SMART GRIDS

for a brighter future

Abstract:
An electrical grid is an interconnected network delivering electricity from suppliers to consumers. Smart Grid is referred to a conventional electric power system that has been equipped with advanced technologies for purposes such as reliability improvement, ease of control and management, integrating of distributed energy resources and electricity market operations. Smart Grid energy internet would be far more responsive, interactive and transparent than todays grid. With the advancements of semiconductor technology, solid state transformers (SST) which are flexible and can handle high power levels and very fast switching have become a valid option to replace the conventional transformers in power substations. Solid-state transformers can put out either AC or DC power, or take in AC and DC power and they can eliminate power-quality problems as well as lower the amount of current required to supply devices such as electric machinery, cutting down on losses associated with the transmission of electricity throughout the power grid. With conventional transformers they continually waste electricity, while solid state transformers can reduce that waste. Keywordselectrical grid, smart grid, solid state transformer.

or non-combustible fuels (wind, solar, nuclear, hydro power). Transmission lines that carry electricity from power plants to demand centers. Transformers that may change the level of voltage so that distribution lines carry power for final delivery to customers. B. Smart Grids The term smart grid has been in use since 2005, when it appeared in the article "Toward a Smart Grid" by Amin and Wallenberg [1]. There are many smart grid definitions, some functional, some technological, and some benefitsoriented. Smart grid is referred to a conventional electric power system that has been equipped with advanced technologies for purposes such as reliability improvement, ease of control and management, integrating of distributed energy resources and electricity market operations. The smart grid consists of a number of technological improvements that can be made in transmission and distribution systems. Recently, in response to the growing demand to improve reliability and efficiency of the power system, more automation is being implemented on the distribution system. The Smart Grid policy requirements as outlined in Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of December 2007[2] includes the following characteristics of a smart grid: Increase in use of digital control and information technology with real time availability. Deployment of smart metering. Increase the need for Distribution Automation. Demand side management (DSM) technologies. Increase the need for Distribution Automation, and therefore a better understanding of benefits and challenges of Distribution Automation for all of its stakeholders. Inclusion of demand side response (DSR). Dynamic optimization relating to grid operability.

INTRODUCTION Need for smart grid in distribution systems evolutes from the fact that, transitioning from contemporary systems to smart distribution systems of the future requires a paradigm shift in both design and operations. This paradigm shift is due in part to the increase of demand. More significant fact is that, burgeoning of distributed resources, many of which are considered renewable energy sources- wind and solar. Massive deployment of renewable energy systems is expected to occur in electric distribution systems in the near future. New philosophies of redesigning the existing distribution system topology and rapid restoration following system disturbances are imperative to maximize the use of these resources.

A. Electric Grids An electrical grid is an interconnected network delivering electricity from suppliers to consumers. It consists of three main components: Generating plants that produce electricity from combustible fuels (coal, natural gas, and biomass)

Few sensors

Monitors and sensors throughout Self-monitoring Self-automated restoration eventually self-healing Monitor equipment remotely Decision support predictive reliability Pervasive control systems Full price information Many customer choices systems, and

These technologies are designed to improve the performance of transmission and distribution systems by: Installing sensors that can detect system conditions that indicate failures either have occurred or will occur in the near future. Incorporating fast-acting microprocessors that can quickly detect fault conditions and take action to anticipate failures and reconfigure circuit supply routes or restore service as quickly as possible by alternative supply lines. Adding voltage regulation and capacitance downstream of substation transformers to reduce line loses thus improving energy efficiency. Installing AMI meters reduces cost of meter reading. Improves ability to detect outages and restore service quickly after outages Improve theft detection.

Blind Manual restoration Prone to failures and blackouts Check equipment manually Emergency decisions by committee and phone Limited control over power flows Limited price information Few customer choices

Adaptive protection and islanding

D. Features of the smart grid Reliability: The smart grid will make use of technologies that improve fault detection and allow self-healing of the network without the intervention of technicians. This will ensure more reliable supply of electricity, and reduced vulnerability to natural disasters or attack. Flexibility in network topology: Classic grids were designed for one-way flow of electricity, but if a local sub-network generates more power than it is consuming, the reverse flow can raise safety and reliability issues. A smart grid aims to manage these situations. Efficiency: Contributions to improve the efficiency of energy infrastructure is anticipated from the deployment of smart grid technology, in particular including demand-side management. The overall effect is less redundancy in transmission and distribution lines, and greater utilisation of generators, leading to lower power prices. Load adjustment: The total load connected to the power grid can vary significantly over time. The total load is the sum of many individual choices of the clients, the overall load is not a stable, slow varying, average power consumption. In the traditional grid, the failure rate can only be reduced at the cost of more standby generators. In a smart grid, the load reduction by even a small portion of the clients may eliminate the problem. Peak curtailment/leveling and time of use pricing: To reduce demand during the high cost peak usage periods, communications and metering technologies inform smart devices in the home and business. It gives utility companies the ability to reduce consumption by communicating to devices directly in order to prevent system overloads.To motivate them

Improving the reliability of electric power delivered to the end users is one of the main targets of employing smart grid technology and developing a smart distribution grid can be an attractive reliability solution for the electric utilities. The objective of transforming the current grid into a smart grid is to provide reliable, high quality electric power to digital societies in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way. These objectives will be achieved through the combination of existing and emerging technologies for energy efficiency, renewable energy integration, demand response, wide-area monitoring and control, self-healing, HVDC, flexible ac transmission systems(FACTS) and so on. The scope of the smart grid extends over all the interconnected electric power systems, from centralized bulk generation to distributed generation (DG) from high voltage transmission systems to low voltage systems from utility control centers to end users home area networks, from bulk power markets to demand response service providers and from traditional energy resources to distributed and renewable generation and shortage. C. Ordinary grid Vs Smart grid The differences between the 20th century and 21st century grid that is an ordinary and smart grid are as follows:
Ordinary grid Electromechanical One way communication Built for centralized generation Radial topology Smart grid Digital Two way communication Accommodates generation Network topology distributed

to cut back use and perform what is called peak curtailment or peak leveling. Sustainability: The improved flexibility of the smart grid permits greater penetration of highly variable renewable energy sources without the addition of energy storage. Current network infrastructure is not built to allow for many distributed feed-in points, and typically even if some feed-in is allowed at the local (distribution) level, the transmission-level infrastructure cannot accommodate it. Smart grid technology is a necessary condition for very large amounts of renewable electricity on the grid for this reason. Demand response support: Demand response support allows generators and loads to interact in an automated fashion in real time, coordinating demand to flatten spikes. Eliminating the fraction of demand that occurs in these spikes eliminates the cost of adding reserve generators, cuts wear and tear and extends the life of equipment[3]. Platform for advanced services: As with other industries, use of robust two-way communications, advanced sensors, and distributed computing technology will improve the efficiency, reliability and safety of power delivery and use. It also opens up the potential for entirely new services or improvements on existing ones, such as fire monitoring and alarms that can shut off power, make phone calls to emergency services, etc. E. Smart grid technologies It can be categorized in the following areas[4]: Integrated communications: High speed, fully integrated, two way communication technologies will make the smart grid dynamic, interactive mega infrastructure for real time information and power exchange. Sensing and measurement: These technologies will enhance the power system measurements and enable the transformation of data into information. They evaluate the health of equipment and the integrity of grid and support advanced protective relaying. Advanced components: Advanced components play an active role in determining the grids behaviour. The next generation of these power systems devices will apply the latest research in materials, superconductivity, energy storage, power electronics and microelectronics. Improved interface and decision support: In many situations, the time available for operators to make the decision has shortened to seconds. Thus the smart grid will require wide, seamless, real time use of

applications and tools that enable the grid operators and managers to make the decisions quickly. Advanced control methods: Advanced control methods are the devices and algorithms that will analyse, diagnose and predict conditions in the smart grid to determine and take corrective actions to eliminate, mitigate and prevent the outages and power quality disturbances. Smart meters: A smart meter has the ability to allow the delivery of real time information about load and pricing. Consumers can instantly see how much power they are using and how much it is costing. In some cases utilities can send the commands directly to smart appliances in order to manage the load at peak times. Smart meters make it easier to incorporate, intermittent, distributed sources of energy into the electricity supply. They also enable the households to sell the excess power back to the grid. A smart grid makes it possible to coordinate the charging of large number of electric cars which is done at night times when the demand of electricity is low and there is excess capacity. F. Smart power generation Smart power generation is a concept of matching electricity production with demand using multiple identical generators which can start, stop and operate efficiently at chosen load, independently of the others, making them suitable for base load and peaking power generation.[23] Matching supply and demand, called load balancing, is essential for a stable and reliable supply of electricity. Short-term deviations in the balance lead to frequency variations and a prolonged mismatch results in blackouts. Operators of power transmission systems are charged with the balancing task, matching the power output of all the generators to the load of their electrical grid. The load balancing task has become much more challenging as increasingly intermittent and variable generators such as wind turbines and solar cells are added to the grid, forcing other producers to adapt their output much more frequently than has been required in the past. G. Future smart grid The future of smart grids is that they are beginning to use it in electricity networks, from the power plants and wind farms all the way to the consumers of electricity in homes and businesses. They offer many benefits to utilities and consumers mostly seen in big improvements in energy efficiency on the electricity grid and in the energy users homes and offices. For a century, utility companies have had to send workers out to gather much of the data needed to

provide electricity. The workers read meters, look for broken equipment and measure voltage, for example. Most of the devices utilities use to deliver electricity. Now, many options and produces are being made available to the electricity industry to modernize it. Much in the way that a smart phone these days means a phone with a computer in it, smart grid means computerizing the electric utility grid. It includes adding two-way digital communication technology to devices associated with the grid. Each device on the network can be given sensors to gather data (power meters, voltage sensors, fault detectors, etc.), plus two-way digital communication between the device in the field and the utilitys network operations center. A key feature of the smart grid is automation technology that lets the utility adjust and control each individual device or millions of devices from a central location.

The conversion of legacy distribution system to smart grid distribution systems can be done with the addition of sensors, automated, partially networked with demand response, demand side management technologies. I. Main goals of smart grid in distribution systems The main goals of smart grids in distribution systems are[5-9]: To integrate distribution generators (e. g., renewables) of different sizes and technologies in the DS: Integration of distribution generators (DG) of all sizes and technologies (photovoltaic, wind generation, small hydroelectric generation, biomass generation, etc.) should be enabled in the medium and low voltage distribution networks so as to ensure the maximal production of electric energy from those resources. To optimize operation and usage of distribution network infrastructure: Decreasing peak loads, postponing capital investments (building new elements and/or upgrading existing elements), and reducing power and energy losses should be enabled by using: SG components, such as DG, energy storages (ES), micro grids, plug-in electrical vehicles (PEV), AMI systems, smart appliances in households/commercial, home area network (HAN), smart sensors, etc., New/advanced tools for managing distribution networks advanced distribution management systems (DMS), and in addition, improvement of asset management and especially maintenance strategies should be enabled by using higher volume and quality of data gathered through SG components AMI systems, smart sensors, intelligent electronic devices (IED). To provide consumers with better information and options for the choice of supply and to allow them to play a part in optimizing the systems operations. Active influence of consumers on the operation of distribution networks should be enabled by allowing consumers easy and flexible change of their load profiles in response to electricity prices and/or to different kind of incentives. These demand response capabilities require advance tools on the consumers side (HAN, smart consumers appliances, consumers energy management tools), advanced information and communication tools able to manage the complexity of multiple inputs, consequent intelligent actions and provision of easy and flexible interaction between customers and the system. To maintain and improve existing levels of reliability, quality and security of supply in DS:

With the advancements of semiconductor technology, solid state transformers which are flexible and can handle high power levels and very fast switching have become a valid option to replace the conventional transformers in power substations. SST can put out either AC or DC power, or take in AC and DC power and they can eliminate power-quality problems as well as lower the amount of current required to supply devices such as electric machinery, cutting down on losses associated with the transmission of electricity throughout the power grid. With conventional transformers they continually waste electricity, while solid-state transformers can reduce that waste, additionally as the smart grids grow, smarter technologies are needed to deal with things like renewable energy, charging times for electric vehicles and energy flowing into grid from homes and business the gases that trap heat in the atmosphere. H. Smart distribution systems The distribution system of the future must be designed so that rapid restoration is possible. Rapid distribution restoration can accomplish multiple objectives, including reduction of the classical system average interruption duration and frequency indices, and/or the minimization of unserved energy to loads. A highly reliable, reconfigurable, and fault tolerant system, must contain multiple redundant paths. More important than multiple paths are smart strategies for fault detection, isolation and reconfiguration (FDIR) to manage redundancy. The existence of FDIR in contemporary networked distribution systems is limited to local protection schemes which usually do not communicate with each other. Thus, in order to selectively convert existing distribution systems into smart distribution systems, it is proposed to add FDIR mechanisms and other automatic control devices. The methods used for FDIR may replicate transmission system concepts that use system restoration logic to automatically restore the distribution system.

Improvement of reliability, security and quality of supply in DS should be enabled by using SG components, above all DG, micro grids, AMI systems and demand response (DR), as well as advanced information, communication and software tools. The advanced DMS applications, such as OMS (Outage Management System) function and FLISR (Fault Localization, Isolation and Service Restoration) function, should be enabled in order to allow the higher levels of automation to be implemented in the distribution networks in which the SG components will be integrated.

The bulky low frequency transformer is replaced by a compact high frequency transformer An SST can control active/reactive power flow An SST can protect the power system against shortterm voltage sag and over current. Features of SST SST operating frequency is in range of KHz The higher operating frequency reduces the transformer size/weight SST provides reactive power compensation SST linked to energy storage system

J. Attributes of smart grid The attributes of smart grid are as follows: It is self-heating (from power disturbance events) Enables active participation by consumers in demand response It operates resiliently against both physical and cyber attacks It provides quality power that meets 21st century needs It accommodates all generation and storage options It optimizes asset utilization and operating efficiency K. Applications of smart grid The companies making smart grid technology or offering such services include Technology giants Established communication firms Even brand new technology firms Handling sources of electricity like wind and solar power L. Solid state transformer The rapid development of power electronic devices is becoming possible to apply high frequency PWM converters as distribution transformers. A power electronics-based solid state transformer provides an attractive alternative to a conventional 50Hz transformer. M. Advantages of SST

N. Applications of SST Traction/Locomotives: SST replacing the input transformer of locomotive which in turn causes reduced weight and size, increased efficiency, reduced line filtering Tidal power: SST used in offshore wind farms which causes reduced weight and size, increased efficiency of power transmission Wind power: SST in tidal power plants which in turn causes reduced weight and size, increased efficiency. CONCLUSION The full implementation of the Smart grid concept will lead to significant changes in the distribution systems and thus in key business processes in distribution companies. In order to enable successful implementation of efficient, economical and sustainable smart grid solution in the distribution company, the following steps should be accomplished: Clear definition of the smart grid strategy in the distribution company, i.e. definition of: smart grid goals, smart grid alternatives, and changes in business processes. Consideration of all costs and benefits related to different smart grid alternatives. Organizational structure for promoting and coordinating all Smart gird activities. Education and increasing employees skills. Promotion of the Smart grid solution to all stakeholders (end-users).

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