Re-imagining the electric grid

Were Thomas Edison alive today, he could probably figure out how to run your local electric utility. Things just haven’t changed that much since he envisioned the system of generators, distribution wires, transformers, and other equipment that make up today's grid.

For some, the longevity of Edison’s inventions may suggest the far-sightedness of his vision. But as incandescent bulbs -- another invention that Edison made popular -- give way to CFLs and LEDs, so too is the electric grid being re-imagined.

Many forward-thinking utilities believe that, with a new suite of technologies and techniques, they can provide power more reliably and efficiently than they have in the past. In the process, they believe they can make more money and provide better service and choices to their customers.

While there still isn’t full consensus on what this new paradigm might entail, here are some of the features being considered:

• Two-way communication: Rather than have a one-way flow of electrons from the generating facility to the things we plug in, all our devices could communicate with the utility and other parts of the grid. On a hot summer day, your clothes dryer might ask the utility whether it’s okay to turn on at 3 p.m. in the afternoon, when air conditioner use is high. If not, the clothes dryer would wait until demand went down and conditions were more favorable. Interactive controls in the home could even help you automate how you use electricity.


• Smart substations: Sensors at substations could help utility managers determine where there’s a problem and when, allowing them to isolate or preclude disruptions and run the whole system optimally.


• More renewable and distributed sources of energy: Pairing sophisticated communications with novel ways of managing loads could help utilities boost the amount of renewable resources on the grid, as well as integrate non-centralized power sources (like those solar panels on your roof or, one day, plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles).

In addition to helping utilities make money, this new paradigm could create quite a few benefits for the consumer. Among them:

• More choice of where electricity your comes from: Imagine logging onto your utility’s website and specifying exactly where you want your energy to come from. If you want all green, renewable power, just set a preference. If you want the cheapest energy, select another.


• More reliable power: Sensors and two-way communication will help your utility deliver power more reliably and potentially fix problems quickly or even before you notice a disruption in service.


• Easier ways to conserve energy or use it more efficiently: Because you’ll be able to see in real-time the consequences of your energy use, you can make smarter decisions about what you turn on when, how long you use electronic devices, etc.


• Lower cost of some clean technologies: If the cost of solar panels or a plug-in hybrid looks steep now, this new grid might make the investment more attractive. Some of the equipment you buy, own, and operate could provide valuable services to the grid that can be credited against the cost of what you consume.

This all may sound far-off in the future, but it’s not. A number of pilot projects are already underway in the United States testing various aspects of this new paradigm and how best to roll it out.

One of the most exciting, ambitious, and integrated experiments going on right now is happening in Boulder, Colorado. The local utility, Xcel Energy, is making the mid-size town the nation’s first “Smart Grid City.”

The company began installing sensors and the backbone of the new communications system earlier this summer. By December 2009, it hopes to have started integrating plug-in hybrid vehicles on the grid.

Examples of Edison’s generators, distribution wires, and transformers are all preserved in an exhibit at the National Museum of American History in Washington D.C. If Xcel and other utilities experiments pay off, one day in the not-so-distant future, what’s in that exhibit might truly be a thing of the past.

Noah Buhayar is a fellow at Rocky Mountain Institute.