Electricity's New Reality: The Balancing Act

It’s one of the simplest things a child learns when she gets tall enough: Flip the switch, and the lights turn on. As she grows, she might begin to fathom the scope of what it takes to get the power to that switch. Even adults may not always understand the complex network of technology, infrastructure and markets required to deliver reliable electricity in the U.S.

The power delivery system is the largest, most complex machine ever built, and the world has transformed around it. Now, an ongoing revolution in renewable energy sources and distributed generation options is changing the structure of that machine. Grid modernization is how power delivery is adapting to new realities.


“The distribution systems that serve the ‘last mile’ of the grid are increasingly the subject of major investments that are addressing the dramatic changes we see underway in the power industry,” says Ken Gerling, a vice president at Burns & McDonnell.

Those investments take a multitude of forms.

“We’re seeing initiatives to change nearly every aspect of the way we plan, construct and operate the distribution system,” says Lucas McIntosh, who is leading grid modernization consulting and distribution planning at Burns & McDonnell. But the essential mission for the power delivery infrastructure is unchanged. It must get electricity from the points of generation to the points of consumption, instantaneously balancing supply and demand.

“The system or the business model was not designed with the idea that consumers and businesses might one day have an alternative to getting their power from centralized infrastructure,” he says.

The power distribution grid is undergoing tremendous change as it evolves from a centralized, unidirectional system pushing power out from large-scale generation facilities to a multidirectional system that can distribute generation from an ever-increasing variety of resources and locations, says Matt Olson, projects director in the Networks, Integration & Automation department at Burns & McDonnell.

The grid’s transformation is in part a response to the rising utilization of distributed generation (DG) in all its forms, from wind farms to residential and commercial solar panels and more. DG is just one leg in the distributed energy resources (DER) triad along with storage and demand response. A host of other factors also are driving the changes, including grid automation, customer expectations, communications, electrification of transportation, microgrid implementations, breakthroughs in large-scale energy storage, and sweeping technological improvements.

When anyone can be a producer of energy — say, by installing photovoltaic (PV) panels on a roof, or by keeping electric vehicles plugged into the grid when not in use — how does that affect the power delivery system and associated business models?

“Power has always been delivered to homes and businesses,” Olson says. “Now you can put it back into the grid, but the existing grid wasn’t designed for that.

“Even without the expected growth of interconnected DERs, the grid requires continuous improvements to maintain the reliability and resiliency of the system and services that customers increasingly depend upon every day.”

A two-way grid becomes essential to provide the flexibility needed to balance loads in a more dynamic marketplace.

“The wires don’t care which way the electron goes; most of the other electrical apparatus does not either,” Olson says. “But the system was designed — for example, sizing the wires — assuming all power originated from the substation, and the protection and controls were configured for power just to flow one way.”

THE PRICE OF POWER

Distribution costs represented more than a quarter of the average price of electricity in the U.S. in 2017.

Electricity prices vary by customer because of varying costs to deliver power. Serving bulk customers generally is more efficient and less expensive.



 

DISTRIBUTION MODERNIZATION COMPONENTS

Distributed energy storage

Provide alternatives to traditional grid upgrades, select storage technologies, evaluate potential locations, perform benefit stacking and develop operating strategy.

Grid management systems

Optimize the integration of distributed energy resources and provide dynamic management of multiple interdependent systems.

Strategic undergrounding

Examine the full life cycle cost perspective and establish criteria for decisions about undergrounding.

Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI)

Deploy AMI to collect interval data, validate customer connectivity, and perform load forecasting, outage reporting and transformer loading.

Infrastructure and asset renewal

Replace aged infrastructure that is fully depreciated, dilapidated and prone to failure. Rebuild outdated sections of the grid to excess capacity and modern standards.

Vegetation management

Use a data-driven approach to prioritize vegetation management. Customize cycles based on performance tracking and prioritize to maximize impact. Assess the value of vegetation management versus redesign.

Distributed generation

Conduct capacity analyses and create and administer interconnection evaluation processes.

Substation automation

Implement capabilities such as remote sensing and event logging, feeder transfer, transformer isolation, and condition-based maintenance.

Distribution automation

Implement capabilities such as D-SCADA, volt/VAR control and fault management.

Distributed energy storage

Provide alternatives to traditional grid upgrades, select storage technologies, evaluate potential locations, perform benefit stacking and develop operating strategy.

Grid management systems

Optimize the integration of distributed energy resources and provide dynamic management of multiple interdependent systems.

Strategic undergrounding

Examine the full life cycle cost perspective and establish criteria for decisions about undergrounding.

Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI)

Deploy AMI to collect interval data, validate customer connectivity, and perform load forecasting, outage reporting and transformer loading.

Infrastructure and asset renewal

Replace aged infrastructure that is fully depreciated, dilapidated and prone to failure. Rebuild outdated sections of the grid to excess capacity and modern standards.

Vegetation management

Use a data-driven approach to prioritize vegetation management. Customize cycles based on performance tracking and prioritize to maximize impact. Assess the value of vegetation management versus redesign.

Distributed generation

Conduct capacity analyses and create and administer interconnection evaluation processes.

Substation automation

Implement capabilities such as remote sensing and event logging, feeder transfer, transformer isolation, and condition-based maintenance.

Distribution automation

Implement capabilities such as D-SCADA, volt/VAR control and fault management.

 

Want More?

More and better data is transforming the approach to optimize the distribution grid. Learn more about holistic, data-driven planning methods here.

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