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What Does the Smart Grid Enable?: A Utility and Grid Operator's Perspective

Paul De Martini, Vice President of Advanced Technology, Southern California Edison

Jim Detmers, Vice President of Operations, CA Independent Systems (CAISO)

Wednesday, March 10, 2010 | 04:15 PM - 05:15 PM | Building 420, Room 40 | Free and Open to All

During the Energy Seminar’s 4-part series on the future of the Grid we have explored what the “Smart Grid” is, a case study integrating more than 50% wind on the grid, issues and solutions for extending the grid, and with this talk we will examine the requirements for integration of utility-scale renewable energy. Paul De Martini, Vice President of Advanced Technology at Southern California Edison, and Jim Detmers, Vice President of Operations at California Independent Systems Operator, will speak from a utility and grid operator’s perspective about operations today and opportunities in the future as we move into an age of renewable energy and distributed generation.

 

California’s Renewable Portfolio Standard is one of the most ambitious standards in the country, and they will discuss how smart grid technologies would contribute to make the 2020 targets realistic. They will examine the business case for smart grid investments and strategies for implementing smart meter demand-side management and incentives for consumer’s households. Additionally they will address the added complexities of managing our electricity distribution system while integrating renewables, meeting peak demands, and possibly responding to increased electricity demand for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

How will smart grid technologies contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions? Is the electric utilities sector in California structured properly to move into the age of renewable energy and distributed generation? How would you define a successful rollout of smart grid technologies? The speakers will address these questions as well during their discussion.

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Integrating More Than 50% Wind on the Grid: A Case Study

Marija Ilić, Carnegie Mellon University

Wednesday, February 3, 2010 | 04:15 PM - 05:15 PM | Building 420, Room 40 | Free and Open to All

In this lecture we pose the problem of sustainable electricity services as a novel systems engineering design problem. We briefly summarize today's operating and planning practices and explain why these need fundamental changing in order to enable qualitatively different electricity services. In particular, we suggest that many new resources have characteristics, which are not generally known to the system operators, and are, therefore, currently not relied on for managing supply and demand in an often-congested electric network. The new resources are also highly variable and, as such, do not lend themselves to static feed-forward scheduling without near-real time automated feedback. Instead, a transformation of this operating and planning mode into an interactive multi-temporal, multi-spatial and multi-contextual system management is needed to accommodate ever-changing system conditions, often driven by many distributed actions. In order to enable a complex system with often-conflicting functionalities, such as reliability, security, short- and long-term efficiency, and sustainability, one must rely on prediction, adaptation and adjustments by all.
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Extending the Grid: Transmission Siting Issues and How to Resolve Them

Suedeen Kelly, Former Commissioner, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 | 04:15 PM - 05:15 PM | Building 420, Room 40 | Free and Open to All

Abstract:
In energy planning circles, in all sectors of the electric industry, in state utility regulatory commissions, and on Capitol Hill, we’ve heard a lot of discussion over the past year about changing the traditional paradigm surrounding the building of electric transmission in order to extend the country’s electric grid. Recently, the talk has moved into the arena of action. In the U.S. House and Senate, there are numerous bills that propose legislative changes to how we plan and site transmission in America—and how we allocate the cost of it. The Waxman-Markey Climate Change bill, which was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last year, includes such changes. All of the various bills differ one from the other. One similarity among them all is that the federal government’s role (in the person of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) would be expanded and the states’ role would be reduced.

Why is there a growing consensus for change? What’s wrong with how we’ve always done things? (How have we always done things?) Is there a problem here? What are the proposed changes? What are we trying to accomplish with change? What is the best proposal being put forward? Who likes the changes? Who stands to benefit from the changes? Will there be any losers? Ms. Kelly intends to answer these questions during her presentation. She will also discuss what is likely to happen to the U.S. electric grid if we do not see any legislative change from Congress.
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Demystifying and De-Jargoning the Smart Grid: What’s Hype, What’s Real, and Where’s the Value?

Efran Ibrahim, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)

Wednesday, January 13, 2010 | 04:15 PM - 05:15 PM | Building 420, Room 40 | Free and Open to All

Erfan Ibrahim is a Technical Executive in the Intelligrid program area of the Power Delivery & Utilization Sector. He leads the research that focuses on the communications, systems management and cyber security infrastructure for the utility Smart Grid with particular emphasis on Home Area Networks (HAN), Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and Internet based Wide Area Networking. Before joining EPRI, Dr. Ibrahim founded and managed The Bit Bazaar LLC (TBB), a full service IT and business consulting firm, offering services to clients in the High Tech, Financial Services, and Energy sectors. At TBB Dr. Ibrahim focused on wireless communications, network management, and information security technologies with a particular emphasis on aligning the IT goals of his clients with their business goals for sustained competitive advantage. Prior to establishing The Bit Bazaar LLC, Dr. Ibrahim’s career included the following positions: VP of Sales & Marketing at Jyra Research, Product Manager for Network Management at Pacific Bell Network Integration (now AT&T), Science and Math Lecturer at National University, Nuclear Fusion Research Engineer at UCLA and Plasma Physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Lab.

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Economic Analysis of the Solar Industry: Achieving Grid Parity

Annie Hazlehurst, Graduate Student, Stanford GSB

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 | 04:15 PM - 05:15 PM | Building 420, Room 40 | Free and Open to All

The economics of solar systems will drive long term adoption and market viability. Today, the U.S. and many other countries continue to subsidize the cost of solar systems and incentivize adoption through standards such as RPS. If solar is going to contribute meaningfully to our energy future, the economics must favorably compare to alternative sources of energy on a levelized cost basis. When and how will we achieve grid parity? The talk will cover where we are today and where we need to get for solar to be a primary source of global energy generation.

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Killer Apps for the Smart Grid Demand Response and Monitoring Based Commissioning of Buildings

Scott McGaraghan, Director of Business Development, EnerNOC, Inc.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009 | 04:15 PM - 05:15 PM | Building 420, Room 40 | Free and Open to All

April 22, 2009 - Scott McGaraghan, director of business development for EnerNOC, Inc., discusses current and developing technologies to maximize the potential energy-saving benefits of local and national-level smart grid systems. Smart grids aim to increase efficiency in the industrial, residential, and commercial sectors. One important application of this system is demand response, which give users real time data, reducing the intermediary levels between distributor and consumer, and allowing for more efficient energy usage and dynamic pricing options. This can be a particularly useful tool for businesses, which can reduce their operating costs by monitoring the availability and price of energy throughout the day and altering their production schedule accordingly. Other useful applications of smart grid systems include web-kiosk diplays, submetering of tenants, and hybrid participation.
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Smart Grids and De-carbonizing the Power Sector

Nicholas Jenkins, Shimizu Visiting Professor, Atmosphere & Energy Program, Stanford University

Wednesday, February 4, 2009 | 04:15 PM - 05:15 PM | Building 420, Room 40 |

February 5, 2009 - Nicholas Jenkins, Shimizu Visiting Professor of the Atmosphere and Energy Program at Stanford University, discusses the progress and implementation of smart power grids using cost-effective analysis. Jenkins discusses the drivers of innovation in the market, factors related to the internal market, security of supply, and the environment. Smart grids comprise a system of centralized and decentralized power generation that has the potential for economic and efficiency benefits. It is also expected to include benefits in customer service and convenience: smart grids increase demand side participation through smart metering, which allows for increased information and communication between energy providers and consumers. As an example of future potential, Jenkins provides the case study of the U.K. The U.K. has targeted wind as its dominant renewable technology, but these circuits can take 10 years to permit and construct, and they also require increases in transmission capacity. Thus, Jenkins poses major questions for future development of a smart power network, including the usefulness of smart meters, the coordination of a decentralized system, the need of communication from customers to the distributors, and the viability of a market-driven solution to decarbonizing the power sector.
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A Major New Initiative Focused on the Global Problem of Energy, and a conversation with distinguished panelists

President John L. Hennessy; Sally Benson, director, Global Climate and Energy Project; John Doerr, partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers; Eric Schmidt, chief executive officer, Google Inc.; Jim Sweeney, director, Precourt Institute for Energy Efficiency; Jane Woodward, chief executive officer, MAP and consulting professor, Stanford University; Moderated by Lynn Orr, founding director, Global Climate and Energy Project

Monday, January 12, 2009 | 04:15 PM - 05:15 PM | | Free and Open to All

Distinguished panelists discuss energy issues affecting the world today. Panelists: Sally Benson, director, Global Climate and Energy Project; John Doerr, partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers; Eric Schmidt, chief executive officer, Google Inc.; Jim Sweeney, director, Precourt Institute for Energy Efficiency; Jane Woodward, chief executive officer, MAP and consulting professor, Stanford University
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