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  1. #1
    Council Member Surferbeetle's Avatar
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    Default Microgrids

    During the course of my travels I had an occasion to work in an area where the UNDP had coordinated an electrical grid in which each house was limited to ~20 amps. This allowed for 24/7 power for all, but it of course limited the amount of electrical devices that could be run at one time in each household. A trip out to your residential panel in America, for a reference point, will typically reveal a ‘load center’ from 100 to 400 amp in size.

    The 2007 RSMeans Facilities Construction Data provides bare material costs of $162 for an indoor 100 amp, 8 circuit residential load center and $1,150 for an indoor 400 amp, 42 circuit residential load center. Commerical 20 amp panels begin at $455.

    Lowes does not list prices, but they do provide pictures of load centers.

    Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory has been thinking about microgrids.

    Instead of relying solely on large power plants, a portion of the nation's electricity needs could be met by small generators such as ordinary reciprocating engines, microturbines, fuel cells, and photovoltaic systems. A small network of these generators, each of which typically produce no more than 500 kilowatts, would provide reliable power to anything from a postal sorting facility to a neighborhood.
    The May 2008 Edition of Popular Mechanics has an informative graphic on microgrids.

    Microgrids will be small areas—like the residential and industrial neighborhoods shown here—where energy needs are roughly matched by local generation. A control station will juggle demand, buying and selling power to the main grid. During a regional blackout, a microgrid can run in “islanded” mode.
    This was typical of what I observed in Iraq:
    Last edited by Surferbeetle; 07-05-2008 at 07:50 PM.
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    Default Here's More Background....

    information on Microgrids:

    Link to Article

    This is a very "hot" topic, even here in the Midwest. There's a lot of interest, especially in light of the price increases that we will be seeing with natural gas fired units. There's going to be sticker shock this winter, if current gas price trends are any indicator.

    An interesting side note is how the issue of microgrids is starting to play out in some local communities. There's several issues being raised, and it's interesting to see how the different parties are lining up. For example:

    1) Both the major local utility (initially), and several environmentalist groups are not in favor of the microgrids. The local major utility is coming around, but not the environmentalists. The utility was looking at this as loss of business, but then started to look at all the aspects (bad press from service disruption, less pressure on having to build expensive new capacity, etc.), and they are much more open to the microgrid concept. Now, still got to make it work, but they are at least ready to make the attempt.

    The environmentalists, not so much. Their big issue is global warming, and they feel that these smaller microgrid based "operating areas" will not only increase the potential for global warming, but will be much harder to deal with, because not only would there be more of them (vrs. several large power producers), but the microgrids will all be local based, and trying to regulate local microgrids for global warming is going to be a terribly difficult "sell" to the politicans. It's one thing to go after big corporate interests, it's a whole different situation to go after units of local governments, i.e. Taxpayers/Voters. Remember,as the late Tip O'Neal used to say, "All Politics is Local".

    2) The funding issue. Now, this is actually coming around. Many states now provide for local units of government, such as municipalities and Counties to create what are called "Special Service" taxing districts, where tax exempt bonds can be issued for capital development within a specified area, which can easily apply to a microgrid service area.

    3) It's still a few years out, but if we get a really good 2-3 day electric power service "interruption", things will boil over really fast. People used to 24/7 availability of unlimited electric power get really, really cranky when they got to deal with several days of no juice. Particularly if it's really hot (no A/C) or really cold (remember, most 90+ gas furnaces have electronic control units with micro circuit boards). That's when you will see things jump into high gear.

  3. #3
    Council Member Surferbeetle's Avatar
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    Default Stanford University

    Watcher,

    Thanks for the additional background and info on microgrids in the midwest. Stanford University has the Woods Energy Seminar podcasts (free) on iTunes. There 32 of them, and some slides, on various energy aspects.

    Regards,

    Steve
    Sapere Aude

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    Default

    There are environmentalists that support microgrids. Amory Lovins is fine example. The significant fact there is that Lovins is actually a mover and shaker in the industry, having worked with and effected Wal Mart, the Navy and other consumers of energy. He is a Bright Green, one who believes that mankind is smart and will solve environmental problems through hard work and innovation.

    Here is a sample of his work, which includes extensive discussion of microgrids in COIN.

    Amory Lovins

    Edited for completeness. I'm watching it now.
    Last edited by SethB; 07-09-2008 at 05:33 AM. Reason: SEE ABOVE

  5. #5
    Council Member Surferbeetle's Avatar
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    Default More Microgrid background...

    From MIT's Technology Review: Lifeline for Renewable Power

    In one of the more advanced pilot projects testing such a system, the Minneapolis-based utility Xcel Energy and several vendors are investing $100 million to install a smart-grid infrastructure in Boulder, CO. These days, a 115-person Xcel crew is out full time, installing two-way electric meters at 50,000 houses. Homeowners are getting software that lets them view and manage their energy consumption on the Web, and some of their appliances are being fitted with switches that will let the utility shut them off remotely during periods of high demand.

    Smart-grid technologies could reduce overall electricity consumption by 6 percent and peak demand by as much as 27 percent. The peak-demand reductions alone would save between $175 billion and $332 billion over 20 years, according to the Brattle Group, a consultancy in Cambridge, MA. Not only would lower demand free up transmission capacity, but the capital investment that would otherwise be needed for new conventional power plants could be redirected to renewables. That's because smart-grid technologies would make small installations of wind turbines and photovoltaic panels much more practical. "They will enable much larger amounts of renewables to be integrated on the grid and lower the effective overall system-wide cost of those renewables," says the Brattle Group's Peter Fox-Penner.
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    Default Security Requirements...

    From Business Week, by Katie Fehrenbacher: Securing the Smart Power Grid from Hackers

    Imagine if the havoc caused by Internet viruses and wormS—downed web sites, snatched credit card data, and so forth—were unleashed on the power grid's critical infrastructure. The results could include targeted blackouts, tampering with power generation (including nuclear plants), or the use of energy consumption data for malicious intent. For while a smart power grid, which leverages information technology to add more intelligence to the electricity network, will give consumers and utilities more control over energy consumption, the transformation from analog to digital will bring to the grid a threat that plagues the Internet: hacking.
    Crucial to maintaining security will be establishing industry standards. At the smart grid policy meeting held last week, FERC Acting Chairman Jon Wellinghoff issued a statement calling for the development of "standards to ensure the reliability and security, both physical and cyber, of the electric system." While FERC doesn't itself develop standards, the agency will be asking for input from standards bodies that work on security in the Internet, engineering, and electronics industries. Over the next month and a half, companies and consumers can offer their thoughts as to the direction the standards will take.

    The second factor needed to secure the smart grid will be an open platform. This sounds counterintuitive, but as Pacific Crest's Schuman explains, the most robust security systems out there are largely based on already established open standards. In order for third-party developers to be able to contribute their best solutions to a smart power grid, it must be based on an open platform as well.

    Ultimately the hurdles to securing the smart grid are not impossibly high. The benefits of offering consumers and utilities more control over energy consumption—reducing energy use and carbon reduction—far outweigh the security concerns.
    Long term FOB's with resupply issues might be great test beds...
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