How does smart grid technology optimize energy efficiency?

The G8 Enlargement Summit included intelligent power grid technology (or smart grid) in its list of seven world-changing technologies. Smart grid technology optimizes energy efficiency. Let’s take a look at smart grid technology.

 

A smart grid is a next-generation power grid that incorporates information technology (IT) into the power grid, allowing power suppliers and consumers to exchange real-time information in both directions, optimizing energy efficiency and creating new value-added services. In a smart grid, power consumers can also be producers and consumers can also be producers. In addition, consumers can receive real-time price information from power suppliers, which can be used to intelligently consume power during times when electricity is cheaper. For example, if you set your washing machine to run automatically at night, when electricity is cheaper, you’ll save money on your electricity bill and your provider will be able to reduce load during peak demand periods. By implementing simple artificial intelligence into any product that runs on electricity, you’ll be able to consume power when it’s cheapest and when power plants are under less pressure.
But what else is the benefit of adopting smart grid technology other than the above mentioned benefits? It’s the ability to reduce power consumption. With the introduction of technology, intelligent meters in homes and offices will reduce power consumption. But what is an intelligent meter? Unlike traditional electronic meters for remote meter reading, intelligent meters are a new generation of meters that are capable of two-way communication and provide users with information about power quality and usage, as well as direct control over home electronics. So if this meter is adopted, it will allow users to know how much electricity they are currently using in their home or office and actively control their consumption. For example, every 1 degree Celsius adjustment in heating and cooling can save about 7 percent of energy, and if users can see this in real time through an intelligent meter, they can reduce excessive use of heating and cooling. Experts in the United States estimate that the widespread adoption of these meters could result in energy savings of about 4 percent per year.
Smart grid technology is also essential in terms of expanding the development of renewable and green energy. Green energies such as wind and solar power are irregular in nature, and their output is difficult to adjust and predict, and they are produced in the form of direct current electricity, so the current power grid is limited in its ability to generate power using renewable energies. However, if a new power grid is organized through a smart grid, it will be possible to solve the problem of connecting these renewable energies to the grid. As a result, it will be possible to expand power generation using green energy. Currently, power generation in most countries is mainly thermal power generation, which causes many environmental problems such as generating a lot of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide.
The introduction of a smart grid is essential to respond to the upcoming era of electric vehicles. The current power grid and power generation facilities alone will not be able to handle the growing number of electric vehicles. However, the deployment of a smart grid will allow EVs to be charged at times of day when electricity is cheapest and power plants are less loaded, which will once again contribute to reducing vehicle emissions, and therefore greenhouse gas emissions, as a result of the widespread adoption of EVs.
However, despite the many positive effects of the technology, there are also opponents. Some argue that it would be a waste of money to reconstruct a new grid when the existing grid is in good shape, and that the cost of replacing meters with intelligent meters that can communicate in both directions would be a huge waste of money. Others point out that the introduction of intelligent meters could lead to a mass unemployment of electricity meter readers. Others are concerned about the risk of personal information leakage and abuse during the exchange of electricity information through the smart grid, and argue that the smart grid should not be based on nuclear power generation.
It is true that Korea’s power grid is in good shape compared to other developed countries, so there is no need to open a new grid anytime soon, as opponents of the technology claim. However, the expansion of renewable energy will take place in the not-too-distant future, and it is essential to rebuild the power grid to cope with the rapidly changing situation in advance. Also, even if the initial cost of introducing intelligent electricity meters is high, we should not hesitate to introduce intelligent electricity meters if the benefits that can be gained from them will more than offset the cost. We should be thoroughly prepared for the issue of personal information leakage, and not introducing technology because of this is like burning thatch because we are afraid of fleas. In addition, it is an inescapable fact that renewable energy alone is not enough to meet the current electricity consumption, so we need to focus on nuclear power generation to reduce carbon emissions under the Kyoto Protocol. Korea has the world’s best construction technology and operational capabilities in nuclear power generation, so we are fully capable of producing safe, economical, and environmentally friendly electricity.
To overcome the impending energy crisis and respond to environmental issues, the introduction of smart grid technology is essential in the long run. We should anticipate the side effects of technology adoption in advance and implement it in a way that minimizes them, so that we can take a step forward to become an eco-friendly energy nation.