What Is Smart Grid Technology?

Smart Grid Technology is a technology used in top world countries today. This technology is highly efficient and reliable. If you have no idea what Smart Grid Technology is, then you should read this guide.

What Is Smart Grid Technology?

Smart Grid can be defined as a smart electrical network that combines electrical systems and smart digital communication technology. It is a self-sufficient electrical power network system that is based on digital automation technology for monitoring, control, and analysis within the supply chain.

It performs two-way communication between power suppliers and consumers. A smart grid has capable of controlling electrical power from multiple and widely distributed generation sources, like wind turbines, solar power plants,s and many more.

Smart grids coordinate the needs and capabilities of all generators, grid operators, end-users, and electricity market stakeholders to operate all parts of the system as efficiently as possible, minimizing costs and environmental impacts while maximizing system reliability, resilience, and stability.

How does a Smart Grid Work?

In addition to the traditional grid’s generating facilities and transmission network the smart grid consists of three new components

• Smart control and measuring devices
• Digital communication systems
• Computer software programs

The smart devices include computer-controlled generators and other power sources as well as meters, monitors, and intelligent electronic devices that gather information about the demand for power, its availability from various sources, the delivery capacity of each part of the grid, and the flow of power throughout the system. The computer software programs for the grid help to determine electricity efficiency and monitor the electrical functions of generators and consumers.

Digital communication and control are what make the grid smart. Sensors that monitor and report conditions on the grid enable switches and other controls to respond instantly. Real-time information permits system operators to predict, diagnose and reduce issues that have caused interruptions or serious power disturbances. With smart grid technologies end users have more control over their energy consumption and cost.

What Things Make a Grid “Smart”?

According to the Department of Energy (United States), Four types of advanced technology will transform a typical electrical grid into Smart Grid which is as follow:

• Fully automated and Integrated two-way communication between the overall components of an electric grid.
• Automatic Control for power distribution, faults, and repairs.
• Advance management panel, decision support software, and mechanism.
• Accurate sensing and measurement technologies.

Applications of a Smart Grid System.

Deployment of Digital Technology in smart grids ensures reliability, efficiency, and accessibility to the consumers regarding all utilities which count towards the economic stability of the nation. Right at the start of transition time, it becomes perilous to execute testing, improve the technology by upgradation, develop and maintain standards on a standard threshold, and also application of these efficient grids serve all these problems

Basic applications of smart grids are

• They improve the adeptness of transmission lines
• Quick recovery after any sudden breakage/disturbance in lines and feeders
• Cost Reduction
• Reduction of peak demand
• They possess the ability to be integrated with renewable energy sources on a large level which leads to sharing of load and reduction of load on a large scale
• Management of electricity in a well-organized matter will clearly lead to cost reduction. One of the interesting applications is smart meters. With the help of smart meters, we need not wait a whole month to get an electricity bill rather we can see reading and receive bills daily online which will obviously save money for consumers and save electricity or power for the whole country which will provide support in economical stability of the country.

What do smart grids mean for sustainability?

With the focus increasingly turning to renewable energy, smart grids are an important part of managing these typically less reliable sources of power. Since, for instance, solar panels can’t generate energy during the nighttime, smart grids can store power and release it according to the demand a grid is facing.

This guarantees a reliable power supply, which is good for the environment, too. By storing surplus energy generated by renewable sources previously considered unreliable, smart grids can help countries wean themselves off fossil fuels.

By measuring energy supply, power can be provided exactly when and where it is needed, making the smart grid a far less wasteful way of supplying energy. This in turn reduces fuel use and cost.

Smart Grid Components

To achieve a modernized smart grid, a wide range of technologies should be developed and must be implemented. These technologies are generally grouped into the following key technology areas as discussed below.

• Intelligent Appliances: Intelligent appliances have capable of deciding when to consume energy based on customer pre-set preferences. This can lead to going away along toward reducing peak loads which have an impact on electricity generation costs. For example, smart sensors, like temperature sensor which is used in thermal stations to control the boiler temperature based on predefined temperature levels.
• Smart Power Meters: The smart meters provide two-way communication between power providers and end-user consumers to automate billing data collections, detect device failures and dispatch repair crews to the exact location much faster.
• Smart Substations: substations are included monitoring and controlling non-critical and critical operational data such as power status, power factor performance, breaker, security, transformer status, etc. substations are used to transform voltage several times in many locations, providing safe and reliable delivery of energy. Smart substations are also necessary for splitting the path of electricity flow into many directions. Substations require large and very expensive equipment to operate, including transformers, switches, capacitor banks, circuit breakers, network-protected relays, and several others.
• Super Conducting Cables: These are used to provide long-distance power transmission, and automated monitoring and analysis tools capable of detecting faults themselves or even predicting cable and failures based on real-time data weather, and the outage history.

Smart Grid Characteristics

A Smart Grid would have the following fundamental characteristics −

• Optimized Operation of the System − A smart grid allows consumers to play a part in optimizing the operation of the system and provides consumers with greater information and choice of supply.
• Enables Demand Response and Demand-Side Management − The smart grid enables demand response and demand-side management through the integration of smart meters, smart appliances and consumer loads, micro-generation and electricity storage, and by providing consumers with information related to energy use and price.
• Reduces the Environmental Impacts − The smart grid facilitates the connection and operation of generators of all sizes and technologies and accommodates intermittent generation and storage options. It accommodates and facilitates all renewable energy sources, distributed generation, residential micro-generation, and storage options, thus significantly reducing the environmental impact of the whole electricity supply system. It also provides simplified interconnection just like ‘plug-and-play’.
• Optimized and Efficient use of Assets − The smart grid optimizes and efficiently operates assets by intelligent operation of the delivery system and pursuing efficient asset management. This includes utilizing assets depending on what is needed and when it is needed.
• Improves Reliability and Security of Supply − The smart grid operates resiliently in disasters, physical or cyber-attacks, and delivers enhanced levels of reliability and security in supplying energy. It assures and improves the reliability and security of supply by anticipating and responding in a self-healing manner and strengthening the security of supply through enhanced transfer capabilities.

Advantages of  Smart Grid

A smart grid performs lots of smart work. so the Advantages of the smart grid ate mentioned below.

• The smart grid provides better power management technologies through its integrated systems. This provides a better user interface.
• It has also provided a better protective management system in case of emergency.
• It also provides better supply and demand management.
• It has reduced Carbon emission Technology.
• Better Quality power.
• Lower cost of operation, maintenance, and management for both utility and consumers.
• It provides more efficient and improved security and protection.
• It has also provided the convenience of reading meters remotely. Meter readers will not have to appear physically to check the meter readings. It will all be done through IT resources.

Disadvantages of Smart Grid

• Privacy Problems

The biggest concern is Security in a smart grid system. The grid system uses some smart meters, which are automated and provide communication between power providers and customers. Here some types of smart meters can be easily hacked and they may control the power supply of a single building or an entire neighborhood.

• Grid Volatility

Smart Grid network has much intelligence at its edges; that is, at the entry point and at the end user’s meter. But the grid has insufficient intelligence in the middle, governing the switching functions. This lack of integrated development makes the grid a volatile network. Engineering resources have been poured into power generation and consumer energy consumption, which are the edges of the network. However, if too many nodes are added to the network before developing the software intelligence to control it, the conditions will lead to a volatile smart grid.

Conclusion

After reading through the above guide, it must be clear now how the smart grid works. This technology needs to be implemented in many other countries. However, you should continue to learn about smart grid technology.