Cut electricity consumption with automation - Watt Now Magazine

The key to smart grids is to use an Internet protocol that
communicates with home devices and shuttles information back and
forth between the utility and the customer.
“With a smart, two-way communication mechanism operating
between a power consumer and a provider, both parties can exercise
far more control over the actual consumption of electrical power,”
he says.
The existing power lines would carry a combination of power and
information to identify the exact status of the line in real time. Using
digital communication the grid sensors gather information from every
centimetre of the grid to establish how much power is flowing through
the grid and how reliable that supply is.
“Data can then be transmitted directly to household appliances
which will respond by using power when the energy consumption – and
the price – is lower. For instance an automatic washing machine could
be switched on via the grid to start its cycle at say 02h30 and run for
30 minutes at a time when power demand was low. The user would
simply wake up in the morning and find the washing cycle complete,”
he says.
By using smart digital controls it is possible for the power provider
to anticipate and respond to grid malfunctions because if a sensor
finds that a power line is congested the controller will be able to reroute
the power in real time before the grid malfunctions and a power
failure occurs.
Shahidehpour believes that an Advanced Meter Infrastructure
(AMI) or smart meter should be installed at the customer’s premises to
allow for continuous two-way communications that can be controlled
and managed by software systems running on remote computers.
The smart meter measures, monitors and helps to manage the
actual energy used at the premises via two-way communication links
that include cellular networks, satellite and radio frequency networks..
this means, too, that electricity outages can be detected and restored
rapidly by the power providers because the exact nature of the fault –
and it’s precise location – can be identified immediately and rectified.
Shahidehpour points out that a new technology, known as Zig Bee has
been developed as a global wireless language that allows dramatically
different devices to work together and communicate seamlessly.
“ZigBee is a single standard used to set up communication with
devices on a home area network which links the power utility to
the customer using a two-way open communicaiton network. This
technology allows appliances to be controlled and monitored at all
times in real time.
“The technology was developed by the ZigBee Alliance, a worldwide
working group that developed software application standard that
would run on top of the wireless standards defined by the Institute of
Electrical and Electronic Engineers,” he says.
Already in the US the results of the ZigBee system are providing
some astonishing results with one industrial manufacturing concern
saving as much as 37 percent of their average monthly consumption
by using the smart metering systems and the ZigBee technology.
In the US the markets for ZigBee include: building automation,
industrial control systems, energy management, personal healthcare,
telecommunicaitons services, home control and automation, consumer
electronics and computers.
As Shahidehpour points out not all appliances in a home need to
be used concurrently. There’s no reason that a pool pump must run
during the day and be switched off at night just as there’s no reason
to keep a microwave in standby mode all the time.
“Convenience is the key factor for appliances being left on or pool
pumps operating during daylight hours,” says Shahidehpour. “If the
pool pump came on by itself in the middle of the night when power
consumption is low it would keep the pool water just as clean as it
does when running during the day.”
Referring to the affordability of the smart grid Shahidehpour says
that grid modernisation costs are equivalent to one pizza per household
per month spread over a period of between ten and 15 years.
“If done correctly grid modernisation will be less expensive in the
long run than replacement of damaged or poorly maintained grids.
Smart grids will mean fewer blackouts and greatly reduced local
interruptions with the concomitant savings from reduced congestion
or needing to build expensive generation plants that work only at peak
times,” he says.
“Smart grid upgrades will allow electricity provides to ease
congestion on power lines and send between 50 percent and 300
percent more electicity through the existing corridors. In fact statistics
compiled in the US indicate that smar grid technologies would reduce
power disturbance costs to the US economy by $49-billion a year and
would also reduce the need for infrastructure expansion investment by
about $100-billion over the next 20 years.
“By allowing users to control electricity expenditure the smart
grid technology would add between $5- to $7-billion back into the
US economy by 2015 and between $15- and $20-billion per year by
2020.,” he adds.
Given the fact that South Africa needs to spend about R25-billion
on essential repairs and maintenance to the existing electricity
distribution infrastructure it seems that perhaps the authorities
should carefully consider deploying smart grid technologies now in an
effort to reduce wastage of electricity in South Africa.
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