Generating Big Data from the Smart Grid turned out to be the easy part. Now it is time to extract the value from the data to improve energy efficiency.
- By James Hsu
The electric industry is in the process of transformation. Many have heard of the smart grid, but there is a new term in town called the ‘soft grid.’ The smart grid collects enormous amounts of data from businesses and homes, but it is the soft grid that makes sense of it all. The soft grid is a generalized term referring collectively to Big Data, analytics, and other IT features. It gets to the heart of the smart grid’s real value: How can the flood of new data be efficiently captured, analyzed, and turned into knowledge? Smart technology enables utilities to collect, monitor, and manage the flow of electricity and capture transmitted data, but data alone is not valuable. The real value of Big Data lies in the ability of utility companies to analyze the data and convert the results into decision-making strategies.
Many people have experienced the benefits of the smart grid and are not aware of that fact. For example, a business experiences a power outage, and calls to report it, only to discover the utility company already knows there is a problem. The smart grid reported the outage and pinpointed the location. Chances are the utility company is already working to restore service. Another paradigm associated with power losses is also created. Utility companies can easily identify and document power losses on lines leading to customers. If the losses are excessive, the utility knows to revamp the system to improve performance.
The smart grid can also play an important role in the use of alternative energy sources as renewable energy sources like geothermal, wind, and solar systems are connected to electrical systems. The soft grid collects detailed information on power distribution between the traditional and alternative energy sources. The utility company can analyze the data in terms of solar performance, wind activity, and seasonal weather to design a more efficient power system that maximizes use of renewable energy sources. Notice the value is created not just by the data, but by the integration of system and non-system data, followed by analysis.
The smart grid produces so much data that the electric companies have been a bit overwhelmed, by their own admission. The terabytes (fourth power of one-thousand, a thousand times bigger than megabytes) of data are largely being stored at this point, so the next issue is unlocking the information it holds. A start is figuring out how to connect smart grid data points to the conditions impacting the system at any particular time. Phasor monitoring units (PMUSs) can be installed at various points on the grid that have the capability of collecting critical data as fast as 30 times per second. The PMUs collect information including digital, current, and voltage measurements that can help the electric companies make sense of the data. One of the greatest industry needs is better software to manage the enormous amounts of data and unlock its secrets. There is also a need for an Information Technology infrastructure to manage the resource-hogging calculations using Big Data.
A Vision of the Future Captured in Big Data
Utility companies need to rethink their organizations and form collaborative partnerships to ideally leverage the data. Currently, a decentralized utility industry has numerous energy supplier businesses collecting their own Big Data in a way unique to that specific utility. The incompatible data sources have to be integrated to find the most value. Energy companies are highly competitive, but technology is, once again, changing business dynamics. The need for innovative approaches means companies must become more transparent and be willing to share data and analytics among themselves and with startups and vendors. It is similar to the transformation corporations have undergone as they adapted to globalization, social media, and technologies, requiring them to breakdown silos, invite stakeholders to bring innovative ideas and collaborative solutions, and create transparent supply chains. The development of applications for data collection and management is an opportunity looking for innovators.
This is where it gets extremely complicated. Utility enterprises need silo-crossing data analytics systems integrated at all levels of operations. The vision consists of a system in which Big Data flows from smart meters into data analytics systems that produce the information various utility functions need. The analytics are not just concerned with energy supply and demand balancing. They can help companies detect electricity theft, develop variable pricing models, develop incentives to reduce system peak loads, manage outages, monitor grid system “health,” streamline storm damage responses, and identify and prevent grid problems due to disruptive events projected into the future, like overloads, solar flares, or heavy fog. Predictive analytics offer some of the greatest advantages of harnessing Big Data because they will enable greater system reliability, planning for pre-event responses, and financial and energy flow modeling.
There are some tremendously innovative efforts underway to extract the value out of the smart grid system. Consolidated Edison’s project called SCADA will integrate over 1.5 million data collection points over the next two years. Oracle and SAP have launched transformer health monitoring applications, integrating metering data with information captured about the weather, temperature, and equipment to identify transformers under stress. Oklahoma Gas & Electric developed a system for integrating smart meter data and customer responses through energy use practices made in response to variable pricing programs. Startup AutoGrid partnered with the utility company Austin Energy and vendor Schneider Electric to develop and deploy utility programs with in-home devices to encourage demand response, or reducing energy consumption during periods of peak loads. It is all about extracting hard information, and that is where the business opportunities are found in the soft grid.
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