Dick Deblasio, A Lifetime IEEE Member and Chairman of IEEE’s P2030 Smart Grid Interoperability Working Group wrote a terrific article on the Smart Grid on Intelligent Utility this week. He highlights some of his group’s activity as a “Missing Link” effort in the creation of the Smart Grid, stressing the importance of interconnection and intra-facing frameworks and strategies as key to success.
This is why interconnection and intra-facing frameworks and strategies with design definitions have been key areas of focus for the IEEE’s P2030 Working Group. Formed in March 2009, the working group is creating a knowledge base addressing terminology, characteristics, functional performance and evaluation criteria, and the application of engineering principles for smart grid interoperability of the electric power system with end-use applications and loads. The guide is intended to inform the creation and/or enhancement of interconnection standards.
Related Links:
GRYD FEASIBILITY WHITE PAPER ON SMARTGRID COMMUNICATIONS IEEE 1901TM BROADBAND POWER LINE STANDARD FOR 500 Mbps.
New standard is enabling technology for Smart Grid, transportation and LAN applications was finally approved.
But the challenges and feasibility is yet to be tried in real world applications, so GRYD.org integrated synchrophasor and meter data as sample projects on short distance power lines.
There was major challenge to go over interconnects or low and medium voltage interconnects, what GRYD.org found was that, these legacy devices were not designed for communication and some levels of interference was observed.
The optimal solution, that GRYD.org found was in both the first mile and last mile applications where distances were less than 1200 m, similar to early DSL ranges. For e.g. in the GRYD.org smartgrid server, GRYD was able to process, upto 30,000 simultaneous price signals, HVAC/Charging setback signals, demand response signals etc.
The limitation of using IEEE 1901TM Broadband over Power Line (BPL), was that it was limited to less than 100 Mhz. The good news is that it was designed using sophisticated modulation techniques to transmit data over standard AC power lines of any voltage.
GRYD.org observed there was a lot of promise on this smart grid technology, especially to connect AMI Smart meter with a lot of participants. It’s still very early to tell about the adoption, but Comcast and Verizon like providers will find this competition if the power companies succeed.
http://www.gryd.org