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Disclaimer — This paper partially fulfills a writing requirement for first year (freshman) engineering students at the
University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering. This paper is a student, not a professional, paper. This paper is
based on publicly available information and may not be provide complete analyses of all relevant data. If this paper is used
for any purpose other than these authors’ partial fulfillment of a writing requirement for first year (freshman) engineering
students at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, the user does so at his or her own risk.
FULLY AUTOMATING THE SMART GRID
William Stephenson, wgs12@pitt.edu, section 1025, Nicolas Szanto, nas189@pitt.edu, section 1060
Revised Proposal — The basic design of the
power grid in the United States is dilapidated, with the
majority of it remaining the same since the 1950s
[1]. Although computer components have been integrated,
most of the physical infrastructure, such as the power
stations and transmission towers, have not yet been
updated/upgraded. This has created an inefficient patchwork
of newer and older systems that have widely varying ages,
capacities, and maintenance conditions. The result of this is
an inefficient system which will have a difficult time meeting
the future complex energy consumption demands of our
nation. Power demand over the next 20 years is expected to
fluctuate by as much as 19 percent in different
regions. Some parts of the country, such as Florida, are
expected to have a 39 percent increase in power demand,
while others, such as the Mid-Atlantic, are expected to see a
20 percent increase [2]. In order to meet these demands,
current infrastructure must be upgraded, with estimates
saying this would cost as much as 107 billion dollars by
2020 and 732 billion dollars by 2040 [2]. Such costs
currently cannot be met; therefore, alternative solutions
should be explored, including the utilization of the smart
grid.
The smart grid is designed to expedite the communication
process by making more information available faster. It
allows information to be gathered instantaneously,
something that would normally take hours using traditional
methods [1]. This is especially effective in failure situations,
which would normally require power utility employees to
physically go to the site of failure and collect data before
coming up with a solution. The smart grid can instantly
recognize the point of failure, but it currently has no
capability to do anything about it [3].
The innovation discussed in this paper is the next evolution
of the smart grid. This evolution of the smart grid will allow
it to act on the information it gathers. A heuristic system
would allow for adaption in failure situations and
improvement in efficiency. For these reasons a fully
automated smart grid is almost a necessity for our nation’s
future. Without this innovation, the current amount of
funding will not be able to improve the current grid enough
to keep up with rising demands . Because of this, there is a
projected investment gap of 107 billion dollars by the year
2020 which exponentially grows to be over 700 billion by
University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering 1
2016/01/29
the year 2040. It is difficult to estimate and explain the cost
of automating the smart power grid. For example, a smart
meter on a home would cost 250 dollars each. When this is
done on every house and business in the United States, it
would cost 35 billion dollars.
For the plan of action, research will continue into full
atomization of the smart grid and its benefits. This paper
will also be exploring any challenges the innovation itself
will face. Potential issues in implementing the automated
smart grid include finding funding and ensuring cyber
security. As further evidence of the effects of the automated
smart grid on day to day life, examples will be found of the
current grids shortfalls and how the automated smart grid
mitigates them.
REFERENCES
Amin, S. Massoud and Wollenberg, Bruce F.
(September/October 2005). “Toward a Smart Grid.” IEEE
Power
&
Energy
Magazine.
(Online
article).
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=1
507024
This article, published in the professional, peerreviewed IEEE power & energy magazine, addresses the
concept of a power grid system that is able to provide instant
feedback through computerization, as well as react when
certain events occur. By way of analogy, the article
discusses research performed in the 1990s that was able to
help F-15 fighter jets react, recover, and to an extent heal
itself when faced with damaged equipment. Information
from this article can help clarify some of the methodology
utilized within today’s smart grid technology, and can
provide further insight as to how these systems work.
Economic Development Research Group, Inc. (2011).
“Failure to Act: The Economic Impact of Current
Investment Trends in Electricity Infrastructure.” American
Society
of
Civil
Engineers.
(Online
article).
http://www.asce.org/uploadedFiles/Issues_and_Advocacy/O
ur_Initiatives/Infrastructure/Content_Pieces/failure-to-actelectricity-report.pdf
This report, published by the American Society of
Civil Engineers, is part of the society’s “Failure to Act”
economic study series, which focuses on the state of
Nicolas Szanto
William Stephenson
Fang, Xi. (2012, October 26). “Smart Grid – The New and
Improved Power Grid: A Survey.” Communications Surveys
and
Tutorials,
IEEE.
(Online
Article).
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=609951
9&tag=1
This article, published by the IEEE’s
Communications and Tutorials magazine, is a survey
conducted on many knowledge resources written and
published on the smart grid up until 2011. It breaks the smart
grid down into three aspects: Infrastructure, Management,
and Security. This source will be useful in helping us narrow
down our topic further, as well as elaborate on some of the
key points within our topic.
infrastructure systems within the United States, and how
there is a growing investment gap towards these systems.
The report describes how the electricity infrastructure needs
more investment to continue to meet the demands of the
United States, as well as the economic impact it has if it isn’t
met. Information from this article can help us illustrate the
growing infrastructure problem and lay grounds for why we
need the smart grid.
Farhangi, Hassan. (2010). “The Path of the Smart Grid.”
Power
and
Energy
Magazine,
IEEE.
(Online
Article). http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/icp.jsp?arnumber=5
357331
This article from the “IEEE Power and Energy
magazine” gives a detailed history of the smart grid prior to
automation. It begins with a description of the driving
factors behind the smart grid, using tables and concise data
to show the potential benefits of the smart grid. The article
progresses to the current smart grid, explaining the current
state of the power grid in the U.S. The article ends with
several new advancements of the smart grid.
The
information in this article will help us give background
information and statistics on the current grid system.
Mo, Yilin. (2012, January). “Cyber-Physical Security of a
Smart Grid Infrastructure.” Proceedings of the IEEE.
(Online
Article).
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=60
16202&tag=1
This article, published in the Proceedings of the
IEEE, brings light to the large new risk cybersecurity risk
that the smart grid has. Being operated by computers all
connected on networks, the smart grid is thereby susceptible
to what is thought of as traditional cybersecurity concerns,
such as hacking and unwanted intrusions on network
platforms. This source will be useful in illustrating the
importance of maintaining cybersecurity with the smart grid.
Gold, Jenny. (2009). “Putting A Price On Smart Power.”
National
Public
Radio.
(Online
article).
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10354
5351
This article, published on NPR’s website, gives
some of the common counterarguments for the smart grid
and for the automation of the smart grid. The main
argument against the automated smart grid is the cost of
implementation. This article breaks down the cost and
investment in terms of the individual aspects. It also
provides several reasons as to why giving an exact cost for
the entire implementation is difficult. This article will be
helpful in providing some of the arguments against the
automation of the smart grid, which will open up
opportunities throughout the paper to counter these
arguments.
Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Science. (2015).
“Ethical and Social Implications of Smart Grid
Technologies.” National Academy of Engineering. (Online
article).
http://onlineethics.org/Topics/Enviro/Energy/EnergyAPPE2
012/APPEKostyk2012.aspx
This article, published on a professional website
maintained by the Center for Engineering Ethics Online and
National Academy of Engineering, is meant to bring
attention to the ethical implementations that introducing a
smart grid has on society. It covers some topics better
analyzed in other sources, such as a general cost description
of implementation of the smart grid, but also discusses
further ethical effects that might be of concern, such as
privacy concerns raised by utilization of the smart grid, as
well as some of the equitable aspects of utilization of the
technology, such as subsidies to the poor. We will utilize
this source to tie in all of the ethical concerns that utilization
of this technology raises.
Anghel, Marian, Motter, Adilson E., Myers, Seth A., and
Nishikawa, Takashi. (2013). “Spontaneous Synchrony in
Power-Grid Networks.” Nature Physics. (Online Article).
http://www.nature.com/nphys/journal/v9/n3/abs/nphys2535.
html
This article, published by the peer reviewed
magazine Nature Physics, is a technical study on the effects
that power generators have when being synchronized. From
this, they are able to determine parameters that can be set for
the computer system to analyze while ensuring the system is
in full working order. We will utilize this source within our
paper to help deliver application examples of how a smart
grid operates.
Schrieber, Randall R. and Willis, H. Lee. (2012, December
5). Aging Power Delivery Infrastructures. CRC Press,
Taylor
&
Francis
Group.
(Print
Book).
https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=4WbNBQA
AQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=aging+power+system&ots=
ACm0f3LpEc&sig=vB2a4nMh-
2
Nicolas Szanto
William Stephenson
MJskFIUou3ysvN23YU#v=onepage&q=aging%20power%2
0system&f=false
This source is a textbook written to explain
America’s aging power delivery systems. It provides a
wealth of information on the issues that these systems are
causing and how those in charge of them might be handling
these issues. We will utilize this source
Snyder, Christopher. (2015, April 8). “Power Grid’s Failing
Infrastructure at Risk of Cyberattack.” Fox News. (Online
article). http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2015/04/08/powergrids-failing-infrastructure-at-risk-of-cyberattack.html
This article published, by Christopher Synder on
Fox News, contains information regarding the risk that
automating the smart grid brings. It focused on the threat of
cyber security in the new grid. Because an automated grid is
run by computers, criminals and enemies of the US could
potentially hack into the power system itself and cause
outages, surges and other dangerous occurrences. We will
use this article as a means of bringing up arguments against
automating the power grid, which will serve as opportunities
for us to show the ways the automated power grid mitigates
or eliminates these counter arguments.
Zhabelova, G. (2012, May). “Multiagent Smart Grid
Automation Architecture Based on IEC 61850/61499
Intelligent Logical Nodes.” Industrial Electronics, IEEE
Transations
on.
(Online
Article).
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=601830
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This scholarly article written by Zhabelova and
reviewed and edited by Vyatkin, a senior member at the
IEEE describes the automated power grid. It gives a brief
description of the already used smart grid. The article
highlights many of the major differences between the
standard smart grid and the fully automated smart grid. This
article will be used to give information regarding what the
automated smart grid actually is and how it is different from
the current grid and any present working smart grid.
TOPIC AREA: COMPUTER ENGINEERING
Although computer engineering is very broad topic and
can be utilized in many aspects of modern life, automating
the smart grid is a very direct application of this study
area. One of the main reasons for this is because almost any
automation requires some level of computing technology to
be present. Even the smart grid can be viewed as a basic
computer on its own because of its ability to recognize
problems. An automated smart grid would require even
more computer engineering expertise because it would know
how to solve these problems that the standard smart grid can
only identify.
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