“the Role Of Smart Grids In Enhancing Energy Efficiency And Reliability”

“the Role Of Smart Grids In Enhancing Energy Efficiency And Reliability” – Unlike traditional energy grids, which were primarily designed for one-way distribution from producer to consumer, smart grids use Internet of Things (IoT) technology to add information and monitoring to each node.

Here, in Q&A format, is what you need to know about the smart grid, its benefits, its “self-healing” capabilities, and some of its security challenges.

“the Role Of Smart Grids In Enhancing Energy Efficiency And Reliability”

A smart grid is an IOT-enabled application that allows utilities and their customers to exchange electricity and information.

Smart Grid Images

A smart grid includes, in particular, smart meters, renewable energy resources, and smart appliances on the consumer side.

According to the United Nations, most people around the world already live in urban areas – around 55% of us in 2018 – and by 2050, that figure will be closer to 68%.

These populations are highly dependent on the reliable distribution of electricity. Brownouts or blackouts can seriously affect safety and security in such urban environments.

The simple truth is that most municipal electricity infrastructures are aging and being pushed to their limits and beyond.

The Smart Grid

If we want to keep those cities livable and embrace sustainable ways of producing energy and getting around, we will have to move to smart grids (and embrace IoT solutions).

#3. What are the benefits of the smart grid? A smart grid reduces operating costs, saves energy, and increases reliability.

Smart grid applications can balance power flow more efficiently. They can detect surges, outages, and technical energy losses.

Better energy infrastructure empowers stakeholders – asset owners, manufacturers, service providers, and government officials at local and central levels – to strategically manage the geographically dispersed renewable power sources such as wind farms, solar plants, and hydro stations.

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However, the inherent unpredictability of renewable energy creates more challenges for those who need to run the power flow to and from homes, businesses, and – increasingly – electric vehicles (EV).

Coping with the growth in supply and demand for clean energy requires new ways of thinking about energy management.

The smart grid will ensure that this energy can be safely stored and distributed where and when it is needed.

In other words, with IoT-connected devices in every meter, solar panel, and car collecting real-time data, decisions about what energy is directed where can be automated.

Smart Grids: Everything You Need To Know

And the use of renewable energy is growing rapidly around the world. In 2019, more than 75% of all new power generation globally came from renewable energy.

Of course, the first reason is that many national and local governments have set targets for increasing the percentage of energy produced through renewable energy, in accordance with international agreements such as the Paris Agreement signed in 2016.

Reduced greenhouse gas emissions will reduce the long-term effects of climate change, and in the short term, it reduces air pollution, which in Europe alone is often higher than the levels prescribed by standards.

Unlike traditional energy grids designed primarily for one-way distribution from producer to consumer, smart grids use Internet of Things (IoT) technology to add information and monitoring to each node.

Smart Grid Security: Attacks And Defence Techniques

Sharing data in near real time allows the system to know when and how electricity is being used, and IoT devices automatically respond to grid conditions in return.

The grid is more agile with the IoT and can identify faults using communication diagnostics, accurately isolate failure, and react. It can then reconfigure electricity flow, re-energize parts of the grid, and protect the power infrastructure.

Needless to say, this process requires the use of high-performance IT infrastructure, automated command and control, IoT-enabled devices, communication networks, and tight security to achieve this objective.

Already, hundreds of trials have been carried out in the UK, Germany, the US, India – all over the world – to test systems that even allow users to sell directly to each other using peer-to-peer trading -peer and smart contracts.

Power Grid Monitoring

On the other hand, strong security builds user trust and will help future grids to proliferate.

“An essential element for energy stakeholders is to ensure that the assets they produce or manage are well protected and that their security can evolve,” said Willem Strabbing, Managing Director of the European Association of Smart Energy Solution Providers (ESMIG).

“We mean assets that are operated for long periods – often more than ten years – and that appeal to hackers to modify usage information, to access private data, or to cause critical damage on world grids – wide

“In this context, governments or regulators call for specific protection protocols that could be based on strong encryption and authentication tools, device protection, and enable appropriate security updates.”

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Security by design means anticipating and mitigating threats from the outset during product development and including the ability to support devices throughout their full lifecycle.

“In particular, it can be short-sighted to lock in with one vendor or design meters that cannot incorporate future technologies or support updates.”

Security in the smart grid means ensuring that all risks are managed when – inevitably – things go wrong.

“Security is a learning process,” according to Michael John – Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at WePower Network and Operations Director of the European Network for Cyber ​​Security (ENCS) – “and smart grid security solutions will take time to develop. “

What Is The Smart Grid?

“Years ago, security was not high on the agenda,” says John, “But now everyone has a Chief Security Officer and project leaders who look after security for new projects.”

“The challenge is that legacy systems were not interconnected, automation has to be introduced over time, and new processes need to be in place to protect systems that were never designed to be secure.”

Strong digital identities: Each connected device should have its own unique digital identity, which would be used to identify each device. If each device has its own unique identity, only that device is compromised even if a device is hacked.

Interoperability is essential for the smart grid, as data is collected, shared, and acted upon from all network points.

Challenges In The Smart Grid Applications: An Overview

Authorities are becoming increasingly aware of the potential threats that weak cyber security in the smart grid can present.

ESMIG, which represents European metering companies, has defined a common set of security requirements for smart meters based on the requirements found in EU member states.

In December 2018, the EU agreed to implement the new Cybersecurity Act, introducing standardization and certification for a wide range of devices connected to the internet, including the smart grid.

What’s more, in May 2018, the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR – for data privacy) introduced a variety of requirements that affect smart meters and the type of data they collect.

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Over in the US, California’s SB 327 Law, which went into effect in January 2020, requires all connected devices to have “reasonable security features.”

California’s IoT law is a significant first step as it targets IoT devices and underlying cyber-attack methods that can leave consumers vulnerable to security and privacy risks.

SB-327 places liability (and burden of proof) on the IoT vendors if the device is connected to the Internet in California.

More broadly, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation is responsible for the US and Canadian grid and has introduced various rules for how utilities must protect the grid electronically.

Smart Grid Explained

In summary, smart meters and the smart grid can offer huge benefits to all stakeholders: save costs, provide energy more efficiently, and reach renewable energy targets.

If you have a question about smart grid technology or security or want to learn more about how IoT technology is transforming utilities, we’d be happy to help.

For more information about our services and solutions please contact one of our sales representatives. We have agents around the world available to help with your digital security needs. Fill out our contact form and one of our representatives will be in touch to discuss how we can assist you.

Please note that we do not sell any products or offer support directly to end users. If you have questions about one of our products provided by e.g. your bank or government, then contact them for advice first. Electronic power conditioning and control of electricity generation and distribution are important aspects of the smart grid.

Energy Management In The Smart Grid: State Of The Art And Future Trends

The introduction of smart grid technology also implies a fundamental re-generation in the electricity service industry, although typical usage of the term focuses on the technical infrastructure.

Concerns about smart grid technology focus primarily on smart meters, the items they enable, and general security issues.

Smart grids could also monitor/control non-essential residential devices during periods of peak power use, and return their function during off-peak hours.

At the time, the grid was a centralized unidirectional system of electric power transmission, electricity distribution, and demand-drive management.

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In the 20th century, local grids grew over time and were essentially interconnected for economic and reliability reasons. By the 1960s, the electricity grids of developed countries had become very large, mature and highly interconnected, with thousands of ‘central’ excitation power stations supplying power to large load grids via branched high capacity power lines. and divided to provide power. to smaller industrial and domestic users over the tire supply area. The grid topology of the 1960s was a result of the strong economies of scale: large coal, gas and oil-fired power stations on the 1 GW (1000 MW) to 3 GW scale are still found to be cost-effective, due to which gives an efficiency boost that can only be cost-effective when the stations come

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