Modern Protocol for the Smart Grid

Distribution System Operators (DSO) and utilities in LATAM and worldwide are modernizing their electricity grids to enable highly reliable efficient and secure power infrastructure for the next century. The critical issue is about enabling the smart grid - an energy infrastructure that runs from generation to distribution and includes thousands of grid-connected devices and systems that consume energy (figure 1). 

Smart metering sets the stage for a smart grid “system” offering increased functionality via built-in two-way communications and smart grid applications, many of which provide improved and expanded customer service. 

However, DSOs should think beyond the meter and toward an overall system solution that delivers dramatic improvements in utility operations, reliability, and customer-service capabilities by offering detailed usage information, demand metering, detailed power-quality data, energy loss information, timely outage information and flexible billing options. Consumers, DSOs, and retailers all benefit from smart grid development. 

Figure 1: Smart Grid Overview (source IEEE.org)

The Smart Grid helps customers better manage their energy use and costs. It is important for Utilities to ensure a high level of reliability and service to their customers, and this will become more challenging in the near future because of the additions of renewable energy sources, electric vehicles and distributed generation. A smart grid will make it possible for DSOs to more effectively and efficiently manage the distribution network. A smart grid can improve management of the transmission and distribution assets, as well as a supplier’s generation portfolio, in order to keep pace with customers’ increasing electricity usage and peak demand. For the supplier and retailer, it makes possible and accelerates the adoption of new services to help them differentiate their offerings in increasingly competitive energy markets. In order to achieve all of these vast benefits requires a set of open standards that allows the Smart Grid system to communicate securely and reliably with all Smart Grid devices.

Smart meters have been the first step utilities have taken toward building a smart grid infrastructure. The newest generation of smart meters not only provide utilities the tools they can use to offer their customer flexible billing options, they also have the ability to act as intelligent grid sensors that provide utilities with data and control capabilities to run the grid more efficiently. Combined with other dedicated grid sensing and control devices, these smart meters can form the backbone of smart grid infrastructure that solves immediate needs while laying a foundation for new applications in the future.

Realizing this vision creates choices for utilities; they must balance the needs for today to have a reliable, proven system that can be deployed in high scale with low risk while also providing headroom for growth so as to protect their customers against additional costs should their needs outgrow system capabilities.