Learn More about Smart Grid

What is a Smart Grid?
How it works?
Characteristics of the Smart Grid
Smart Grid Videos


What is a Smart Grid?
“Smart grid” generally refers to a class of technology people are using to bring utility electricity delivery systems into the 21st century, using computer-based remote control and automation. These systems are made possible by two-way communication technology and computer processing that has been used for decades in other industries. They are beginning to be used on electricity networks, from the power plants and wind farms all the way to the consumers of electricity in homes and businesses. They offer many benefits to utilities and consumers -- mostly seen in big improvements in energy efficiency on the electricity grid and in the energy users’ homes and offices.

For a century, utility companies have had to send workers out to gather much of the data needed to provide electricity. The workers read meters, look for broken equipment and measure voltage, for example. Most of the devices utilities use to deliver electricity have yet to be automated and computerized. Now, many options and products are being made available to the electricity industry to modernize it.

The “grid” amounts to the networks that carry electricity from the plants where it is generated to consumers. The grid includes wires, substations, transformers, switches and much more.

Much in the way that a “smart” phone these days means a phone with a computer in it, smart grid means “computerizing” the electric utility grid. It includes adding two-way digital communication technology to devices associated with the grid. Each device on the network can be given sensors to gather data (power meters, voltage sensors, fault detectors, etc.), plus two-way digital communication between the device in the field and the utility’s network operations center. A key feature of the smart grid is automation technology that lets the utility adjust and control each individual device or millions of devices from a central location.

The number of applications that can be used on the smart grid once the data communications technology is deployed is growing as fast as inventive companies can create and produce them. Benefits include enhanced cyber-security, handling sources of electricity like wind and solar power and even integrating electric vehicles onto the grid. The companies making smart grid technology or offering such services include technology giants, established communication firms and even brand new technology firms.

How it works?
With traditional utility technology, when a tree limb falls on a power line and creates an outage, for example, the utility finds out only when a customer calls to complain. With a smart grid system, devices along the network can automatically tell the utility exactly when and where an outage occurred, close the circuit at that location, to “island” the fault, re-route power around failed equipment and create a detailed “trouble ticket” for a repair crew.

Traditionally, electric utilities estimate that a certain type of equipment is likely to wear out after so many years and thus replaces every piece of that technology within that many years -- even devices that have much more useful life left in them. A smart grid system can spot failing grid devices before they give out, letting the utility use a much more cost effective replacement strategy.

When customers are given access to data about their own power use, they can change their habits to be more efficient and save money. Customers will eventually be able to see how the price of electricity changes depending on the time of day it is used, and they will be able to shift their use of the product to times when it is cheaper.

The biggest cost savings in using smart grid may be found in improved efficiency of electricity-delivery operations. For example, once the voltage is known and updated frequently all around a utility’s grid, the utility can work much more efficiently. Rather than supplying extra voltage into the grid to cover possible dips somewhere on that grid, voltage drops can be identified and addressed remotely. Such a direct response lets the utility supply the minimum amount of voltage needed for smooth operations. Utilities testing this benefit in the real world are reporting big cost savings almost immediately.

Characteristics of the Smart Grid

The smart grid uses technological advancements to achieve its principal goals, which are summarized below.

Smart Grid Videos

DOE-NETL Smart Grid Video:

This is a 4-minute video, "The Modern Grid Strategy: Powering the 21st century economy," that explains the basic concept of the modern grid and its characteristics.

IEEE Smart Grid Video:

This is an 8-minute video, "A Smart Grid for Intelligent Energy Use," that explains the smart grid and its importance for reducing our carbon footprint.