Powering the Smart Grid

The Energy Market Authority (EMA) in Singapore gives Control Engineering Asia an update on the smart grid initiative that it first announced in November 2009.

The Intelligent Energy System (IES) pilot project launched by Singapore’s Energy Market Authority aims to test a range of smart grid technologies with the overall goal of enhancing the capabilities of Singapore’s power grid infrastructure.

Announcing the project during the Smart Grids 2009 Summit, which was held during the Singapore International Energy Week last November, Lawrence Wong, chief executive of EMA, said, “With this pilot, we will lay the foundations for an even more intelligent energy system in Singapore. We will bring the capabilities of our power grid to the next level and ensure that our electricity infrastructure is ready for the future.”

Q: What is the status of the Intelligent Energy System (IES) pilot project?

A: EMA had called a request for proposal (RFP) for the implementation of the Intelligent Energy System (IES) pilot project. In the first stage of the RFP, four companies were short-listed as Consortium Leads – Accenture, IBM Singapore, Logica Singapore, and Siemens.

Each Consortium Lead will assemble a consortium of companies to provide the various applications and technological solutions required for the IES pilot project, and manage the implementation of these different systems as a systems integrator. The companies have since submitted their proposals in the second stage of the RFP, and EMA is now in the midst evaluating the proposals.

EMA separately called an open tender to procure about 4,500 smart meters to be used in the IES pilot project. The tender closed recently – on the 5th of July. EMA is evaluating the submissions and will make a decision on the outcome in the later part of the year.

Q: Is the price of electricity in Singapore low or high, by international standards?

A: In year-2009, the average domestic tariff for electricity was S$0.2048 per kWh. Currently, in the third quarter of 2010, it stands at S$0.2413 per kWh. However, for industries, the market is liberalized and electricity prices depend on commercial contracts between suppliers and users. These prices generally average around S$0.20 per kWh.

Singapore’s electricity is generated predominantly using imported natural gas, which is indexed to the fuel oil price by commercial contracts. Any comparison of electricity prices across jurisdictions will have to take into account variations in fuel mix and supply. Our electricity tariff is comparable to that of countries such as Ireland and Japan which, like Singapore, are highly dependent on imported oil and natural gas to meet their electricity needs.

Q: What is the annual electrical energy requirement in Singapore?

A: The annual requirement for electricity in the year 2009 was 41,801 GWh. As at the end of 2009, Singapore had an installed generation capacity of about 10,000 MW, adequately meeting the maximum system demand of a little more than 6000 MW.

Q: How aware are consumers in Singapore of the need to save electricity? Are energy-saving devices popular?

A: EMA and NEA (National Energy Agency) co-chair the Energy Efficiency Programme Office (E2PO) to drive energy efficiency initiatives in Singapore. One of its focus areas is to raise awareness to reach out to the public and businesses to stimulate energy efficient behavior and practices.

Another noteworthy initiative is the EnergySAVE Programme set up by the HDB (Housing Development Board), EMA and NEA, with the twin goals of reducing energy consumption by 30 percent or more in the HDB common areas; and help the HDB households to reduce their internal power consumption by 10 percent, over a five-year period.

The roadshows planned as part of the program aim to reach out to these HDB estates, and retailers who are invited to participate in the roadshows showcase, promote and sell energy-efficient household appliances at specially-discounted rates. The response has been very encouraging. The Hong Kah roadshow which reached out to 19,000 people led to the sale of S$83,000-worth of energy-efficient equipment, which would save 13,750 kWh of electricity every month. The Jalan Bahar and Tampines roadshows, taken together, covered 29,000 people, generated sales revenues of S$257,550 and would contribute to electricity savings of 24,470 kWh every month.

Malay Thaker, vice president of product development at Arch Rock (Asia Pacific), talks to CE Asia about the company’s solutions for the smart grid.

Arch Rock is a selfprofessed pioneer in IP-based wireless sensor network (WSN) technology, focusing on energy and environmental monitoring and smart grid applications. The company’s PhyNet architecture enables wireless sensing or metering points to be transformed into IPand web-enabled devices that can communicate data locally or globally, enabling ubiquitous, non-disruptive and cost-effective instrumentation.

Q: How and where is Arch Rock’s technology relevant for the smart grid?

A: We accept the broad definition of the smart grid that includes readying the utility-owned or utility-operated infrastructure for tomorrow’s needs, as well as enhancing the consumer-side infrastructure to behave more efficiently and in better concert with the evolving grid capabilities. Additional capacity with reduced carbon emissions, improved resiliency, improved security, reduced operating costs, and higher efficiency is what is intended.

This scope, in general, includes modernization of generation, transmission, distribution and consumption of electricity. ArchRock focuses on two of these four domains. On the distribution side, our PhyNet-Grid communication platform enables IP-based and web-based, cost-efficient radio-frequency-meshed advanced metering and sensing applications.

And on the consumer side, with the Arch Rock Energy Optimizer platform that provides commercial building and data center customers or large-scale residential property operators with energy visibility and management of their consumption through easily-deployed wireless sensing and circuit-level energy monitoring.

Q: It has been forecast that by 2015, the smart grid market would be worth about US$187 billion. What share of this pie is Arch Rock is looking to get?

A: All of our company’s business is in the smart grid arena – with the two aforesaid products. I would say that the revenue streams from the sales of these products is not easy to predict at this time. Suffice to mention that the market for both is developing. In Asia, Arch Rock has supplied networking technology to OEM manufacturers and research organizations in South Korea and India.

Q: Should consumers be turned into passive users controlled by the smart grid, or should the smart grid be used more as an educator to push people towards changing their consumption habits?

A: We believe that two things need to happen to make progress:

1. Energy consumers need to take an active role in energy management. We facilitate this today with the Arch Rock Energy Optimizer for commercial customers. As the largest individual users of energy, these parties are already aware of the need to reduce energy use for cost savings and improved profitability. But the residential consumers also need to be aware of their energy use, since, on an aggregate level, they consume the most energy.

2. We believe that even the most well-informed consumer could benefit from a level of automation in energy management from the smart grid, on an opt-in basis. An informed consumer may then elect to participate in programs such as Demand Response, where an automated signal from the utility provider over the AMI (advanced metering infrastructure) is received by the smart meter and passed on to networked load-control devices in the customer premises to reduce energy use when required. On the commercial side, automation within the customer premise could reap many financial benefits for the enterprise.

Q: Aside from power grids, are there opportunities for Arch Rock also look in the water and gas supply grids?

A: Arch Rock has created a standards-based wireless sensor network that can be applied to many modes of energy submetering. In addition to the wireless IPv6 sub-meters for measuring electric power, we supply a wireless node that can be connected to most commercial pulse output water and gas meters to gather usage data to provide analysis of savings opportunities. The company also supplies the component networking technology (hardware and software) under license to OEMs for embedding in commercial water and gas meters.

Kit Hagen, senior director of utilities market strategy and business development, Convergys, tells CE Asia how the customer relationship management company is looking to benefit from the growth of the smart grid.

Cincinnati-headquartered Convergys is in the business of customer relationship management. The company delivers a broad range of solutions, backed by technology, business analytics and consulting services, which aim to create valuable relationships between our clients and their customers.

In July, Convergys announced a collaboration to develop integrated smart grid solutions based on its real-time Smart CIS Solution and Echelon’s Networked Energy Services (NES) System, an advanced metering infrastructure solution. The software will be used to support next-generation utility billing and customer energy management applications.

Q: What share of the smart grid pie is Convergys eyeing?

A: For Convergys, our share of the smart grid market constitutes a relatively small portion – the billing and customer care aspect. Nevertheless, Convergys aims to be one of the top three in the world in this aspect of smart grids, and our experience and success in the North American market will stand us in good stead when we foray into the other markets.

Q: Do you foresee a lot of potential in Asia?

A: Given the regulatory, governmental and market activity, and the level of smart grid infrastructure investments committed, it is an opportune moment to get going in Asia. The current billing and customer care offers in the market do not address the scale, volume or real-time data needs that smart grids and smart meters proliferate.

As customer data is collected by using these new smart meters, Convergys Smart CIS Solution will enable utility companies to leverage this near real-time data to drive value for customers from their smart grid investment.

Q: How would you rate India and China as potential smart grid markets?

A: India and China are both burgeoning markets which will scale up investments in smart grids in the near future. Some obstacles do exist, however, when one considers smartening the grids in the Asian continent. It is less about managing the peak loads and demand responses and more about the degree of electrification. This points at a prolonged investment in the buildout and deployment, which is good for the development of these countries as well as for investment level and markets.

Q: Can the software developed by your company be extended to smart grids for water and gas supply as well?

A: Convergys Smart CIS Solutions have deep and flexible rating, billing and customer care capabilities that include support for partner management, settlement, wholesale and retail business structures. This makes it ideal for deployment at power supply utilities, gas transport grids or even for water supply networks.

Q: Should consumers be turned into passive users controlled by the smart grid, or should it be used more as an educator to push people towards changing their consumption habits?

A: The answer is somewhere in between. I would not characterize consumers as passive. In fact, the smart grid – and the plethora of customer usage and consumption data it provides – enables just the opposite. It allows consumers to be active in the assessment, management and control of their consumption habits, and perhaps as importantly, their conservation efforts and cost control.

The technology available today – for example, multi-channel communications, data analytics, self-service, home energy management systems, electric vehicles and battery storage – empowers consumers, especially when complemented by timely energy data and consumption information that the smart grid enables.

The educator will not be the grid itself, but must be a consolidated effort on the part of the utilities, the regulators, the governments and the media, spurred by what the smart grid can enable for consumers. Just as critical, it should be noted, is the IT infrastructure and technology that surrounds the grid and makes customer empowerment possible. All of these entities, including the consumers themselves, must work together to fully leverage the possibilities.

Hemant Shah, executive for systems software, Systems & Technology Group, IBM ASEAN, talks to CE Asia about the business of the smart grid.

Q: What are the likely challenges for utilities in converting their existing networks into smart grids?

A: Smart grids are complex, real-time aware systems of systems that must integrate and interoperate across a broad spectrum of heterogeneous business and operations domains involving multiple enterprises and customers in multiple industries.

Thus, interoperability at all levels of the system, from basic connectivity through business models and objectives, up to policy and regulatory issues will be critical to success. Interoperability will also simplify the evolution of underlying technologies by isolating the application layers from the communications layers.

In addition, numerous technological innovations will be required in the areas of analytics, modeling, and optimization, security, silicon technology, and physical science.

But ultimately, both for individual organizations like IBM, and for the success of smart grids in general, it’s critical that we not only solve the technology challenges. We must understand how the business models of the electrical utility industry need to evolve.

Smart grid transformation will help companies create new approaches to the business of the grid that take advantage of the increased information, increased interoperation and automation between the suppliers and consumers of electricity, and the use of renewable and distributed energy resources. We have to define the appropriate business models and evolve energy policy and regulation at the same time in support of those new business models.

Q: What role does IBM play in the Global Intelligent Utility Network Coalition?

A: In 2007, IBM formed a coalition of utility companies to accelerate the use of smart grid technologies and move the industry forward through its most challenging transformation. The Global Intelligent Utility Network Coalition wants to change the way power is generated, distributed and used by adding digital intelligence to the current systems to reduce outages and faults, manage demand, and integrate renewable energy sources such as wind and power.

Today the Coalition comprises of twelve members, serving 115 million energy customers worldwide. Members include Country Energy in Australia and North Delhi Power Limited in India. Each utility company brings a unique expertise to the table. The Coalition shares ideas and best practices through in-person meetings and virtual interactions, benchmarks their efforts, shares knowledge on critical issues and undertakes collaborative initiatives.

The Global Intelligent Utility Network Coalition’s first collaborative effort was the creation of a Smart Grid Maturity Model, a management tool which has been used by over 60 utilities from around the world to assess where they are and plan their own smart grid transformation program. It was recently donated to Software Engineering Institute (www.sei. cmu.edu/smartgrid) for use by the industry.

Q: Does IBM support smart grid projects with products of its own?

A: Yes, IBM’s products are at the core of a smart grid implementation. The solution frameworks, the maturity models, and the skills in the complex integration models constitute the intellectual products. The computing devices that empower this solution need to be highly available, reliable, and disaster proofed – IBM’s hardware products provide this backbone for the computing domain.

And the third part of the triumvirate of IBM products are the middleware layers of databases, development and runtime environments, real-time data stream processors, and information handlers (as different from just data handlers) and the control and management tools that enable the applications developed by IBM’s ISV partners to complete the suite of products that IBM provides.

Rob Broadstock, senior director, Asia Pacific & Japan, Oracle Utilities, talks to CE Asia about the company’s smart grid activities, which encompass water and gas as well as electricity.

Oracle Utilities is a division of IT giant Oracle that focuses on the software needs of the public utilities – power, water and gas supply networks. In particular, Oracle has been particularly keen on making water supply networks around the world smarter, bearing in mind the impending water scarcity challenges which confront many cities in the world.

Q: What would you say is needed for long-term sustainability in the water industry?

A: The key driver for water companies varies from region to region. For instance, some must rehabilitate and renovate their delivery infrastructures (pipelines and pumping stations) to minimize losses and to improve the quality of supply (eliminate the incursion of toxins or heavy metals for instance). Then if the utility happens to be functioning in a drought-sensitive region, conservation is vital; this is often manageable – and is managed for that matter – by resorting to pricing programs which discourage excessive use. Demand management is necessary even if a region is not in dire straits as regards availability of water.

Q: How would this apply in the Asian environment?

A: Generally, vis-à-vis electricity suppliers, water supply utilities are laggards when it comes to adopting new technologies. Having said that, it is an indisputable fact that the water industry the world over faces serious challenges – quite similar to what the electricity sector does. Conservation requirements, demandside management and rehabilitation of ageing infrastructures are highest on the agenda of both these sectors.

Some parts of Asia – cities which are in the nascent stages of development, over time, will encounter these challenges just as their European and North American counterparts are doing at present. Funding for smart grid projects and infrastructure replacements then would become a critical consideration.

On the other hand, in bigger Asian cities which have already developed significantly and are booming with regard to population growth and stress on existing infrastructures, the time to adopt smart meter/smart grid strategies that can aid implementation of things like conservation programs has arrived.

Q: How do smart grid technologies support the move towards smart cities?

A: Smart grid technologies are key aids in the building of smart cities. For the utilities, these technologies will automate grids to improve delivery, provide more information to assist analysis, enable many new types of conservation and demand management programs, among other benefits. They will provide the consumers more information to help them understand and manage their behavior, more control of their consumption, and more choices about what to consume and when. There are smart city initiatives all over the world, and eastern Asia already has pilot projects in Incheon (South Korea), Shenyang (China), Chiba (Japan), among others.

Q: Who is Oracle working with for Smart Grids in Asia?

A: Most of Oracle’s partners are global, and we work with many companies to develop smart grid solutions. For example, we have worked with Accenture to define a smart grid architecture based on Oracle technology which can be deployed to provide smart grid solutions. And Oracle is part of the Smart Energy Alliance, which also includes HP, Cisco, GE, Intel, and Cap Gemini.

Q: Where does Asia stand in the deployment of smart grid technologies for the utility sector compared with the rest of world?

A: There are ongoing smart grid deployments in Asia. Korea, for instance, has a nationwide effort to support green growth by deploying smart grid technologies, and intends to export this once it is developed. Smart meter shipments in Asia Pacific will rise between 2010 and 2015, corresponding to the global trend. Japan has several pilot projects for smart meters, as does India. Most of the emphasis in Asia would be on electricity grids (as opposed to gas, water).

Q: Apart from water, what else is Oracle looking into?

A: Of course, in addition to water supply networks, Oracle is also interested in smart grid/smart metering for electricity and gas. We provide many solutions which use smart meter and smart grid data to support demand management, complex pricing, and conservation programs. We are extending our R&D efforts to include solutions for micro-grids, data-visualization for better consumption management, demand response programs, as well as integration across these diverse systems.