Smart Grid
Now, power companies can make smarter decisions about the grid. You can make smarter decisions about your home.
For decades, power was something the average person did not think much about.
Until it went out. And then it was all you thought about... until it came back. Not any more.
Climate change, rising energy prices and technology advances are all forces that have been reshaping the collective mindset of consumers, turning many from "passive ratepayers" to highly informed, environmentally conscious customers who want a role in using power. And now, with the emergence of the technologies that make smart grids possible, companies can provide their customers with the information and control they need to actually change their behavior patterns and reduce usage and costs.
Losing power
Today's power grids were developed at a time when power was cheap, the environment wasn't an issue and the consumer wasn't part of the equation. They were centralized, closely managed and supplied by a relatively small number of large power plants.
The inefficiencies in our current grids are systemic. With little or no intelligence to balance loads and monitor power flows, every year grids around the world lose enough electricity to power India, Germany and Canada.
Entering the digital age
IBM is helping utilities add a layer of digital intelligence to their grids. These smart grids use sensors, meters, digital controls and analytic tools to automate, monitor and control the two-way flow of energy across operations-from power plant to plug. A power company can optimize grid performance, prevent outages, restore outages faster and allow consumers to manage energy usage right down to the individual networked appliance. "Smart" grids can also incorporate new sustainable energies such as wind and solar generation, and interact locally with distributed power sources, or plug-in electric vehicles.
Malta: the first smart grid country
Known for its dry sunny weather, knights and long architectural history, this Mediterranean archipelago is about to become known for something else: it's the world's first "smart grid" country.
Malta's electricity and water systems are inexorably intertwined. Malta depends entirely on foreign fuel oil for the production of all of its electricity and for more than half of its water supply, which filters through an energy-intensive desalination process.
The new smart grid, integrating both water and power systems, will be able to identify water leaks and electricity losses in the grid, allowing the utilities to more intelligently plan their investments in the network and reduce inefficiency. 250,000 interactive meters will monitor electricity usage in real time, set variable rates, and reward customers who consume less energy and water.
By addressing the issues of water and power as a system, the Maltese government can provide citizens with better information to make smarter decisions about how and when they use power—and the country can begin the task of replacing carbon-intensive fuel oil with renewable energy for the future.
Consider what enlightened companies can do
To promote the use of intelligent energy, IBM founded the Global Intelligent Utility Network Coalition. In September, the addition of new members widened its scope beyond the U.S. and Australia to include India and Europe.
Expansion into an emerging market like India is significant. By 2010, nearly 60 "mega-cities" worldwide-most of these in emerging markets-will have populations of five million or more, up nearly 50 percent since 2001. Smart grids can help governments and utilities manage the crush of demand for energy in these new cities by improving system performance, reducing energy loss and enabling alternative sources such as wind and solar.
Smart meters
In the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) GridWise Olympic Peninsula Project, intelligent devices (such as thermostats) in consumers' homes were tied to the PNNL system, which automatically controlled power consumption based on pricing signals and customer preference. Consumers were able to decrease their electricity bills by an average of 10 percent.
Empower customers with information
Energie Baden-Wurttemberg AG, an innovative energy provider in Germany, believed that the best way to offset supply-side variability was to enable flexibility on the demand side by giving customers the information they need to alter their energy consumption patterns-specifically, the cost of power at any particular time-such that they consumed less during expensive peak hours.
Outsmarting outages
With smart grids, energy companies can detect a power outage instantly, know the exact location and respond to outages faster. This is exactly what DONG Energy in Denmark is doing.