A smart grid delivers electricity from suppliers to consumers using digital technology to

control appliances at consumer's homes to save energy, reduce cost and increase
reliability and transparency.

Smart Grid is an approach of making the energy grid smart by utilizing advance sensors,
software, and hardware technology. It is predicted that it will transform the energy sector
the way Internet has transform the IT industry.

The companies supplying electricity can monitor where their supply is going and what
are the peak load and other good stuff. The consumers can monitor how much they are
consuming and tune their usage accordingly.

A Smart Grid: Foundation for a sustainable energy future.

• For an economic prospective: a smart grid can enable reduced overall energy
consumption through consumer education and participation in energy efficiency
and demand response/ load management program. Shifting of electricity usage to
less expensive off-peak hrs can allow for better utilization of equipment and better
use of capacity.
• From an environment stand point: a smart grid can reduce emission by
maximizing demand response/load management, minimizing use of peak
generation replacing traditional form of generation with renewable source of
generation.
• A smart grid also holds the promises of enhanced reliability and security of the
nation’s power system.

Challenges:

• Customer awareness & participation

• Allocation of cost appropriately and fairly among stakeholders
• Developing and executing business case model
• Identifying & Implementing best practices & standards
• Establishing a c0-ordinated strategy

Smart Grid technologies are at last becoming a reality in India. GE Energy is the first to
get this technology in India through R-APDRP program.

Smart Grid is a family of network control systems and asset-management tools,

empowered by sensors, communication pathways and information tools. It is a unique
and powerful collection of skills, products and partnerships that break through the
obstacles to smart grid implementation. So you can slash inefficiencies, anticipate
demand and reduce loads, while at the same time raising reliability to new levels.

According to G.S Bhatia (GM of GE), Embracing Smart Grid can result in significant
benefits to utilities. "While the exact figure depends upon starting positions, investments
undertaken, quality of implementation etc., typical figures for a 10,00,000 customer utility
would be 21 per cent SAIDI improvement, customer bill reduction of 6 per cent, technical
losses improvement by around 2 percent in addition to other latent benefits like customer
satisfaction, reduction of carbon footprints, integration of renewable etc,".

Figure1. Smart Grid enabling more efficient energy use

Effective use of Smart Grid technologies helps utilities:

• Optimize grid use.

• Improve grid efficiency and security.
• Better align demand with supply constraints and grid congestion.
• Enable distributed generation (especially from renewable sources).
• Empower customers to manage their consumption and take advantage of pricing
and supply options.

First cities with smart grids

• Italian system, 2005: savings of 500 million at a project cost of 2.1 billion
 • In the US, the city of Austin and Texas has been working on building its smart grid
since 2003
• Canada is in the midst of a large-scale Smart Grid initiative

The major driving forces to modernize current power grids can be divided in four
types

• Increasing reliability, efficiency and safety of the power grid.

• Enabling decentralized power generation so homes can be both an energy client
and supplier (provide consumers with interactive tool to manage energy usage).
• Flexibility of power consumption at the client’s side to allow supplier selection
(enables distributed generation, solar, wind, and biomass).
• Increase GDP

Smart Grid Function

1. Be able to heal itself

2. Motivate consumers to actively participate in operations of the grid
3. Resist attack
4. Provide higher quality power that will save money wasted from outages
5. Accommodate all generation and storage options
6. Enable electricity markets to flourish
7. Run more efficiently
8. Enable higher penetration of intermittent power generation sources

Conclusion

The power companies are going to be the most benefited from this technology. The grid
will change from its present centralized model to decentralized model in which consumer
can be energy receiver, supplier, and producer. Thus letting the customers to monitor the
electricity they use in their homes, paying less for power consumed in off-hours. It would
create more energy-efficient power lines to carry electricity longer distances without
losing voltage.