10 interesting smart grid articles of this week

1)   Smart Grid - What it is and Why do we need, an informative video by Nova Science


2)  Smart Grid a Case of Haves and Have-Nots 

3)  Interconnected Devices Integral to Smart Grid Success 
 


4)  The distribution optimization gold rush (and who will strike it rich first)



5)  Building the smart grid: renewables, storage and partnerships


6)   One step closer to truly "smart" grid communications


7)  Time of Use without the Technology

8)  The Promise (and Perils) of Government Microgrid Markets


9)  Realization of the future smart grid

10) Teradata Scores 100TB Deal for Smart Grid Data

Smart Grid in rest of the Europe - Belgium, Portugal, Norway, Sweden...

SmartGridIndia covers rest of the Europe in the 5th part of  its global Smart Grid profiling series.


Austria: 100,000 Smart meters have been installed in the country. Active Smart Grid research going on since 2003 and in 2008 National Technology Platform for Smart Grid established. 

 

Norway: Norway has established Norwegian Smart Grid center and is collaborating with other Nordic countries in the region through Smart Grid ERA-NET initiative. 

Sweden: Sweden has become the first European country with 100 % of Smart Meter roll out and it is now nready to take advantage of Demand-Response programs. In Sweden, number of smart grid projects are going on notable among them are: 1) Vattenfall Smart Grid project , 2) Gothenburg Energy project, 3) AMI project at Staffanstorp, and 4) Halmstad Energy at Halmstad.

Belgium: In Hombeek city, the utility company Eandis in collaboration with EnergyICT and Elster has deployed large scale Smart Grid pilot project. Recently, Belgian transmission system operator (TSO) Elia and Alstom Grid have signed an agreement to jointly develop Smart Grid infrastructure in Belgium. ORES, the second largest grid operator of the country is collaborating with Landys+Gyr for Smart Grid pilot, which is due to be finished by mid 2011. As part of the Europe Energy Infrastructure vision, most of the Europe will be equipped with Smart Meters by 2020 and Belgium on it way to meet the target.

Portugal: The country has ambitious target to reduce its energy dependence to 74% and increase the share of renewable energy to 60% by 2020. Under the MOBI.e project, the country plans to have nationwide Smart Grid for electric cars. It is the first such country that has nationwide electric car infrastructure plan. So far, 50 charging station in 25 municipalities across the nation are active, which is set to become 1300 by mid 2011. It is also the first country where state of the head is using electric car. Seeing Portugal's vision of having 750,000 electric cars in near future, Nissan choose Portugal to roll-out Leaf, the first 100% consumer electric car in whole of Europe. EDP Distribution, the Portugal utility company has started InovGrid project INESC Porto, Efacec, Janz and Logica to develop Smart Grid infrastructure. As part of this project, Evora in Alentejo is choosen for the first pilot project, which is set to become the first InovCity.

Eastern Europe: The Eastern Europe is lagging behind Western and Northern Europe in Smart Grid Development, In fact, there is hardly any progress on this front. Plagued with in-efficiency, lack of funds, bureaucracy, corruption and with no political will, Smart Grid was largely unknown term in this part of the world until recently. Now, it seems some countries are taking concrete steps in developing Smart Grid Infrastructure. Romania recently became the first country in Eastern Europe to have smart grid pilot project in the Romanian city at Brasov. Flashnet and Electrica SA are to implement the project for 5000 - 10000 residential and industrial customers. The project will test Smart meters, two-way communication, data  management systems, compatibility with the existing systems, and other advanced technologies.

Czech republic, Slovenia, Russia, Austria, and Bosnia are the other notable countries, which have ongoing Smart Grid pilot project.

Super Smart Grid: This is the most ambitious project conceived by north-western European countries to interlink the underwater energy grid in north seas with wind farms, tidal power station, and hydroelectric plants. The high-tech cables will connect existing wind mill located at British and German coast with tidal station of Denmark and hydroelectric plant of Norway. The euro 30 billion project will  provide continuous flow of  green energy. The participating countries Germany, Great Britain, Denmark, Sweden, France, Luxemburg, Ireland, Belgium, and Netherlands are planning to implement it within next 10 years. The project is expected to produce 100 gigawatts and will help the EU in fulfilling its goal of generating 20% of its energy through renewable energy by 2020.

 Part -1, Part -2, Part -3, Part -4, Part -5

Smart Grid projects in India - Part 1

With Smart Grid buzz gaining momentum across the world, every country is rolling out pilot projects to test the combination of technologies that may best suite their unique needs . Similarly, In India, private companies, utilities,distribution companies, and startups in close collaboration with government, are engaged in various smart grid projects.

BESCOM Smart Grid Pilot: The Bangalore utility company, Bangalore Electricity Supply Company(BESCOM), is pursuing Smart Grid Pilot, which may potentially become India's first Smart Grid pilot. The project is supported by Ministry of Power,Government of India and the United States Agency for International Assistance (USAID). Central Power Research Institute (CPRI), which has been appointed as consultant for the project will carry out the feasibility study along with the International Partner. The U.S.Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has been appointed to select International consultant, which, according to the RFP available at the USTDA website, will be an American organization. The Electronic City, a 332 acre industrial complex housing 100 plus IT companies and educational institutions, located outside Bangalore is chosen as the site for the study. The study will be implemented using following steps for which the time-frame is 12 months.

(1) Feasibility study of the project

(2) Site selection 

(3) A request for information to gather the most current information on Smart Grid technologies, services, and    pricing 

(4) Preparation of a detailed project report and outreach to customers

(5) Project implementation including advanced metering infrastructure test, smart pricing and load control, and integration of renewable

(6) Post-implementation assessment of pilot project data

West Bengal Smart Grid Pilot : The West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (WBSEDCL), a wholly-owned state government enterprise, recently announced a first of its kind Smart Grid pilot in India that will pin-point power theft or unauthorized consumption in real-time basis. According to state secretary, Malay De, Singapore Power  Ltd will be appointed as "super-consultant" for the project, which will be completed in next 2-3 years. To start with, The WBSEDCL will enter in agreement with US technology provider, which will supply technology and run the project. The pilot will be executed in south Kolkata locality Garia that has 50,000 customer consuming 45 MW power. The project, which is estimated to cost Rs. 300-350 crores is going to  be first such large-scale pilot project in India. According to Secretary, Malay De, it will probably be the first such project in the world where entire power generation, transmission, and distribution will be brought under single roof of control.

5 interesting smart grid news stories of the week

Check out this five interesting Smart Grid news stories of this week.

1) Smart Meter Installation to reach 350 million by 2016 in Asia pacific

2) What does it cost to opt out of  a Smart Meter?

3) Conversation with GE, What are the best alternative energy management ideas at home?


4) Smart Grid Meets Smart Plug, Does A Deal

5) Ten countries will account for 80% of global smart grid investment by 2030

India among the top 10 Smart Grid Investment countries

A recent research report published by Innovation Observatory reveals that utilities worldwide will spend US$378 billion in Smart Grid technologies by 2030. However, the lion share (almost 80%)  of the total investment will be taken by only 10 countries. The United States will be leading the Smart Grid investment for the next five years. By 2030, it will spend US$66 billion for intelligent smart grid infrastructure. Apart from smart meters, the investment will be geared towards grid automation, communication infrastructure, IT systems and hardware, home area network, and system integration. China, which will take over the US as the leading Smart Grid market by 2016, will supposedly spend US$99 billion by 2030, which includes roll-out of 360 million Smart Meters.

The two emerging nations India and Brazil also have massive smart grid investment plans and are among the top 10 list. India, which will be the third largest smart grid investment market, is set to install 130 million Smart Meters by 2021. At present, the market in India is nascent with only few smart meters roll out happened. But it seems to gather pace from 2012 onwards. During the same period, Brazil, which will be the sixth largest smart gird market, is set to replace 63 million smart meters.

The other members of the top 10 includes leading European countries the UK, Germany, France, and Spain and Japan and South Korea from the Asia Pacific region.

The competition to win the contracts will be fierce among the technology suppliers to tap the massive market opportunity. Companies will have to tailor their strategy based on the scale of the project, the region of the market, their expertise, and smart grid value chain they operate in.

Top 10 List

1) China

2) USA

3) India

4) France

5) Germany

6) Brazil

7) Spain

8) The UK

9) Japan

10) South Korea

Interesting Smart Grid updates of the week

In the first of its kind, Smart Grid India has started covering interesting updates from across the internet-sphere for its readers. With the growth of Internet many of the important developments are happening on Blogs, Vlogs, and social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Technorati, Mashups, and of course on other standard websites. More so often, when many of the information is repeated, It is hard to keep tab of important development. In this series, we intend to provide important Smart Grid Development of the week.

1) Cities that will have higher Electric Vehicle (EV) Penetration

Published by SmartGridNews, the Pike research report reveals which areas will have higher EV Penetration in the USA in the future.

2) How Smart Grid may help solve Solar's cost and control problem

Greenbiz.com published interesting article "how smart grid can resolve solar energy's cost problem". According to the report, cost and control seems to be major concern for Solar's deployment. Smart Grid, which can intelligently be used to manage the load by better prediction, distribution, and control will help solar energy maximize the resource utilization and thus will help reduce the overall cost.

3) More Data Management and less outage time

Published by Greentech media, it tells how customer when faced with Outages feel optimistic about Smart Grid solutions.

4) Europe is leading the other areas of the world in Smart Grid Planning

 Published by IEEE, provides very interesting insight about Europe's top-level planning of Smart Grid.

5) Slicing and Dicing Smart Grid Data

Another IEEE production gives interesting information of Smart Grid Data.

Overview of 2011 Smart Energy India- Enabling India's Smart Grid Vision

The fourth Annual Smart Energy India Conference 2011 was held at the Lalit, Barakhamba Avenue, New Delhi. The event, organized by the Spintelligent with a theme "Enabling India's Smart Grid Vision"  attracted utilities from across the world to exhibit their solutions and intellectuals to discuss India's Smart Grid future. The Conference began with a workshop on Wind and Solar Energy led by Mr. Rahul Walawakar and Mr. Mahesh and Miss Usha Rao. They concentrated on the technologies and the challenges that we are going to face to implement smart grid in India. Apart from the technological aspects, the economical feasibility and a road map for implementation was thought as a major hurdle for the implementation of smart grid in India.

The second day started with a panel discussion amongst intellectuals from the Government Of India- Mr. Pramod Deo, Mr. Devender Singh, Shri Anil Razdan, Mr. N Murugesan chaired by Mr. Gopal Saxena. Later during the day, prominent companies like IBM , Ericssonm, Schneider Electric, Analog Devices, and SAP presented their solutions for smart grid. On the Final day, representative from Atos World Grid, National Instruments and Energie Dynamique India had very interesting panel discussion. Atos Origin launched its sub-group Atos World Grid at the conference.

Harit Soni, the co-founder of India's first Smart Grid specific startup Ecolibrium Energy, talked about the company’s pilot project at the Gujarat Secretariat. Mr. RK Goyal, Director of Tetra Tech, gave a very comprehensive view of the present smart grid infrastructure of India and also devised a roadmap for smarter grids in India. The PGCIL, one of the major utilities, gave an interesting perspective about the status of the existing transmission systems in India.

The final speech was presented by CEO of BSES Yamuna Power, Mr. Gopal Saxena. He gave different but very effective solution for India’s smart grid. The event brought smart grid companies, professionals, facilitators, government officials, academicians, intellectuals, students, and  enthusiast on one platform to discuss Smart Grid road-map for India and thus bringing it closer to realization.  

Contributed by:  Pratik Sonthalia, IIT Roorkee

Smart Grid development in Denmark, Netherlands, Ireland, and Finland

In the fourth part of the continuing series of Smart Grid adoption in different countries, Smart Grid India covers Denmark, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Finland. The UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, Malta, and France are at the fore-front of Smart Grid adoption in Europe. Nonetheless, countries like the Netherlands, Denmark, Ireland, Finland are making substantial progress in Smart Grid adoption.

Netherlands : Although, the country has no government mandate for installing Smart Meters (it is voluntary), Companies, Cities, and Organizations are leading Smart Grid technology adoption. For example, Amsterdam is transforming itself into Smart City by collaborating with companies like IBM, Cisco, Philips, and Alliander that will cost $410 per household over the next 15 years to install the Smart Grid across the city. It plans to complete the first phase by 2012. Dutch research center ECN, KEMA, Software company Humiq, and utility company Essent jointly developed a smart grid based micro-grid project for 25 households at "PowerMatchingCity" located at Hoogkerk to test various smart grid technologies. Another such recent initiative taken by companies in Netherlands is Smart Energy Collective (SEC) in which more than 20 companies have agreed to collaborate to develop intelligent energy concepts. Under these initiative they plan to develop number of large-scale demonstration projects with total of around 5000 private and small business customers. SEC is considered to be the most significant industry initiative taken so far in whole of Europe.

Ireland : The government along-with ESB Networks, the electric network utility in Ireland is developing comprehensive Smart Grid plan that will support integration of wind energy, energy efficiency, and electric vehicles. ESB Network is joining hands with Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) for Smart Grid demonstration projects in Ireland. The Electric Research Center (ERC) along with Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) and Commission of Energy Regulation (CER) and other 16 industrial partners is coordinating and conducting Smart Grid research. The primary objectives of Ireland 's Smart Grid project are 1) Renewable Integration 2) Energy Efficiency 3) Electric Transportation and 4) Flexible Grid. The country plans to invest 10 billion euro in Smart Grid development by 2020. It has National Smart Meter deployment plan that will deploy 2 million smart meters over the years.

Denmark: The country receives around 40% of its energy needs through wind turbines that are distributed across the nation. To effectively use these distributed intermittent resource, it needs intelligent grid. Danish government has outlined wind-car Smart Grid through project like EDISON, where organization like IBM, Danish energy company DONG, Siemens, Technical University of Denmark, Eurisco, and Danish Energy Association together will develop the needed infrastructure. The government plans to have 10% electric cars in 10 years. Recently, Denmark concluded one of the largest Smart Grid test successfully, where 13 substation between 60kv and 10kv, 4 CHP station and 47 wind turbine were disconnected and were instead connected to virtual power stations. The cell project in Holsted covered 50 sq.km area with approximately 28,000 meters. The other notable projects includes 1) Spiare along-with Copenhagen Clean-tech Cluster is developing Smart Grid project for Kalundborg city and 2) Echelon installing 400,000 Smart Meter for Danish Utility company SEAS-NVE by 2011.

Finland: An early adopter of Smart Grid bandwagon, the Nordic country has ambitious plan for Smart Meters, AMI, and Smart Grid implementation. Finnish utility Fortum along with Telvent and Echelon is connecting 550,000 households and business with Smart Grid system by 2013. the project is one of the largest Smart Grid project in Finland. ABB and Nokia Siemens systems are working with Helsingin Energia the utility company of the capital city of Helsinki to install Smart Grid systems for the new Kalasatama district. Overall, the governments plans to cover 80% of the country with Smart Meter by 2013. 

Part -1, Part -2, Part -3, Part -4