When you start talking about electric power grids, peoples’ eyes glaze over. But the shape of the United States electric grid is fast emerging as one of the critical infrastructure issues of the 21st century. As a nation (and a state) we have two broad alternatives. One is to maintain the “Big Grid” paradigm of ginormous power plants connected to population centers through ginormous, high-voltage electric transmission lines. The other is to evolve to a “Distributed Grid” that is more decentralized and capable of accommodating electric power contributed by a host of homeowners, neighborhoods, commercial establishments and electric power entrepreneurs. Intuitively, I think, the idea of a distributed grid appeals to most Americans — as long as the system can be made dependable. Nobody likes blackouts.
As Virginia adopts regulatory policies affecting the electric power industry, lawmakers and regulators must keep those alternative paradigms firmly in mind. Right now, the Distributed Grid model seems a bit impractical because of the difficulty of ensuring system reliability. But new technologies and business models could change the picture very quickly.
The Peak Energy blog draws attention to two interesting articles. One article, “Gridpoint: The Last Green Mile,” highlights a Washington, D.C.-based company, Gridpoint, that is marketing the SmartGrid Platform, an intelligent network of distributed resources that controls load, stores energy and produces power.
With distributed sources of electricity now arriving in new, innovative forms, and capacity increasing exponentially, distributed storage is the final step necessary to completely transform our energy landscape. Wind power is intermittant, solar power peaks between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. – but with distributed storage available, it doesn’t matter. …
There are several benefits to distributed storage. During power outages, stored electricity can be discharged back into the grid beyond the break in the line, maintaining reliable constant power. In markets where energy pricing is tiered, electricity can be stored during low off peak rates and discharged when rates are higher. Flattening the load by pushing power into the grid during peak hours of demand from distributed sources can relieve congestion on the grid. And, of course, distributed renewable energy sources such as wind and solar can be captured during their limited hours of collection, and utilized 24 hours per day from storage systems.
How much might these electricity storage units cost? About $10,000 per customer.
Given the current prices of multi-family dwellings or light commercial buildings, that really doesn’t sound like very much. But as a tool to arbitrage between higher peak demand rates and lower off-peak rates, at $10,000 a pop, the unit has a fairly long payback. As a tool to flatten demand for a utility in order to prevent spot prices from spiking, however, the unit is already economical. It is also already economical for new land developments, where the storage capacity offered by Gridpoint’s products, combined with on-site sources of electricity from (for example) photovoltaics, significantly reduces the need for infrastructure to connect to the existing electrical grid – paying for itself immediately.
The other article, “Creating a 21st Century Grid,” discusses a new technology that could shift the balance back in favor of Big Grid. Researchers are working on electric wire made from carbon nano-tubes one 100,000th the width of a human hair. In theory, nanotubes can conduct 100 million amps of current over thousands of miles without much loss in efficiency, compared to today’s wires, which conduct around 2,000 amps of current over hundreds of miles, losing 6 to 8 percent of the electricity in the form of heat. The nanotubes also will weigh one-sixth the weight of current wires, and they’ll be so strong they won’t need support mechanisms. Say bye-bye to the high-voltage transmission line as we now know it!
New transmission lines would be less conspicuous, vastly diminishing their impact on the landscape, potentially bypassing acrimonioius battles like the one over Dominion’s proposed transmission line in northern Virginia. Dr. Wade Adams of the Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology envisions nano-wires carrying electric power “from vast solar farms in the desert to the Northeast, or maybe from wind farms in Montana or North Dakota down to Florida – and in fact, even from continent to continent.”
The technology of electric power transmission hasn’t changed much since the time of Edison and Westinghouse. That’s all changing. This is a very exciting time to be a power grid wonk.