Utilities around the world are under pressure. Growing populations are using increasing amounts of power, which is putting a strain on existing supplies. In many countries (including the US), the increase in demand is growing faster than the rate at which utilities are able to increase their transmission capacity. And the cost of providing power is also increasing due to higher fuel costs and increases in the cost of construction and capital expenses.
To make things even more challenging, governments around the world are introducing new regulations and guidelines to reduce emissions. And many countries have deregulated the energy sector in recent years, which has led to greater competition along with consumer demand for more control over power usage and costs.
This has forced utilities to rethink tradition practices and look for a smarter way to provide supply, billing and services to their customers.
About Smart Energy
AMR, AMI and HANs
Automated meter reading (AMR) and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) are revolutionizing the industry. AMR provides more efficient and timely metering information, while AMI uses this information to put more control into the hands of both utilities and consumers by giving them more detailed information about consumption. This allows utilities to better regulate supply and to refine their pricing structure based on demand cycles. It also gives consumers immediate feedback about their usage, allowing them to reduce consumption by turning off things they don’t need and switching others over to non-peak demand times when prices are lower.
Demand Response
Demand response (DR) refers to the reduction of consumer energy usage at times of peak usage to help address system reliability, reflect market conditions and pricing, and support infrastructure optimization or deferral. Demand response programs can include dynamic pricing/tariffs, price-responsive demand bidding, contractually obligated and voluntary curtailment, and direct load control/cycling.
In a DR system, AMI networks are extended through smart meters or separate gateways to also include home area networks (HANs), which connect communicating devices and systems such as lighting, thermostats, load switches, and in-home displays. Utilities who institute time-of-use pricing schemes can use the HAN to communicate the current price of energy to the consumer. Smart appliances connected to the HAN can be controlled automatically or manually (including remotely) to react to pricing events and operate during low-cost energy periods.
Utilities can also be given access to HANs in certain situations, for example, during emergencies they can adjust thermostats and other high-usage household applications to free up supply and make sure it can be delivered where it is most needed.
Applications
- Utilities are able to track peak usage times (and days), which provides them with the ability to offer consumers a greater range of rates and programs, such as time-based pricing.
- On-demand meter reading and remote troubleshooting allow utilities to provide better and more timely consumer support. Utilities have more information at hand about outages and restorations, and are able to provide consumers with reliable information about when power will be restored.
- Smart energy can be integrated with smart homes to provide both consumers and utilities remote access to the home area network (HAN). For example, consumers can remotely adjust usage during peak periods when prices are high, and utilities can remotely adjust usage during emergencies.
Savings
- Demand response can enable utilities to keep prices low by reducing demand when wholesale prices are high.
- Utilities can post meter readings daily (or at more regular intervals) for consumers to view, which enables consumers to track and modify their energy usage. This provides more timely and immediate feedback than traditional monthly or quarterly statements.
- Utilities can not only notify consumers of peak demand times, but also monitor the extent to which those notifications cause consumers to change their habits and reduce their load during these periods.
- Utilities and consumers both benefit from more accurate billing that is available thanks to the increased granularity of usage information. This gives consumers better control of their usage and passes on the biggest savings to those who use services most efficiently. It also helps to reduce the number of billing inquiries and helps to make those inquiries easier to resolve.
Safety and Conservation
- During emergencies, utilities can create “partial outages” in non-exempt buildings to ensure that power remains available where it is most needed. Partial outages are more economically efficient than full rotating outages because the effects are limited to the reduction of a single discretionary service (such as air conditioning) rather than the elimination of all services.
- When consumers use less power to save money, utilities are better able to manage the power they have available and don’t need to generate as much. This not only reduces costs for the utility (in reducing the number of new power stations that need to be built), it also helps to reduce emissions to satisfy new “green” legislation.
Daintree Smart Energy Solutions
MeshOperator
Daintree’s MeshOperator provides a comprehensive solution for developing and delivering wireless embedded applications and services based on technologies such as ZigBee and IEEE 802.125.4. It provides components that deliver key features essential for commissioning, operating and managing wireless embedded networks. MeshOperator allows you to deliver a new class of wireless embedded services such as smart energy and energy-efficient commercial and industrial lighting. By using MeshOperator’s off-the-shelf reporting, pre-emptive diagnostics, automatic repair capabilities, and troubleshooting tools, you save the time, cost and effort of developing your own operations and management solution.
