Smart Grid Initiatives
Brendan Herron
VP – Corporate Development & Strategy
Bherron@Currentgroup.com
About Us
 The leader in Smart Grid with intelligent sensors and utility
device management and analytic software solutions
 Locations include U.S., Europe, Australia, Singapore and
Brazil.
 Enabler of Smart Grid communications, sensing and
analytics platform for SmartGridCityTM with Xcel Energy
 Collaborating with Iberdrola and EDF in an EU-funded
program to develop European Smart Grid platform that
enables an open standard for metering, integrated
communication technologies, and advanced distribution
management capabilities.
 Member of: GridWise Alliance, Smart Grid Australia, IEEE,
European Consortiums (EU FP7 ADDRESS, EU FP7 OPEN,
PRIME) and the Joint US-China Cooperation on Clean Energy.
 Winner of:
– 2009 World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer
– 2009 VentureBeat Ten Top 10 innovations driving the
future of the Smart Grid
– Go Green East 2009,
– Dow Jones 2008 Ten Most Innovative Clean Tech
Companies in Europe
– 2006 Red Herring’s Top 100 Private Companies, and
– 2006 Platts Global Energy Commercial Technology of
the Year award.
Proprietary and Confidential
2
Investors
Smart Grid Vision
“. . . a power system that can incorporate millions of sensors all connected through an
advanced communication and data acquisition system. This system will provide real-time
analysis by a distributed computing system that will enable predictive rather than reactive
responses to blink-of-the-eye disruptions.” (EPRI, emphasis added)
CURRENT’s Area of Focus
“The Middle Mile”
Today: High degree of automation,
optimization and control
Limited automation, optimization and
control
(picture courtesy of Xcel Energy)
Proprietary and Confidential
3
Smart Grid around the World
Europe - “Without effective deployment of the SmartGrids concepts, European security of
electricity supply in general, and the operational security of the European electricity grids in
particular, may not be maintained. This is crucial not just for the large scale development
of renewables, but also because of the steady demand growth and more onerous
environmental requirements which conventional grids and methodologies will
increasingly find difficult to meet” (European Commission Smart Grids Technology Platform,
“SmartGrids, Strategic Deployment Document for Europe’s Electricity Networks of the Future (Draft)”, September
2008)
U.S - The U.S. has made Smart Grid a National Policy and provided $4.5 billion dollars to roll
out Smart Grid solutions
– “That means updating the way we get our electricity by starting to build a new smart grid
that will save us money, protect our power sources from blackout or attack, and
deliver clean, alternative forms of energy to every corner of our nation.” (President-elect
Obama, 8 Jan 09)
Canada - “Provincial initiatives on conservation, renewable generation and smart meters begin the
move towards a new electricity system, but their full promise will not be realized without the
advanced technologies that make the smart grid possible. The challenges that Ontario faces in
simultaneously incorporating distributed generation, addressing growth, and replacing aging
infrastructure while maintaining reliability and quality of service are daunting. While new grid
infrastructure will be necessary to connect generation resources, replace aging assets and address
growth, simply adding wires and equipment without intelligence is not a viable option.” (Ontario Smart
Grid Forum, February 2009)
Proprietary and Confidential
4
CURRENT Value Model - $1,400/customer PV Benefits
Up to 5%
reduction in
electric demand
with no impact
on customer
“Without a radically
expanded and
smarter electric grid,
wind and solar will
remain niche power
sources”
Estimated 87%
reduction in
cost of outages
$0.50 for every
$1 spent on
electricity
(MIT, similarly European
SG Platform, Ontario Smart
Grid Forum)
Improve Grid
Operations
Enables better
utility and end
user energy
usage
(EPRI)
Integrate
Intermittent
Renewables
Reduce Outages
Enable End User
Energy
Management
Smart Grid Platform (communications, sensing, software)
Proprietary and Confidential
5
The Growing Consensus on the need for a broad Smart Grid
•
85% of the carbon reduction benefits of a Smart Grid come from System
Optimization and Integration of Renewables and only 15% will come from EndUser Energy Management. (i.e. the benefit of smart meters). UK based Climate
Group
•
“while the smart meter may have become the ‘poster child’ for the smart grid,
advanced sensors, synchro-phasors, and distribution automation systems are
examples of equipment that are likely to be even more important in harnessing
the value of smart grid.” U.S. National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners
(NARUC)
•
“but less well-known is the fact that the potential for efficiency improvements
within the electric power industry from distribution to transmission and
generation itself is large.” U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman
Wellinghoff
•
“If we expect the horse — i.e. the consumers — to push the cart before it is ready,
we may never get the Smart Grid off the ground. This means that we should not
focus immediately on the end user and demand response; rather, we must start
with the backbone—the transmission and distribution systems — while
proceeding carefully to go inside consumers’ homes.” Honorable Frederick J. Butler,
President National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC)
Proprietary and Confidential
6
Total Load Reduction as Efficiency is Enhanced
Reduce VARs → Reduce Losses → Reduce Load → Reduce Emissions
As power factor improved...
… load decreased.


Actual substation load reduction achieved in this example was between 4% to 7% over the course
of about an hour by optimizing the system
Expected nationwide target is 3% to 5% of load
– On national basis, 3% would save over $10 billion annually
– Reduce carbon equivalent to taking 15% of all cars in the U.S. off of the road
Proprietary and Confidential
7
CURRENT – Successful Deployment at Xcel SmartGridCity™
Improve
Grid
Operations
• CURRENT System Optimization Solution successfully implemented.
• Preliminary Results are exceeding expectations.
Integrate
Renewables
• Monitoring impact of distributed renewables on grid assets and
performance
• Detected unknown distributed renewables feeding onto grid.
Reduce
Outages
• Xcel Energy moved from reactive to preventive maintenance program.
• Voltage problems have been reduced by over 90%; there have been no
customer voltage complaints this year.
• Unpredicted transformer failures have been significantly reduced.
• Outage cause, location and restoration times have also been significantly
reduced.
Enable End
User Energy
Management
Proprietary and Confidential
• Enabled several in-home energy management systems
• Integrated Meters with Xcel Billing System
8
CURRENT’s Lessons Learned
Government/Utility/Vendor Partnership increases effectiveness and speeds
implementation.
Experience with deploying and operating Smart Grids leads to new ways to
lower costs and increase the value.
– For example, leveraging existing or public networks (fiber, DSL, cable, 3G wireless,
WiMax) can reduce costs and time to value.
Grid operational improvements through sensing, communications and control
can be implemented relatively quickly and provide a high value across all
customers.
– High value grid improvements can also be deployed in a modular fashion to lower
initial cost and overall project risk.
Engaging even an educated “green” consumer can be a challenge.
– Customers may not be interested even if hundreds of dollars of technology is given
away free.
– Not everyone has central air conditioning (only 25% of Boulder) which limits
effectiveness of much of the in-home technology.
Many of the advanced in-home devices require a broadband connection to be
truly functional, but using the consumers’ broadband connection can require
one or more truck rolls due to firewall and router configuration issues.
Proprietary and Confidential
9
Why isn’t it happening?
Utilities act rationally in a regulated environment
– lack incentives to reduce usage
– Earn rate of return on invested capital
– not rewarded for implementing new technologies and often run the risk of being judged
imprudent.
Historically, regulators and consumer advocates focus on the immediate rate
impact without taking into account gains from efficiency, conservation,
renewables or a world where carbon has a cost
Environmental & reliability benefits go to society but not the utility
No sustained, prioritized, and coordinated program of global, national and
local government action
Capital markets
“The real risk in a true coal-to-cool-air, wind-to-light implementation of the smart
grid is that these technologies that transform conservation and efficiency
efforts can lead to degradation of the regulated return and uncompensated
demand destruction.”
•
Proprietary and Confidential
( Xcel Energy Smart Grid, A White Paper)
10