SMART GRID BENEFITS

A Smart Grid can optimize the electric distribution system, which still operates as designed nearly 100 years ago, and thus reduce the need for electricity and the related CO₂ produced by electric generation.  

• United States: The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 made Smart Grid a national policy of the United States and many recent articles and policy papers have recognized the critical nature of the Smart Grid.

• Europe: “Without effective deployment of the SmartGrids concepts, European security of electricity supply in general, and the operational security of the European electricity grids in particular, may not be maintained. This is crucial not just for the large scale development of renewables, but also because of the steady demand growth and more onerous environmental requirements which conventional grids and methodologies will increasingly find difficult to meet.” [1]

• Canada: “Provincial initiatives on conservation, renewable generation and smart meters begin the move towards a new electricity system, but their full promise will not be realized without the advanced technologies that make the smart grid possible. The challenges that Ontario faces in simultaneously incorporating distributed generation, addressing growth, and replacing aging infrastructure while maintaining reliability and quality of service are daunting. While new grid infrastructure will be necessary to connect generation resources, replace aging assets and address growth, simply adding wires and equipment without intelligence is not a viable option.” [2]

• "A Smart Grid combines advances in information technology with innovations in power systems management to create a significantly more efficient distribution system for electrical energy. A Smart Grid would accommodate decentralized power production from renewable sources directly interfacing with equipment, appliances, and electrical vehicles to improve energy efficiency; and redistribute energy supply to accommodate unexpected surges in use and avoid mass outages." [3]

• "Without a radically expanded and smarter electrical grid, wind and solar will remain niche energy sources." [4] 

•  Electric utilities now have the opportunity to capitalize on this emerging trend and exert a "Leadership" position with the Smart Grid and at the same time, achieve significant reliability, environmental and energy efficiency benefits. The CURRENT Smart Grid applications focus on the electric grid to reduce losses and waste in the distribution of electric by an estimated 3 to 5% of total electricity consumption, offering the potential to save 71 to 115 million metric tons of carbon per year on a national basis. [5] Additional Smart Grid applications can be easily added to allow for the integration of renewables and plug-in hybrid vehicles, improve reliability and enable customer participation.

• “The Apollo Alliance projects a $2 billion federal investment in Smart Grid over 10 years could create 441,000 jobs, by far the largest job creator of any of their proposed programs per billion of federal spending.” [6]

[1] European Commission Smart Grids Technology Platform, “SmartGrids, Strategic Deployment Document for Europe’s Electricity Networks of the Future (Draft)”, September 2008.  

[2] Ontario Smart Grid Forum, February 2009.

[3] Center for American Progress and Department of Economics and Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) University of Massachusetts-Amherst "Green Recovery - A Program to Create Good Jobs and Start Building a Low-Carbon Economy".

[4] Talbot, David “Lifeline for Renewable Power”, MIT Technology Review, January/February 2009.

[5] Carbon Savings based on CURRENT Group calculations using statistics from Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

[6] Apollo Alliance. 2004. Apollo Alliance “New Energy for America - The Apollo Jobs Report: For Good Jobs & Energy Independence.” Accessed December 2008. Available at: http://apolloalliance.org/downloads/resources_ApolloReport_022404_122748.pdf