Column
Column
Weinhold’s Power Lines
“The world used to be much simpler” – this sentiment
is frequently heard from people who have reached a
certain age. In certain respects, this generalization is
true. When I consider one of my own areas of expertise –
energy distribution and grid control systems – there is no
denying that electronic control, monitoring, forecasting,
and management solutions have gained importance as
systemic complexity has increased over the last decades.
When power was supplied only by dispatchable plants,
grid design and plant operation were indeed much less
complex than today. Under predictable external conditions, forecasting was easy, and the integrated value chain
of power supply was easy to control. The comparatively
recent emergence of data as a major underpinning of
technology is quite remarkable. When I studied electrical
engineering in the 1980s, we power engineers used digital
signal processors in our lab more than any other department in the university, including students of signal processing!
The situation has changed in many regions due to feed-in
from renewables with intermittent characteristic, mainly wind power and photovoltaic plants. For power plant
owners, data collection and analysis has always been par-
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amount to ensure reliability. I’m certain plant owners and
operators will be the first to confirm that complexity has increased – not only in terms of the overall power system, but
also because their asset portfolio is more diverse than ever, as is the range of stakeholders and investors.
Plant operators must follow electricity markets such as
the European Energy Exchange, including day-ahead and
intraday trading; align plant operation with global gas
and coal markets; and coordinate plant output with the
increasing number of other elements in the power matrix,
such as district heating and cooling networks, electric
cars, decentralized generators, or energy storage.
This complexity can only be managed with sensor technology to derive data and information for real-time decision
support. This is where Siemens comes in, offering sensors
and fleet control systems together with a seamless intelligence layer for decision support and automatic operation. As far as I am aware, no other company offers such
a spectrum of data solutions and has such insight across
the entire range of hardware.
As part of the digital revolution of the past decades, our
infrastructure is becoming more decentralized, forming
microgrids and, at the household level, nanogrids. I envi-
From Michael Weinhold’s notebook: The complex data flows between infrastructure elements and system
control nodes can only be managed with sensor technology enabling real-time decision support.
Illustrations: Elisabeth Moch, Michael Weinhold
Michael Weinhold,
Siemens Energy’s
Chief Technology Officer
Managing the Power Matrix,
Managing Information:
Fleet Control for Complex
Systems
sion our energy system as evolving into a system of cells
that interchange energy, but managing this interchange
requires intelligence within the cells and between them.
The cells can be entire cities, industries, or parts of them,
and the energy exchange will take place via transmission
grids, including transcontinental supergrids. Will these
cells ultimately be able to manage themselves through
embedded intelligence, or will they require central coordination? This still remains to be seen.
Sharing with others has historically helped to ensure reliability. In a successfully integrated energy system, selforganizing cells must exchange information. Therefore, both centralized and decentralized coordination will
have to increase. Since complexity may bring systemic
instability, data security is essential in enforcing rules
and supervision. Operators collect data from their devices
in a plant or grid substation; they monitor plant management; and they require data points for effective enterprise
planning as well – preferably in a single database. Looking beyond the technical aspect at the customer’s business
case, we see that enhancing flexibility simultaneously
raises efficiency and profitability. Consumers, too, must
be part of the solution; we can offer them incentives for
certain behavior such as switching off loads during peak
periods to help stabilize the grid.
In an increasingly complex world, data processing and decision support are becoming key prerequisites for successful operations. As power engineers, we take the best
ideas wherever we find them, and this is also true for the
Siemens data collection and management systems. p
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