When I dream, I like to dream big. I think we all do — that’s why we call it dreaming. To take an example, I envision a future when I can buy electricity for my home, and sell electricity from my solar PV array… On both spot and futures markets… On my iPhone. (Why? Because I am a geek.)
While dreaming big is nice, it does have its drawbacks — namely, it’s usually pretty far removed from reality. The chances of the above scenario panning out in my lifetime, for example, are probably pretty slim. At least two things would have to happen: (1) a robust smart grid would have to be developed and deployed across the U.S., and (2) Web-enabled utility meters would have to become industry standard. The first is a ways away; the second, closer than you may think.
Consider the following. Adding 50,000 megawatts of renewable power to the U.S. energy portfolio sounds great. And it’s doable. But, as this recent article from MIT Technology Review suggests, without updating the underlying infrastructure (i.e., the national grid), added capacity won’t amount to squat.
Today, the United States’ grid encompasses 164,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines–those familiar rows of steel towers that carry electricity from power plants to substations–and more than 5,000 local distribution networks. But while its size and complexity have grown immensely, the grid’s basic structure has changed little since Thomas Edison switched on a distribution system serving 59 customers in lower Manhattan in 1882. “If Edison would wake up today, and he looked at the grid, he would say, ‘That is where I left it,’” says Guido Bartels, general manager of the IBM Global Energy and Utilities Industry group.
While this structure has served remarkably well to deliver cheap power to a broad population, it’s not particularly well suited to fluctuating power sources like solar and wind. First of all, the transmission lines aren’t in the right places. The gusty plains of the Midwest and the sun-baked deserts of the Southwest–areas that could theoretically provide the entire nation with wind and solar power–are at tail ends of the grid, isolated from the fat arteries that supply power to, say, Chicago or Los Angeles. Second, the grid lacks the storage capacity to handle variability–to turn a source like solar power, which generates no energy at night and little during cloudy days, into a consistent source of electricity. And finally, the grid is, for the most part, a “dumb” one-way system. Consider that when power goes out on your street, the utility probably won’t know about it unless you or one of your neighbors picks up the phone. That’s not the kind of system that could monitor and manage the fluctuating output of rooftop solar panels or distributed wind turbines.
For a peek at an interesting smart grid pilot project, check out what Xcel Energy is doing with its SmartGrid City in Boulder, Colorado.
As for Web-enabled metering, a number of solutions are already out there. Among installers who have such devices on offer, California-based Borrego Solar provides
“web–based remote monitoring as an option with every system. Remote monitoring allows both Borrego Solar and the system owner to easily analyze system performance. Systems with remote monitoring can be configured to automatically transmit service alerts to the system owner via email or text message.”
Pretty cool, huh? The long-term aim of these sorts of solutions is to give more control to us, the consumers. You may not think retail electricity markets are the most exciting and dynamic thing to hit the scene since the Internet — I won’t hold this against you. But you’ve gotta agree that selling power while you’re away on vacation — or remotely turning off appliances in your home to save juice during peak demand hours — are pretty compelling notions. You might call them dreams, even.
