This week at DistribuTECH, S&C is exhibiting our latest new products and software, along with expanded features for existing offerings. I could delve into the nitty-gritty technical benefits of these offerings (of which we feel there are many), but instead, I wanted to give background on how S&C’s smart grid portfolio is evolving. And to do that, I need to share our perspective on some of the key challenges facing the electric utility industry, and what S&C is doing to help our customers address these issues.
Utilities are facing disruptive technologies including renewable energy resources—both centralized and distributed—and electric cars. These technologies are disruptive because they could greatly alter electricity demand patterns and electric generation availability – which in turn could have a major impact on the reliability and stability of the grid. A smart grid will help utilities manage the impact of renewables and electric vehicles by flattening potentially rising peak demand, adding capacity to the grid, enabling consumers and businesses to shift their consumption patterns, and more. But questions remain about how quickly these technologies will evolve such that they could truly be disruptive. There are also questions about various communities’ commitment to maintain policies supporting these technologies given the economic turbulence in our world today.
With uncertainty about how adoption of these disruptive technologies, where does that leave the smart grid? Is there still a role for it?
Our answer is a resounding yes.
Improving the reliability, capacity, and efficiency of electric grids has always been a major priority for electric utilities, and it will continue to be a major priority. Smart grid technologies give utilities advanced new tools to improve the grid. Reliability can be taken to the next level, which is essential as the bar for electric service reliability is higher than ever. Utilities can also build more capacity into the grid and maximize efficiency, which translates into lower electric delivery costs and reduced energy purchase requirements.
The new products and software that S&C is introducing at DistribuTECH help utilities address what you might call these “basic” priorities of grid reliability, capacity, and efficiency. Our IntelliTeam® DEM Distributed Energy Management allows distributed stored energy resources to be managed as a fleet, effectively serving as a virtual power plant to reduce peak demand on centralized generation as well as freeing capacity on the transmission grid. Our IntelliRupter® Pulsecloser and IntelliTeam® SG Automatic Restoration System also offer expanded functionality—like the new 38-kV IntelliRupter model—that will help utilities further improve electric service reliability.
The future requirements of the grid are also important to consider, of course. These latest innovations—along with other solution sets in S&C’s smart grid portfolio—also lay a foundation to address disruptive technologies. But the solutions are designed to provide immediate near-term benefits, and aren’t exclusively intended to help address future grid requirements that are not yet fully defined.
Given the current economic and policy environment, what are your thoughts about balancing current needs versus future requirements? Where do we need to put the focus in smart grid investments?
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