The Smart Grid and You
Posted on Wed, Jan 12, 2011
By Duane Lom, Sr. Consultant GEA
Imagine it’s a hot, humid day and the temperature is rising. The local electric company is reaching it maximum generating capacity, so it sends a signal to your home automation system to reduce the electrical consumption in your house. Your home automation system responds by raising the set point of your thermostat and only energizing the water heater when absolutely necessary. For your ability to shed some load, you get a discount on your energy bill. Welcome to the “Smart Grid”. 
It is projected by the Energy Information Administration that U.S. electrical consumption could increase by 26 percent from 2007 to 2030, or by an average of 1.0 percent per year.1 Work is underway to build the smart grid to meet new demand with minimal investment in conventional power plants and expanded transmission and distribution (T&D) lines. So what is the Smart Grid? A good definition of the Smart Grid is found in a report published by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and found on their website. The report is entitled "The Green Grid: Energy Savings and Carbon Emissions Reductions Enabled by a Smart Grid." 2
Smart Grid Definition
“The term Smart Grid may be best understood as the overlaying of a unified communications and control system on the existing power delivery infrastructure to provide the right information to the right entity (e.g. end-use devices, T&D system controls, customers, etc.) at the right time to take the right action. It is a system that optimizes power supply and delivery, minimizes losses, is self-healing, and enables next-generation energy efficiency and demand response applications.”
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