Cut electricity consumption with automation - Watt Now Magazine

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Smart houses could reduce electricity consumption dramatically Smart houses that use a computer network and infrastructure to monitor the electricity consumption at all electrical outlets, and then adjust it accordingly to ensure minimum consumption, could be a solution to South Africa’s electricity consumption woes. This is the view of Dr Mohammad Shahidehpour, the Carl Bodine distinguised professor and chairman of electrical and computer engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology. In recent lectures to members of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers in Johannesburg and Cape Town, he outlined the true value of using smart grids and communication technology in the distribution and control of electricity resources. He says that in most countries around the world the power distribution systems are largely based on technology developed and deployed in the 1950s and the excessive strains on the systems are particularly evident in a digital age where computer and information technology systems play a crucial role in process controls. “Here in South Africa – and in many other parts of the world for that matter – consumers know little about the actual electricity costs. They do see that their electricity bills are higher in the cold months and slightly lower in the warmer summer months but that’s about it. “Few consumers realise that the true price of electricity varies continuously in response to the supply and demand and that electricity bill are mostly calculated on an average price based on the number of units used. “Because electricity is priced on an average most consumer are actually using much more power than they need to and paying more for it than than they have to,” says Shahidehpour. He believes that by installing smart grids, the existing distribution infrastructure can be used more efficiently, can reduce the need for additional power plants or for building costly redundant systems that operate only during periods of peak demand. 13
Shahidehpour says that the term smart grid applies to the optimisation of the distribution infrastructure which can be achieved by using a wide range of information technologies that analyse complex energy systems on a minute-by-minute basis and optimise the electricity usage in a cost-effective way. In explaining the concept Shahidehpour says that demand-response (DR) is the best example of how an effective smart grid operates. “People in South Africa, for instance, are asked to reduce power consumption at peak times and I’ve even seen announcements on television requesting viewers to switch-off unnecessary lights and appliances because power consumption was reaching critical levels. “What smart grids do is control consumption using different technologies to reduce power usage when the consumption is at a peak.” He says that demand-response mechanisms could substantially reduce the billions of rands invested in power generation by cutting the need for costly peak power infrastructure to keep the electricity supply constant. “Consider that about ten percent of infrastructure costs are spent to meet peak demand that occurs less than one percent of the time so it’s evident that grid operators have a good reason to reduce the peaks,” he adds. Referring to statistics in the United States, Shahidehpour says that commercial and industrial buildings represent about 40 percent of the US energy use and homes account for about 30 percent. This means that demand-response technologies could provide a significant opportunity to conserve energy. Explaining how the smart grid works, Shahidehpour says that today’s electrical wall sockets are the power equivalent of a dumb terminal connected to a mainframe computer. Each access point – or wallsocket – can be identified in much the same way as a computer device has an address on the Internet. 14
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Cut electricity consumption with automation - Watt Now Magazine

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