Difference between revisions of "Smart grid"
From Power Shifts wiki
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==Traditional grids== | ==Traditional grids== | ||
Traditionally, energy systems from power generation to homes are one-directional and based on more predictable, controllable and centralised power generation, looking something like this: | Traditionally, energy systems from power generation to homes are one-directional and based on more predictable, controllable and centralised power generation, looking something like this: | ||
| − | === | + | ===Challenges=== |
* Electrical power is increasingly substituted for other forms of energy. Electricity demand will increase in the future (notably because of new needs in transport and heat sectors), although it is currently stagnant, mainly because of the economic crisis. Unless a major alternative energy source is discovered, electricity will become the central energy pillar in the long term. | * Electrical power is increasingly substituted for other forms of energy. Electricity demand will increase in the future (notably because of new needs in transport and heat sectors), although it is currently stagnant, mainly because of the economic crisis. Unless a major alternative energy source is discovered, electricity will become the central energy pillar in the long term. | ||
* Electricity production remains uncertain and will depend on numerous factors: the growth of renewable energy and decentralised energy, the renewal of old power generation capacities, increased external dependency, CO2 charges, etc. This increases the demand for electricity networks that are more reliable, more efficient, and more flexible. | * Electricity production remains uncertain and will depend on numerous factors: the growth of renewable energy and decentralised energy, the renewal of old power generation capacities, increased external dependency, CO2 charges, etc. This increases the demand for electricity networks that are more reliable, more efficient, and more flexible. | ||
* Europe’s current electricity networks are ageing, and, as already indicated by the International Energy Agency, many of them will need to be modernized or replaced in the decades to come. | * Europe’s current electricity networks are ageing, and, as already indicated by the International Energy Agency, many of them will need to be modernized or replaced in the decades to come. | ||
* The growing impact of energy trading also needs to be taken into account. <ref name=egmont>Egmont Institute, Tania ZGAJEWSKI, [http://www.egmontinstitute.be/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/new-egmont.papers.74.U2334_16x24.pdf Smart electricity grids: A very slow deployment in the EU]</ref> | * The growing impact of energy trading also needs to be taken into account. <ref name=egmont>Egmont Institute, Tania ZGAJEWSKI, [http://www.egmontinstitute.be/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/new-egmont.papers.74.U2334_16x24.pdf Smart electricity grids: A very slow deployment in the EU]</ref> | ||
| + | |||
==Links for further research== | ==Links for further research== | ||
<references /> | <references /> | ||
Revision as of 17:34, 28 September 2016
A smart grid is an electricity network that uses digital and other advanced technologies to monitor and manage the transport of electricity from all generation sources to meet the varying electricity demands of end-users[1].
‘Energy transition’, ‘electrical grid transformation’, ‘Power Shifts’; what is all that buzz?—confused participant of Power Shifts and really cool person
This vision of the 'energy transition;' is built around the modernisation of the electrical grid, with the gradual development of smart grids, which use information and communication technologies (ICT) to manage electricity more efficiently while adding new nodes to the electrical grid such as Renewable Energy Sources (RES), thus turning households into a consumer-producer-hybrid. The promise of the smart grid is to enable a new paradigm with a reduced energy cost and the environmental benefits of RES[2].
Breaking it down
- Intelligent and digitised energy network
- Two-way dialogue: Electricity and Information
- Information + Communication + Power Grid
- Reliable, Secure, Efficient, Modern, Manageable → Full Potential
- The integration of power, communications, and information technologies for an improved electric power infrastructure serving loads while providing for an ongoing evolution of end-use applications. [3]
- A marketing term, rather than a technical definition. For this reason there is no well defined and commonly accepted scope of what "smart" is and what it is not.[4]
Traditional grids
Traditionally, energy systems from power generation to homes are one-directional and based on more predictable, controllable and centralised power generation, looking something like this:
Challenges
- Electrical power is increasingly substituted for other forms of energy. Electricity demand will increase in the future (notably because of new needs in transport and heat sectors), although it is currently stagnant, mainly because of the economic crisis. Unless a major alternative energy source is discovered, electricity will become the central energy pillar in the long term.
- Electricity production remains uncertain and will depend on numerous factors: the growth of renewable energy and decentralised energy, the renewal of old power generation capacities, increased external dependency, CO2 charges, etc. This increases the demand for electricity networks that are more reliable, more efficient, and more flexible.
- Europe’s current electricity networks are ageing, and, as already indicated by the International Energy Agency, many of them will need to be modernized or replaced in the decades to come.
- The growing impact of energy trading also needs to be taken into account. [5]
Links for further research
- ↑ International Energy Agency, Technology Roadmap:Smart Grids
- ↑ See the Category:Technological Dimension
- ↑ http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6018239/
- ↑ http://www.iec.ch/smartgrid/background/explained.htm
- ↑ Egmont Institute, Tania ZGAJEWSKI, Smart electricity grids: A very slow deployment in the EU
