Monday, August 10, 2009

Why do we need a Smart Grid?

In my role as Chief Technology Advisor at Enspiria Solutions, I've recently been researching the Smart Grid. I've found that even a lot of people working in the electric industry have somewhat fuzzy ideas about it, or understand some aspects but not others. I've put together some short presentations on the subject. The first two you might call "Smart Grid 101" - the first one, below, talks about why we need a Smart Grid, and the second one, which I'll publish shortly, talks about what the Smart Grid is, at a high level. I've tried to make these understandable without any particular knowledge of the electric industry. In subsequent talks I'll discuss some of the IT challenges in implementing the Smart Grid, and look in particular at how the Smart Grid will impact geospatial technology, and vice versa.

So here's part 1, it's about ten minutes long ...

The Smart Grid, Part 1 from Peter Batty on Vimeo.

Update - see Part 2 on What is the Smart Grid?.

at

5 comments:

  1. Laura TaylorAugust 11, 2009 at 7:22 AM

    Nice overview for people not familiar with smart grid issues and reasons for deployment. Since regulation is a key component of creating a smarter grid, I would also suggest entrepreneurs in this industry understand the federal, state and local legislative processes necessary for securing success. Looking forward to Part II, Peter!

    ReplyDelete
  2. bmeehanAugust 11, 2009 at 12:04 PM

    You captured the major issues facing the electric utility industry here in the US. I particularly liked the historic contrast between Edison and Bell. That raises an important issue. Will Smart Grid trump the investment in the core electric delivery infrstructure like the ancient substation transformer you displayed? While monitoring of old equipment on the verge of failure will help, how will utilities deal with an accellerating failure rate of the core equipment? Your thoughts.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Peter BattyAugust 12, 2009 at 10:02 AM

    @Laura thanks!

    @bmeehan you raise a good point - getting the grid to where it needs to be will clearly require a lot of replacement of aging equipment, although certain aspects of the smart grid may be able to prolong the life of older equipment somewhat. Geospatial systems have a lot of potential to help optimize replacement / upgrade of aging equipment. A good topic for one of the future talks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. ShyamsundarJanuary 7, 2010 at 12:00 AM

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  5. quranFebruary 17, 2010 at 6:35 AM

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete