The Intelligent Approach to the Smart Grid
How will you respond to the convergence of information and operational technology?
The Smart Grid is your foundation. Delivering electricity through an intelligent, largely automated infrastructure will bring unprecedented efficiency. By offering greater capability to monitor, operate and even heal itself, the Smart Grid will radically transform an age-old infrastructure to meet the demands of the next generation of energy consumers.
What Is Smart Grid?
The Smart Grid is the convergence of information and operational technology applied to the electric grid allowing sustainable options to customers and improved security, reliability and efficiency to utilities.
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To learn more about how the Smart Grid works, click on the image at left to expand our graphic. Click on the numbers in the infographic or scroll through the 12 Smart Grid elements by clicking on the bottom right arrow. |
Your Smart Grid Partner
A Smart Grid deployment requires a robust business case where organizational stakeholders and decision makers have discussed and agreed on the expected benefits and estimated costs for a Smart Grid implementation plan. An accurately developed Smart Grid deployment plan can allow a utility to transition to new technologies smoothly and cost-effectively without applying a "forklift" approach.
Your electric infrastructure should be modernized not by randomly implementing an assortment of new technologies and calling it "modern," but through investigative research with your organization to understand your near- and long-term requirements, justifying your investment and helping your visionary goals. Establishing an accurate vision to support your requirement is the single, most critical step towards successfully building your Smart Grid infrastructure. Burns & McDonnell's multidisciplined expertise can successfully guide you on your path to the Smart Grid.
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Smart Grid builds on the electrical infrastructure in use today but adds communication and control capabilities that allow the operation of the electric grid in a more efficient, optimized and reliable manner. Smart Grid takes advantage of advanced technologies such as two-way communication, smart metering, distribution automation and various forms of renewable energy such as wind and solar. The Smart Grid represents an unprecedented opportunity to move the energy industry into a new era of reliability, availability and efficiency, thus contributing to both the economic and the environmental well-being of our nation.
The Smart Grid is more than the implementation of any one technology. The transition from today's grid to the grid of tomorrow will be profound, with the transformation taking place significantly faster than what has been experienced in the utility industry thus far.
In order to implement the Smart Grid, utilities will need to address challenges such as:
- Implementing and/or integrating a high-speed, low-latency telecommunications infrastructure that can process large-scale data securely across a myriad of network components
- Implementing advanced sensing mechanisms capable of providing real-time information about a grid's condition
- Processing and analyzing billions of data points received in near real-time from a multitude of remote sensors and field devices
- Implementing new technologies within an existing framework to facilitate the ease of integration across a deployed network
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Burns & McDonnell is committed to helping the utility industry develop and test Smart Grid technologies that will be used now and in the future. Our Smart Grid Lab was set up in 2007 as a way to help clients find the answers they need. See how the Burns & McDonnell Smart Grid Lab may offer the answers you are seeking. |
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Parody music video about the SmartGrid. |
Game Changers
The 2012 webinar series is under way, offering online discussions on the technologies, strategies and big ideas that are reshaping the world of power delivery.
SMART GRID DEMONSTRATION
In the heart of America, a Smart Grid demonstration is taking place, led by Kansas City Power & Light. Here, the Smart Grid means saving energy and money — and participating in an initiative to modernize the nation's power grid.
