https://www.engineeringnews.co.za
Business|Coal|Efficiency|Electrical|Energy|Gas|Generator|Generators|Nuclear|Power|Services|Solar|Storage|System|Technology|Turbines|Water|Maintenance|Turbines|Operations
Business|Coal|Efficiency|Electrical|Energy|Gas|Generator|Generators|Nuclear|Power|Services|Solar|Storage|System|Technology|Turbines|Water|Maintenance|Turbines|Operations
business|coal|efficiency|electrical|energy|gas|generator|generators|nuclear|power|services|solar|storage|system|technology|turbines-company|water|maintenance|turbines-person|operations

Smart grids

8th February 2019

By: Terry Mackenzie-hoy

     

Font size: - +

An Internet definition of a smart grid is: “An electricity network based on digital technology that is used to supply electricity to consumers via two-way digital communication. “This system allows for monitoring, analysis, control and communication within the supply chain to help improve efficiency, reduce energy consumption and cost, and maximise the transparency and reliability of the energy supply chain. The smart grid was introduced with the aim of overcoming the weaknesses of conventional electrical grids by using smart net meters.

“Many government institutions around the world have been encouraging the use of smart grids for their potential to control and deal with global warming, emergency resilience and energy independence scenarios.”

Now, did that make you any the wiser? Here is another definition: “A smart grid is equally advantageous for enterprises, retail stores, hospitals, universities and multinational corporations. The entire smart grid system is automated for tracking the electricity consumption at all the locations. “Grid architecture is also combined with energy management software for estimating the energy consumption and its associated cost for a specific enterprise. Generally, electricity prices increase along with demand. By providing consumers with information about current consumption and energy prices, smart-grid energy management services help to minimise the consumption during high-cost, peak-demand times. “A modern smart grid system has the following capabilities: it can repair itself, it encourages consumer participation in grid operations, it ensures a consistent and premium-quality power supply that resists power leakages, it allows the electricity markets to grow and make business, [and] it can be operated more efficiently.”

These last points cause my eyes to roll. It can repair itself? What on earth does that mean? It encourages consumer participation in grid operations? How so?

A premium-quality power supply which resists power leakages? Ohh . . . power is leaking everywhere all the time.

I will tell you what a smart grid is. It is a power supply system which has electronic consumer meters that monitor the energy use by the consumer. If needed, the meters can tell the grid operator what power is being consumed at any one time. Further, if desired, the grid operator can switch the consumer off remotely. A smart grid is nothing more than this.

However, this country is filling up with people who know very little about electrical power distribution but need to sound important. Thus, they make up and refer to electrical terms which sound real snappy but which are, in fact, mythical. ‘Smart grid’ is one.

The fact is that electrical grids are very large and are always supervised by a grid operator. In real time, the operator can see the status of all major consumers and loads and reacts accordingly. It would be foolish to rely on a device to control a grid automatically, since the number of variables is so huge. Naturally, one can set a system to have under frequency load-shedding or to have generators following loads or for capacitors to switch in and out to correct voltage profiles.

This, however, is very small stuff, compared with real-time control of a grid, which can take in weather conditions, units out for maintenance, generator availability, water levels in dams, and so on. The fact of the matter is that nothing much new is going to come on line in terms of grid control – in South Africa anyway.

In Europe, things are different. Power is available from coal power, nuclear, solar, wind, gas turbine, biofuel, hydro, oil, pump storage . . . as a grid operator, depending on unit cost and reliability, you can run the grid as wanted for minimum cost and maximum reliability. We cannot do that in South Africa. Coal power is on the Highveld, and that is not going to change. Wind is at the coast, and that is not going to change either. Gas turbines, the same. Smart grids? Just a ‘cool’ idea.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

Comments

Array

Showroom

Magni SA
Magni SA

Magni SA is committed to developing the safest Telehandlers available to our customers for underground and surface mining, construction, forestry,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Aqs image
AQS Liquid Transfer

AxFlow AQS Liquid Transfer (Pty) Ltd is an Importer and Distributor of Pumps in Southern Africa

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.239 0.294s - 148pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now