The smart grid is converting the
way utilities converse with their customers. Smart grid technology, including
control systems and automation that assist new technologies work together, assists
a power grid that can digitally respond to changing electricity demand quickly.
The smart grid allows electricity
producers to improve availability, reliability, and efficiency. It can offer
cost savings both for consumers and utilities and even environmental advantages.
It will enable for faster restoration of power after outages, and assists
better integration of distributed generation resources, including renewable
energy, to the larger grid. It also supports grid integration of significant
renewable energy resources. Professor Massoud Amin
says it is designed to enhance the security of the grid, allowing power
generators, along with distribution operators and transmission, to recognize
and react more quickly to grid anomalies.
Smart grids include sensors that
transmit and measure data to automatically adjust electricity flows as per the
supply and demand. Energy managers can use this information to adjust the grid
and reply to problems in real time, making managing the grid far more competent
and improving fault detection without the necessity for technicians. The grid
also enters people’s homes by communicating with smart power meters, which can switch
on appliances during periods of surplus, when electricity is cheaper. This
means smart grids can:
- Reduce
fuel costs
- Reduce
emissions
- Offer
instant feedback on energy production and consumption
- Integrate
different sources of renewable energy into a single grid
- Offer
energy as per the demand, making it more efficient
- Make
diagnosing faults flawless
A smart grid integrates several
different technologies, including smart meters, communications systems, smart
power generation devices, sensors and measurement devices, phasor measurement
units and power system automation technologies, such as AI.
Massoud Amin says that with the focus increasingly turning to
renewable energy, smart grids are an essential part of managing these usually
less consistent sources of power. Since, for example, solar panels cannot
generate energy during the night-time, smart grids can store power and let it go
as per the demand a grid is facing.
This guarantees a steadfast power
supply, which is excellent for the environment, as well. By storing surplus
energy generated by renewable sources earlier considered unreliable, smart
grids can help countries wean themselves off fossil fuels.
By evaluating energy supply,
power can be offered exactly when and where it is required, making the smart
grid a far less extravagant way of supplying energy. This in turn decreases
fuel use and cost.
One of the primary concerns is
security. Smart electrical grids offer enhanced optimisation of power networks,
but this connectivity leaves them susceptible to cyberattacks. Cybercriminals
have already infiltrated the US electrical grid on a number of occasions, and
in 2015 hackers committed a large-scale cyberattack on the Ukrainian power
grid, leaving 230 thousand people without electricity for up to six hours.
Massoud Amin says nonetheless, smart grids represent a noteworthy
opportunity. Their continued adoption over the next few years will result in
lesser prices and reduced carbon emissions – and as project demonstrates, a
more dependable electricity supply where possible.
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