Technology is central to the successful development of an electrical infrastructure to support a digital society. Its primary role is to ensure that the underlying infrastructure itself does not become the limiting factor in the growth of the network economy.
Electricity is arguably the most critical of the infrastructures because it is the lifeblood of all other systems. However, in the broadest sense, technology needs will be driven by distinct reliability goals for power transmission and for power distribution.
Clearly the solution will involve a combination of options: Simply “gold plating” the present power delivery system would not be an effective, way to provide high-reliability power for the digital economy. Rather, four distinct infrastructure reliability goals need to be considered:
1. Improvements in high-voltage transmission networks need to focus on increasing capacity and enhancing reliability enough to support a stable wholesale power market. Specifically, new technologies need to be deployed that can prevent cascading outages and price spikes like those that have occurred recently. Such infrastructure improvements will ensure that the U.S. transmission grid can provide lowest-cost power evenly across wide regions of the country.
2. Improvements in utility distribution systems need to focus on integrating low-cost power from the transmission system with an increasing number of local generation and storage options—collectively known as distributed resources (DR)—which will play a vital role in providing high reliability retail electricity, whether deployed by power providers or by customers themselves. It is likely that an increasing amount of Internet power will be delivered on-site, as well as uninterrupted power supply (UPS) systems incorporating storage and DR.
The very character of digitally based electric energy devices and appliances must be subject to more standardization as to their installation, compatibility, and sensitivity to reliability and other distortions in electricity.
For example, lack of electromagnetic compatibility causes wireless radiated power quality disturbances that increasingly lead to improper operation of industrial control devices. Furthermore, adequate guidelines, let alone standards, do not exist for even wiring a digital infrastructure-ready building.
1. Net metering (buying and selling power through a “smart” electronic meter) and real-time pricing must also be encouraged to facilitate price signals and demand-response in the retail electricity market. Lacking such advances, there is no economic incentive for customers to conserve at times of high demand (and high generation cost) or to sell electricity back to the utility from distributed generation sources.
Meeting these goals will require adoption of separate strategies for improving the reliability of transmission and distribution systems as well as the performance of end-use devices. Both sets of strategies rely heavily on the use of new technology, but important choices must still be made about how best to apply these technologies to meet reliability and economic goals.
Part I: Transformative ERA of Digital Society and Power Requirements I
Part II: Requirement of Electricity in Digital Society II
Part III: Creating the Needed Electrical Infrastructure for Digital Society III
Part IV: Infrastructure Convergence of Digital Society IV
About FrankPicini
Connect with Us