grid levels. Some examples of technologies in this category are: real-time digital simulators to evaluate and test electricity systems and software tools to examine the health of the electricity system.SECURITY AND OTHER CONCERNSWith the arrival of cybercrime, there are also worries about the security of the infrastructure, chiefly that entailing communications technology. The concerns mainly revolve around the communications technology at the center of the smart grid. Meant to enable real-time contact between meters and utilities in businesses and customers’ homes, there is a danger that these capabilities cou ld be taken advantage of for criminal or even terrorist applications. One of the connectivity’s key abilities is that of remotely turning off power supplies, allowing utilities to easily and quickly modify or cease supplies to customers who default on payment. This is unquestionably a great benefit for energy providers but at the same time is cause for some security concerns. Cybercriminals have on numerous occasions before, successfully gained access to the U.S. electric grid. Apart from computer infiltration, another worry is that computer malware such as Stuxnet, which targeted SCADA systems extensively utilized in the industry could be leveraged to attack a smart grid network.Theft of electricity is a cause of worry in the U.S. where the smart meters employed utilize the RF technology of Fastrak responders to interact with the electricity transmission network. People knowledgeable in electronics can create interference devices that make the smart meter report less than the rea l usage. In the same way, the same technology may be utilized to make it seem that the energy the consumer is utilizing is being utilized by another customer, therefore resulting in an increased bill amount.Other points of concern and/or opposition include:Worry that complex rate systems (such as variable rates) do away with accountability and clarity, enabling the supplier to take advantage of the customerConcerns over providing the government mechanisms control over the use of all power utilizing activitiesSocial concerns associated with Enron style misuse of information leverageSocial concerns associated with “fair” availability of electricitySome characteristics of smart grids have created opposition from industries that are hoping to or presently already deliver similar services. One example is competition with DSL and cable internet providers. Those who provide SCADA control systems for grids have purposely designed proprietary hardware, software, and protocols so that the y are not able to inter-operate with other systems so as to link its customers to the vendor.A FEW OF THE TOP SMART GRID COMPANIESABBThis is a $31 billion company that entered the smart grid party late. However, the company did make up for lost time with a number of key gains and strategic modifications to the ABB smart grid plan. The company’s smart grid ambitions are to offer the complete range of smart grid-associated software and gear. One aspect of ABB”s smart grid plan is to become a leader in blending operational technology (OT) with information technology (IT). The company made significant strides in that direction with the acquisition of Ventyx in 2010 and the acquisition of Mincom in 2011.The parent company delivers power and automation technologies to a wide base of industrial and utility customers. Its product lines cover distribution, transmission, industrial automation and turnkey substations. The company created more 50% of its sales in Europe and has had early tr iumph in China.ItronThe company provides wireless communications and smart meters, in addition to meter data management software. Itron’s smart grid portfolio also incorporates project management, outsourcing, and consulting. The company’s smart grid software and equipment are installed at hundreds of utilities in Europe and the U.S. Headquartered close to Spokane, WA, the company had profits of $2.26 billion in 2010.SiemensAlthough this company’s entry into the smart grid bandwagon came later than that of GE and ABB, Siemens has since revealed its smart grid goals to become a major force in the sector. One of the world’s biggest industrial engineering and electronics firms in the world, the company’s smart grid portfolio incorporates switches and protection gear, solar and wind power products, and substation automation. The company’s smart grid footprint runs the gamut from the production, distribution and transmission of electric power. In the U.S., the company’s hea dquarters is in Washington D.C.SOME KEY RESEARCH PROGRAMSIntelligridDeveloped by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), IntelliGrid architecture delivers methodology, recommendations and tools for technologies and standards for utility utilization in planning, specifying and acquiring IT-based systems such as distribution automation, demand response and advanced metering. The architecture also makes available a living laboratory for evaluating devices, technology, and systems. A number of utilities including Long island Power Authority, TXU Electric Delivery, Southern California Edison and Salt River Project have applied IntelliGrid architecture. The IntelliGrid Consortium is a PPP (public/private partnership) that incorporates and optimizes international research endeavors, labors to integrate technologies, funds technology RD and distributes technical information.GridWiseIt is a DOE OE program concentrating on creating information technology to revamp the U.S. electrical gr id. In collaboration with the GridWise Alliance, the plan invests in simulation and analysis tools, communications architecture and standards, test beds and demonstration projects, smart technologies, and new regulatory, market and institutional frameworks. The GridWise Alliance is a confederation of private and public electricity sector stakeholders, presenting a forum for cooperative efforts, idea exchanges and meetings with policy makers at state and federal levels.Grid 2030It is a joint vision statement for the U.S. electrical system created by equipment manufacturers, the electric utility industry, information technology providers, interest groups, national laboratories, universities and state and federal government agencies. It incorporates transmission, generation, storage, end-use and distribution. The National Electric Delivery Technologies Roadmap is the execution document for the Grid 2030 vision. The Roadmap sketches the main challenges and issues associated with moderni zing the grid and suggests paths of action that government and industry can adopt to develop America’s future electric delivery system.GridWise Architecture Council (GWAC)It was brought into being by the U.S. Department of Energy to promote and facilitate interoperability among the multiple entities that communicate with the nation’s electric power system. The GWAC members are a respected and balanced team representing the various constituencies of the electricity supply chain and users. The GWAC makes available tools and industry guidance to make clear the goal of interoperability across the electric system, recognize the architectures and concepts required to make interoperability possible, and come up with actionable steps to enable the interoperation of institutions, systems and devices that incorporate the nation’s electric system. The GWAC Interoperability Context Setting Framework, V 1.1 delineates essential principles and guidelines.Smart Grids can be considered to be the future of electricity and very welcome development no doubt.

Using Your Outline Listing As A Writing Tool

<h1>Using Your Outline Listing As A Writing Tool</h1><p>Using plot posting article tests can assist you with building up a decent contention for your composition. This article is a mix of presentation, end, and body. The presentation part is the initial segment of the exposition. It quickly acquaints the peruser with the topic.</p><p></p><p>The body clarifies what the peruser has to know from the presentation. This incorporates things like:</p><p></p><p>Because you might be confounded about which points ought to be examined in the blueprint posting, there are a few rules you can follow to help make it simpler on yourself. For instance, in the event that you are expounding on somebody's life, incorporate significant occasions or milestones.</p><p></p><p>Instead of composing a blueprint posting for a novel, you should compose a diagram posting for a verifiable piece. You will have the option to im prove bits of knowledge into what the subject is about a result of the point breaks gave in the layout posting. Here are a few instances of themes that would make great frameworks for true to life essays.</p><p></p><p>If you have never composed a memoir, it is ideal to begin with something that is fundamental. You can utilize a framework posting for accounts to give you a thought of what you have to include.</p><p></p><p>You ought not constrain yourself to composing short expositions. Your motivation for composing an outline is to create a solid contention in your composition. So don't feel excessively constrained by the length of your article.</p><p></p><p>One incredible thing about composing a layout posting is that you can utilize it as the establishment for different pieces of your paper. In the event that you are expounding on a film, why exclude a portion of the key angles in your layout posting. You may l ikewise utilize a summary to plot the account of a play or movie.</p><p></p><p>Use the diagram posting as a beginning stage. The objective is to thought of solid contentions to help your point. A diagram posting can assist you with doing this.</p>

Sample Letter Format For College Admission Essay

<h1>Sample Letter Format For College Admission Essay</h1><p>There are some example letter position for school confirmation article that you can use to compose an incredible letter. Composing an extraordinary letter is one of the keys to getting into school. On the off chance that you don't get an opportunity to compose your own letters, you ought to consider utilizing an example letter design for school affirmation exposition. On the off chance that you take a gander at these examples, you will find that they are anything but difficult to follow and appear to be easy to write.</p><p></p><p>Sample letter position for school confirmation paper incorporates a Subject Line. It should give your peruser data about what your identity is, the reason you are applying to school, and what you want to pick up by going to school. You ought to be explicit enough that your letter will have the option to remain all alone. Nonetheless, you should be as brief as conceivable in light of the fact that there are a few letters that should be more inside and out. Ensure that your letter is convincing enough that it will get your peruser's attention.</p><p></p><p>Next, you ought to have the option to make an exchange inside your letter. For instance, the principal passage of your letter ought to show the explanation that you are applying to school. In the subsequent passage, you ought to clarify what sort of school you are planning to join in. In the third section, you should layout the reasons that the college or school is the best decision for you. At long last, in the last passage, you should list the advantages that the school or college will give you.</p><p></p><p>Each segment of your letter ought to be striking with the goal that it sticks out and is anything but difficult to peruse. You ought to have the option to peruse your letter without taking a gander at different letters. In any case , on the off chance that you are keeping in touch with school confirmations officials, you might need to utilize underlining. It is likewise useful to compose sentences that are short and straightforward with the goal that your peruser will have the option to look over your letter.</p><p></p><p>Sample letter design for school affirmation exposition additionally incorporates something many refer to as a bulleted list. A bulleted list is basically a rundown of things isolated by commas. This kind of rundown is utilized when the essayist is attempting to make a particular rundown. It is additionally utilized when you are attempting to give explicit data to the peruser to peruse at a later time.</p><p></p><p>A bulleted list isn't as valuable when composing a letter position for school affirmation exposition as it is when composing a letter to somebody with a particular rundown of prerequisites. In the letter to somebody with a rundown of n ecessities, you would list the measures on each line of your letter. You would not have to show them in a bulleted list. In any case, when composing a letter position for school confirmation article, you should be brief so you will have the option to establish a decent connection with your reader.</p><p></p><p>Finally, test letter design for school affirmation exposition incorporates legitimate syntax and accentuation. One of the most significant parts of a letter is what it looks like, and you need to ensure that your letter is predictable by they way it looks. At the point when you have a reliable letter, your peruser will have the option to peruse it more than once, which expands the opportunity that they will set aside the effort to peruse it once.</p><p></p><p>Overall, the example letter group for school affirmation article is a simple method to make an extraordinary letter. You ought to have the option to compose a letter as effe ctively as conceivable with no trouble. Utilize a letter position for school confirmation paper, in the event that you are searching for an approach to establish a decent connection with school affirmations officers.</p>