Background information
Smart grids
An introduction to smart grids
Electricity is the most versatile form of energy
available and it can be accessed by more than 5
billion people around the world through a series
of tried-and-tested technologies.
Our traditional power systems are based on cen-
tralized generation plants that supply end-users
via long-established, unidirectional transmission
and distribution systems. These systems have
served us well, in many cases for more than a
hundred years, but times are changing.
Societies are demanding cleaner energy supplies
to combat climate change and demand for elec-
tricity is rising. This means more electricity must
be generated from a greater variety of sources.
Wind, solar, biofuel, and geothermal plants will
all be needed, as well as coal, gas and nuclear,
with significant consequences for the power
system.
The mix of renewable, thermal and nuclear
power plants will introduce new variation in the
quality of power in the grid. Weather patterns af-
fect the availability of wind and solar power, and
the emergence of distributed power generation
(rooftop solar panels, for example) will compli-
cate matters further, requiring local networks to
receive as well as deliver power.
The existing power supply infrastructure is un-
able to manage such complexity, and needs to
change. It needs to be equipped with advanced
communications and information technologies
to monitor, analyze and organize the supply and
demand of electricity. This is what is meant by a
smart grid.
Why do we need a smart grid?
The major driver for the evolution of the power
system is the need to meet rising demand for
electricity while reducing carbon emissions to
avoid irreversible changes to the earths environ-
ment. All this must be achieved without com-
promising the reliability of electricity supplies on
which the worlds economies are increasingly
dependent.
Figure 1: Global demand for electricity
TWh
30000
25000
20000
15000
10000
2000 2007 2015 2030
Source: International Energy Agency, World Energy Outlook 2009
Between 2000 and 2007, global demand for
electricity rose, on average, by 2.5 percent a
year (see figure 1), and the trend continues.
By 2030, it is anticipated that global electricity
demand will all but double to 30,000 terawatt-
hours (TWh) a year. If this level of demand is to
be met, we will need to build a one-gigawatt
ABB background information: smart grids | 1
(GW) power station and its associated infrastruc-
ture every week for the next 20 years a daunt-
ing prospect.
Given that this level of expansion is necessary
to meet demand, what effect will all these new
power stations have on the environment? Since
40 percent of anthropogenic CO2 emissions are
currently produced by electrical power genera-
tion, simply scaling up todays operations to
meet the rise in demand will not be acceptable.
So how can we meet demand and still keep CO2
Energy efficiency
Energy efficiency is arguably the fastest, most
sustainable and cheapest way of reducing
greenhouse gas emissions.1 And there are other
advantages. Not only are energy-efficient tech-
nologies already available (and have been for
some time), investment payback times are short
and they enable energy savings to be made
without compromising economic development.
Figure 3: Predicted energy savings in 2020 from new
EU standards
TWh

emissions in check? 150

(heating and cooling systems)

TVs, fridges, freezers

Light bulbs

Motors and drives

120
According to the International Energy Agency
(IEA), which has proposed a number of sce-

Circulation pumps
90
narios for the future of global carbon emissions,
annual emissions in 2030 could be reduced from
60
the current prediction of over 40 Gt (gigatons)
CO2 to just over 26 Gt by the implementation of
30
a carefully designed set of policies. These poli-
cies aim to limit global warming to 2C above 0
25 TWh 30 TWh 40 TWh 135 TWh

preindustrial levels, which should limit the effects Source: EU ecodesign regulations, European Commission, 2009
of climate change to an acceptable economic, Figure 3 illustrates the amount of electricity
social and environmental cost. expected to be saved in the European Union by
2020 using existing technologies, which are now
Figure 2: Energy and renewables could deliver bulk of CO2 savings
being made mandatory. It is perhaps surprising
450 policy scenario that the potential for much publicized low-energy
Reference scenario light bulbs is dwarfed by the potential for motors
Gt CO2
40
and drives. Drives are devices used to regulate
Energy motor-driven applications from washing ma-
57%
efficiency chines and elevators to pulp and paper mills and
30
20%
Renewables
Biofuels (3%)
mining applications.
10% Nuclear
10%
CCS* Figure 4: Electricity consumption per $1 GDP
kWh
*Carbon capture and storage
20 1.2
2000 2007 2020 2030

1.0
Source: International Energy Agency, World Energy Outlook 2009

0.8
As shown in figure 2, more than half of the sav-
ings predicted for this policy scenario come 0.6

from the implementation of energy efficiency

0.4
measures and a fifth come from an increase in
renewable power generation. 0.2

0.0
The development of more intelligent power sys-
India

Middle East
Japan

Brazil

US
Russia
Germany

China

World

tems will directly support these two objectives.

In a smart grid, advanced technologies improve
energy efficiency by managing demand so that
it matches the availability of electricity, and they
feed renewable energy into the network without
letting changes in weather patterns affect the
stability or reliability of the supply.
At the same time, using satellite, wireless and
real-time communication, advanced technologies
will enable utilities to pinpoint problems in the
grid faster than they are able to today.
Source: International Energy Agency, key World Energy Statistics 2009
Figure 4 shows the amount of energy that is
consumed for each dollar of gross domestic
product produced in some of the worlds major
economies. It shows that the wealthiest coun-
tries have the lowest ratios, demonstrating that
is it possible to reduce energy consumption
while raising productivity.
1 Closing statement of the G8 summit, June 2007

ABB background information: smart grids | 2

But the applications of energy-efficiency mea-
sures are not limited to end users of electricity.
They can be implemented at every stage of the
power system, including generation and trans-
portation through the worlds transmission and
distribution networks.
It has been estimated that 80 percent of primary
energy is lost during the processes of the power
system (harvesting and converting primary
energy sources into electricity, transmission, dis-
tribution and end use). Widespread implementa-
tion of energy-efficiency measures could reduce
these losses by 30 percent with a direct impact
on carbon emissions.2
Figure 5: Power generation capacity additions in 450 scenario
GWh
Nuclear and
1500 renewables gain
1200 Fossil fuels decline
900
600
300
0
Nuclear
Oil
Hydro
renewables
Other
Gas
Coal
Source: International Energy Agency, World Energy Outlook 2009
A more intelligent power system with enhanced
network monitoring and control features will en-
able transmission and distribution grids to run
more smoothly, enhancing capacity and improv-
ing reliability.
Monitoring and control features will also be avail-
able to end users of electricity, providing individ-
ual consumers with detailed information on how
and when electricity is used in their homes.
Two-way communication devices, which in-
clude smart meters, that provide information on
domestic energy consumption to both users and
utilities, will allow consumers to make informed,
tariff-driven choices over which appliances to
use and which to switch off at any given time.
This will have the effect of spreading peak de-
mand as consumers shift their non-essential en-
ergy consumption to off-peak periods in pursuit
of lower electricity bills.
While peak shaving may have little impact on
the power consumption of individual households
(families will still run their washing machines,
they will just choose to run them during off-peak
2 ABB sources
periods), it will significantly reduce the overall
consumption of the wider population. This will
reduce the amount of reserve power capacity
that needs to be kept on standby to meet peak
demand, and reduce the number of times that
reserve capacity needs to be ramped up and
down, which can be a rather inefficient process.
Reducing the levels of peak demand will also re-
duce the number of new power plants that need
to be built. All of these advantages will lead to a
reduction in CO2 emissions.
Renewable power
Renewable power generation will also have a
direct impact on the carbon emissions of the
power system by helping to increase capacity
and meet demand for electricity with negligible
2021-2030
CO 2 emissions. This concept is now well estab-
2008-2020 lished and power generation from renewable
sources is expanding rapidly. Figure 5 illustrates
the changes in generation mix envisioned by
the International Energy Agencys 450 scenario,
which aims to limit global warming to 2C above
preindustrial levels.
The IEA predicts that global electricity genera-
tion from renewable sources will rise significantly
by 2030 though a cumulative investment of $5.5
trillion,3 which represents about half of all pro-
jected investments in electricity generation for
the period.
While the environmental benefit of reducing our
dependence on fossil fuels is clear, the large-
scale integration of wind farms and solar plants
into the grid will have a severe impact on the
stability of electricity supplies, unless we begin
to make changes.
The greatest challenge stems from the erratic
nature of renewable energy. With the exception
of hydropower, the availability of renewable re-
sources can quite literally change with the wind.
Power generation in wind farms is character-
ized by periods of high productivity followed by
lulls in calmer weather and the performance of
solar plants wanes during cloudy weather and at
night.
A further challenge is the location of renewable
sources. Large-scale sources are often far from
the centers of demand (offshore or out in the
desert), and small-scale producers are often
in light-industrial or residential areas where the
local distribution grid is not set up to receive as
well as deliver electricity.
3 Based on 2007 levels, World Energy Outlook, 2009
ABB background information: smart grids | 3
Compared to the highly predictable performance
of more traditional generation plants, most of
which have been built near to the communities
they serve, renewable power seems less than
perfect. But many of the technologies needed
to overcome the challenge of renewables are al-
ready in use and others are under development.
As more renewable generation comes online, the
grid is evolving to accommodate it and provide
reliable electricity supplies that will meet de-
mand, sustainably.
Reliability
Implementing energy efficiency measures to
reduce the environmental impact of our electric-
ity supplies will not challenge the stability of the
grid. Incorporating large volumes of renewable
power, small-scale power producers and electric
vehicles on the other hand, could have a dra-
matic effect on reliability, leading to significant
economic costs.
Figure 6: Annual cost of power system disturbances, US
Other
$3 bn
Industrial Commercial
sector sector
$20 bn $57 bn
Source: Berkley National Laboratory, US, 2005
Industrial and commercial organizations suffer
huge inefficiencies if power is interrupted, even
for a short time, through loss of production time
and the additional energy cost of resuming nor-
mal operating conditions. Additional problems
are caused by dips in power quality, voltage
surges and sags that can affect the performance
of electronic devices and even cause permanent
damage to equipment. To avoid such problems,
many industrial and commercial electricity con-
sumers install protective equipment and back-up
generating capacity, all of which costs money
and results in additional CO2 emissions every
time it is used.
A 2005 report4 estimated that electric power
outages and blackouts in the US cost the na-
tional economy about $80 billion a year. The bulk
of the losses, $57 billion, were in the commercial
sector where large numbers of consumers are
affected by each interruption. $20 billion were
4 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
http://www.apqi.org/file/attachment/2008724/133443.pdf
lost in the industrial sector, where the distur-
bances affected fewer individual consumers, but
each at a greater cost.
Smart grid technologies that enable fast and
effective containment and correction of distur-
bances in the power system will be increasingly
important as the worlds economies become
increasingly reliant on electricity.
Electric vehicles
Electric vehicles have the potential to make size-
able reductions in greenhouse gas emissions
from the transport sector. How much they actu-
ally make will depend on the fuels consumed
to generate the electricity they use. In 2009,
research for the UK Department of Transport5
suggested that, based on the UK generation
mix, carbon emissions resulting from the use
of electric vehicles would be about 40 percent
less than those from conventional vehicles. In
China however, where power generation is more
dependent on fossil fuels, the carbon abatement
potential of electric vehicles would currently be
only about 19 percent. 6
Figure 7: Projected sales of electric and part-electric vehicles
MUSD
12 ABB
10 Renault
8 IEA
6 Frost & Sullivan
4 Pike
Credit Suisse
2
0
2014
2012
2018
2016
2010
2020
In addition
Source: to reducing the number of conven-
various, 2009
tional vehicles on the road, electric vehicles will
enable utilities to make better use of existing
power generation capacity. If, for example, 20
percent of new vehicles were electric (which may
happen over the next 10 years in highly moti-
vated localities such as southern California),7,8
recharging them could represent up to 2 percent
of total electricity demand.
Theoretically, if vehicles were charged mainly at
night, much of this demand could be satisfied
5 UK Department for Transport, 2009. Low carbon and electric vehicles
http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file48653.pdf
6 McKinsey and Company, 2008. China Charges up: The Electric Vehicle
Opportunity.
7 McKinsey and Company, 2009. Electrifying cars: How Three Industries will
Evolve.
8 More general predictions suggest that 10 percent of new vehicles in 2020
will be electric: Multiple sources, 2009: CS Investment Bank, Boston Con-
sulting, Renault-Nissan, Roland Berger
ABB background information: smart grids | 4
using existing capacity, generating a new rev-
enue stream for the utility and putting off-peak
power to good use. In practice, however, it is
likely that electric cars will be concentrated in
particular neighborhoods and, as their numbers
rise, their local impact will require additional
infrastructure to be built. Solutions for daytime
charging would also need to be developed.
A significant advantage of incorporating large
numbers of electric vehicles into the grid will be
the enormous storage capacity made available
in the form of the cars batteries. Most cars are
driven for an hour or two a day, lying idle for the
rest of the time. As more drivers turn to elec-
tric vehicles, the growing fleet could become a
significant source of back-up power capacity for
the grid, providing short-notice reserve power to
meet demand peaks. This would relieve pressure
on utilities to provide reserve generating capacity
and bring financial rewards for the car owners.
Charging facilities for electric vehicles are be-
coming more widely available, but to realize the
full potential of these vehicles, a number of tech-
nology advances need to be made. The cost of
car batteries must be reduced significantly and
many more charging stations must be built.
To achieve the full CO2-saving potential of elec-
tric vehicles, smart grids and smart charging
solutions must be implemented simultaneously.
Despite the popularity of hybrid vehicles, the
infrastructure for the widespread incorporation of
electric vehicles into the power system remains
the least developed aspect of the smart grid.
ABB background information: smart grids | 5
What will the smart grid look like?
Current power system
The grid of the future will be an enhanced version of todays network, with more extensive monitoring and communication systems,
new grid interconnections, two-way flow of power and information, and a larger portion of distributed and renewable generation. The
system will be highly automated to ensure the availability of reliable, energy-efficient power supplies to industrial, commercial and
residential consumers, on demand.
ABBs vision for a smart grid is of a self-monitor-
ing system, based on industry-wide standards,
that provides a stable, secure and environmen-
tally sustainable network. The system will cross
national and international boundaries, enabling
neighboring regions to trade energy, and it will
be equipped with rapid-response monitoring and
control systems that will automatically contain
and correct faults to ensure that high-quality
electricity is available to consumers, on demand.
This vision is now being put into practice. Re-
cent advances in computing and communica-
tions technologies are being used by utilities to
access detailed information on up-to-the min-
ute network conditions at literally thousands of
points on the grid. Similar information systems
will provide consumers with access to their own
consumption data and electricity pricing informa-
tion. These data will allow consumers to play an
active role in the grid, making informed decisions
on how and when they use electricity, even gen-
erating their own power and feeding surpluses
back into the system.
While true smart grids are still a vision for the
future, the technologies and standards that will
be needed have been the subject of research at
ABB for some years now and many are already
in use. With a broad range of power and auto-
mation technologies, ABB is taking the lead in
providing an integrated solution for the develop-
ment of the smart grid. The following section
provides an insight into some of the ABB tech-
nologies that are turning the vision of the smart
grid into reality.
Smarter grid
Network management and wide-area moni-
toring
As the information revolution of the past 30
years has transformed the way we communicate,
so is it changing the way our power supplies
are controlled. The ability to gather, analyze and
act on large quantities of data, quickly, reliably
and cost-effectively, is enabling the evolution of
smarter grids.
ABBs network management and utility com-
munication technologies make full use of these
technologies and are playing a leading role in the
development of smart grids. They have brought
new levels of performance to the systems that
monitor, control, operate and protect the worlds
power supplies. They ensure the reliability of
the electricity systems on which our societies
depend.
ABBs technologies enable real-time manage-
ment of transmission grids, distribution net-
works, power plants and energy trading markets.
They can collect, transmit, store and analyze
data from thousands of data points across pow-
er networks and over large geographical areas.
They enable data, voice, video and protection
signaling, and other types of critical information
to be communicated quickly, reliably and se-
curely.
Without these functions, the large-scale inte-
gration of renewable resources, the regulation
ABB background information: smart grids | 6
of two-way distribution grids, long-distance
transmission, incorporation of electric cars and
charging facilities would not be possible.
Wide-area monitoring capabilities raise the
performance of network management systems
by increasing the area over which the systems
can work. The use of satellite communications
enables information from neighboring grids to be
accessed quickly and used in early warning sys-
tems to prevent the development of widespread
faults.
ABBs network management solution integrated Karnatakas
transmission and distribution networks into a single system,
providing energy audit and customer billing systems in a single
platform.
A recent example of how ABBs technologies are
helping to accommodate increasingly complex
demands on todays power systems can be seen
in the Indian state of Karnataka. At the center
of the state is Bangalore, with its fast-growing
information technology and biotech industry. In
2009, ABB delivered a network management
solution that integrates the states power trans-
mission and distribution systems, energy audit
and customer billing systems into a single state-
of-the-art platform.
ABBs system monitors the power network of
the entire state, using satellite communication
to provide accurate and real-time information on
power supply and revenues, it enables operators
to identify and correct faults quickly. The network
delivers electricity to about 16 million people and
is well-positioned to keep pace with ever-grow-
ing demand in the region, while maintaining the
reliability on which its businesses depend.
Substations
Substations are vital installations in the power
grid. They include equipment to monitor, protect
and control the transmission and distribution
of electricity, providing efficient, reliable power
supplies. As part of a smarter grid, the role of
substations will be to work hand-in-hand with
network management systems and other grid
installations to coordinate power flows.
They will continue to feed power from generating
stations into the grid and provide the link be-
tween transmission and distribution systems, but
their ability to communicate with different parts
of the grid will be greatly enhanced. This will
enable a higher degree of automation in the grid
to ensure the delivery of reliable, efficient power
supplies.
Improved substation communication has long
been an important topic at ABB. The company
played a leading role in the development and
implementation of the first global standard for
the control and protection of substation equip-
ment. The new standard is a protocol that
enables real-time, open communication between
substation devices, regardless of the manufac-
turer. It has significantly enhanced substation
performance and enabled thousands of copper
communications that were needed in a single
substation to be replaced by just a handful of
fiber optic cables.
This system, known as IEC 61850, is one of
the most significant developments in substa-
tion automation and protection technology for
decades and a key enabler for the development
of smart grids. Just as the Internet would not
have developed without globally accepted, open
standards such as HTML, so the development of
smart grids depends on the establishment and
widespread implementation of communications
standards.
In the past four years, ABB has delivered hun-
dreds of IEC 61850 systems and thousands of
products for new and retrofit installations in over
60 countries to enhance the performance, ef-
ficiency and reliability of substation operation.
Among ABBs landmark installations are the
worlds first multivendor, IEC 61850-compliant
substation and the substations that serve the
worlds largest operating hydropower plants:
Itaipu in Brazil and the Three Gorges in China.
Itaipu feeds 95 TWh of emission-free power
into the grid every year, enough to power the
whole of Argentina for a year, or Paraguay for
11 years, avoiding the generation of almost 50
million tons of CO2 each year.9 The Three Gorges
dam produced more than 80 TWh electricity in
2008. Thats enough power to meet the needs of
almost 30 million people in China.10
9 48.3 million tons. Calculation based on Itaipus 2008 production of 94,685
GWh electricity and the global average of 510g CO2 being generated for
each KWh electricity produced.
10 According to the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics, Chinas total elec-
ABB background information: smart grids | 7

ABB provided substations for the worlds largest operating hydro
plants. The Itaipu project in Brazil, shown here, produces 95 TWh
of electricity a year, equivalent to power needs of Argentina.
In 2009, ABB achieved another milestone in sub-
station technology, delivering the worlds highest
capacity switchgear (a large-scale circuit breaker
system) for a substation in China. Rated at 1,100
kilovolts, the switch can be used to turn up to
7,600 MW of power on or off within milliseconds.
This is the average power consumption of a
country like Switzerland (population 7.7 million).
The powerful switch is needed to help control
the flow of power in an ultrahigh-voltage power
link, which has been built to achieve new heights
in transmission efficiency. While this will be the
only transmission line in operation using such
high voltages, it is leading a trend towards higher
voltage, more efficient transmission links that will
populate the smart grid as it develops.
FACTS and energy storage
Grid stabilization: FACTS is a generic term for a
group of technologies that dramatically increase
the capacity of electrical transmission lines by
as much as 50 percent - while maintaining or
even improving the systems stability and reli-
ability. FACTS technologies will be an important
element in the smart grid because they improve
the efficiency of long-distance power transmis-
sion by removing bottlenecks, and they are used
to safely integrate intermittent energy sources
like wind and solar power into the grid. FACTS
technologies answer a number of challenges
posed by our developing power systems.
In Saudi Arabia, where demand for electricity
is growing rapidly, an ABB FACTS solution has
boosted the capacity of a vital grid interconnec-
tor by some 30 percent. The increased trans-
mission capacity is preventing power shortages
in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, and has saved the
Saudi Electric Company a huge investment out-
lay in a new transmission infrastructure. This is
tricity consumption in 2008 was 3,450 billion kWh. Three Gorges produced
80.8 billion kWh in 2008, equal to 2.3 percent of Chinas total electricity
consumption for the year. Chinese population in 2008 was approximately
1.3 billion. 2.3 percent of 1.3 billion is just over 29 million.
a typical application of FACTS, helping utilities to
expand their operations, quickly and effectively,
as demand grows.
Another ABB FACTS solution was installed
to stabilize one of Indias most important grid
interconnections between Raipur and Rourkela.
The installation enables power to be reliably
transferred from Indias eastern power grid
(where there is a surplus) to the west and south
(where there is a shortage). The solution has also
provided a substantial increase in transmission
capacity and is the largest installation of its kind
in the country. It is the kind of application that
will be used more and more as grids develop
into larger, more complex systems.
The latest addition to ABBs FACTS technology
group provides current and voltage stabilization
functions with the addition of energy storage
capacity. This new feature will be of particular
importance as the portion of renewable energy in
the generation mix grows.
An artists impression of an SVC Light installation with energy
storage. With a footprint of 50m by 60m, this station could pro-
vide 30 MW of power for about 15 minutes.
Todays version of the energy storage technol-
ogy can provide about 20 MW of power for
tens of minutes, which can keep around 10,000
households running while faults are corrected or
alternative power supplies are brought online.
A scaled-up version of the current model could
provide up to 50 MW power for an hour or more,
with significant implications for grid stability.
Such storage capacity can be used not only
to smooth out the erratic productivity of wind
and solar plants, but also to provide emergency
power to help restart grids after a blackout. In
rail networks, energy that would otherwise be
lost every time the train brakes could be stored
and then used to help the train with its next
a cceleration.
ABB background information: smart grids | 8
ABB has a long-running interest in energy stor-
age systems and in 2003, delivered the worlds
largest battery storage system to support the
power system in Fairbanks, Alaska. Covering an
area larger than a football pitch, the BESS (bat-
tery energy storage system) can provide 40 MW
of power for 6-7 minutes, or 27 MW of power for
15 minutes.
ABB has delivered more than 700 FACTS instal-
lations, more than half of all those installed in the
world, helping power systems to make better
use of existing capacity, while maintain the safety
margins that are essential for a smooth-running,
reliable grid.
High-voltage direct current (HVDC)
Pioneered by ABB in the 1950s, high-voltage
direct current transmission technology has had a
truly revolutionary impact on the way that electri-
cal energy is delivered, all over the world, and its
role will increase with the evolution of the smart
grid.
The ability of HVDC to transmit bulk power very
efficiently over long distances, interconnect
neighboring power grids (even those running at
different frequencies) and integrate renewable
power sources into the grid mean that HVDC will
be a prominent feature of future power networks.
Some of the worlds biggest cities, including
Los Angeles, So Paulo, Shanghai, and Delhi,
already rely on HVDC to deliver huge volumes
of electricity, often from thousands of kilometers
away, with remarkable efficiency and minimal en-
vironmental impact. These are the exact qualities
needed for the delivery of renewable power from
remote sources (including offshore) to centers of
demand.
ABBs HVDC technology was used in the Three
Gorges projects in China to deliver hydroelec-
tricity from power plants in the west of the
country to the cities of Shanghai in the east and
Guangzhou in the south. These electricity sup-
plies provide large quantities of reliable power
with negligible emissions, supporting economic
growth while reducing the number of thermal
power plants needed to meet demand.
National and regional power providers intercon-
nect their networks and trade electricity using
HVDC, while offshore wind farms can use it to
feed their power into mainland grids safely,
reliably and without disturbing sensitive marine
environments.
ABB is providing an HVDC link to connect the
worlds most remote wind farm to the German
grid. The 400 megawatt wind farm, located 130
kilometers from the coast in the North Sea, is
expected to avoid the generation of 1.5 million
tons of carbon dioxide per year by contributing
emission-free electricity to the grid.
In the reverse situation, offshore rigs, such as
StatoilHydros Troll A gas platform in the North
Sea, use it to receive clean, low-cost hydro-
electricity from the shore, avoiding the need for
noisy, space-consuming diesel-fueled genera-
tors.
Electricity trading between neighboring grids
contributes to the overall reliability of each sys-
tem, and allows increased use of renewables.
Parts of the grid that rely on wind or solar power
can be supported by other parts with more reli-
able sources, such as hydro or thermal genera-
tion.
ABB delivered the infrastructure to connect the worlds most
remote wind farm, 130 km off the German coast. The wind farm is
estimated to avoid the generation of 1.5 million tons of CO2 emis-
sions each year by replacing fossil-fuelled generation.
Using the 580-km NorNed HVDC link, the
Netherlands can import hydropower from Nor-
way during the day when demand is high, and
export excess capacity from its thermal power
stations during the night when demand is low.
This enables thermal power stations to run at an
optimal, constant rate, avoiding the generation
of an estimated 1.7 million metric tons of carbon
dioxide emissions every year.
ABB also used this remarkable technology in the
worlds longest and most powerful HVDC instal-
lation, the Xiangjiaba-Shanghai power link cur-
rently under construction in China. This power
superhighway will deliver 6,400 MW of clean,
hydroelectricity over 2,000 km, enough power
to meet the needs of up to 31 million people in
Eastern China.
ABB background information: smart grids | 9
Electric vehicles
ABBs contribution to the incorporation of elec-
tric vehicles into the grid will be to prepare the
grid for the challenges these vehicles will bring
and provide a variety of practical charging solu-
tions that will meet the needs of car owners,
service providers and grid operators.
Residential charging units need to deliver an
efficient, low-power service that will recharge a
battery overnight. They must have minimal im-
pact on the grid and provide power at a viable
cost to the car owner. Such charging units are
currently available but the standards that will be
required for the widespread implementation of
these devices are still being developed.
tional combustion motor vehicles. The stations
have proved their resilience to the extremes of
the Scandinavian climate and are now being
developed further to incorporate more sophisti-
cated communication functions.
Ultrafast charging will provide a fuel-stop
equivalent for electric vehicles, able to recharge
a cars battery in a matter of minutes. Com-
bined with future battery technologies, these
charging stations will be installed in highway
rest areas and convenient city refueling points.
The vehicle connections for these units will be
based on industry standards to ensure that
they will be compatible with all types of vehicle.

Public charging facilities must provide more

rapid services that can recharge a battery in
a matter of hours, while the driver is at work,
for example. These charging stations will be
installed in large car parks, public buildings
and business premises. Since they will be
installed in public areas, the stations will need
to be more robust than residential units, and
incorporate user authentication and/or payment
systems.

An ABB residential charging unit for electric vehicles, which

ABB has already installed a number of basic
can also used to pre-warm the engines of traditional combus-
charging stations in Scandinavia, where they tion motor vehicles.
are also used to pre-warm the engines of tradi-

ABB background information: smart grids | 10

ABBs ongoing contribution
ABB has delivered a large number of installations to
raise the performance of existing power systems.
These have helped to deliver more power, including
more renewable power, to more consumers, more
reliably and more efficiently, by linking power gen-
erators to the grid, linking grids to each other, and
raising the capacity, efficiency and stability of the
grid.
But the projects delivered so far are only part of the
story. ABB is also working on more than 20 pilot
projects across the world, looking at all aspects of
the smart grid, from energy storage, through net-
work management, metering and communication,
to distribution automation and home automation
systems.
A low-impact development in the heart of
Stockholm
One of the first smart grid pilot projects ABB is
working on is a collaboration with the Finnish utility,
Fortum. The idea is to test the concept of a flexible,
low-emission power network in the Royal Seaport
area of Stockholm, a former industrial area, which
is now one of Europes largest urban regeneration
projects.
Developers in this part of the Swedish capital hope
to produce a state-of-the-art residential and com-
mercial district where clean technologies will thrive
and deliver high-quality living space with low envi-
ronmental impact.
A top priority for the new development is to make
the best possible use of natural resources, including
renewable power. ABB and Fortum are working to
provide a power network that will ensure power gen-
erated from within the district (from sources such
as rooftop solar panels or micro wind turbines) can
be fed into the power grid for use in local homes
and businesses. The project also hopes to provide
charging facilities for electric vehicles, enabling them
to both recharge their batteries and deliver power
back into the grid, as required.
In terms of scale, the Royal Seaport project will
mark a big step forward in the development of a
smarter and more flexible urban grid that can inte-
grate distributed and renewable energy sources.
The new district will have 10,000 homes and 30,000
office spaces. It will incorporate an innovation center
to showcase the latest technologies being tested
and deployed.
It will also feature an attractive waterfront, where
boats will be able make use of ship-to-shore power
connections similar to the one ABB installeds power
connector in the port of Gothenburg. These con-
nections mean the waterfront areas need no longer
suffer the noise and fumes of onboard diesel gen-
erators. Ships will be able to plug into the onshore
grid to feed their power needs with minimal impact
on the local atmosphere.
In addition to accommodating renewable power
generation and electric vehicles, Fortum and ABB
hope to establish a community of active consum-
ers in Stockholm. This will mean equipping both
residential and commercial premises with energy
management technologies to enable consumers to
monitor and control the way they use power. The
aim would be to minimize waste and spread energy
consumption across the day, avoiding periods of
peak demand whenever possible.
Stockholm Royal Seaport is an integral part of
Stockholms effort to combat climate change. The
aim is to eliminate the use of fossil fuels within the
Royal Seaport district by 2030 and from the city
as a whole by 2050. Local power generation and
a more flexible and responsive power grid will be
instrumental in achieving these ambitious targets.
ABB envisions a smart grid based on industry-wide
standards supporting a stable, secure, efficient and
environmentally sustainable power system. It will
also accommodate customer demand response
management systems that allow local producers
and consumers to interact with the network opera-
tor and the energy market to reduce peak loads and
increase efficiency.
More accurate balancing of supply and demand
In order to drive the development of particular smart
grid technologies, ABB is also collaborating with
specialist partners in communications and informa-
tion technology. In one such project, ABB is com-
bining its expertise in power and automation tech-
nologies with those of communications specialist
T-Systems, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom.
The aim of this partnership is to develop technolo-
gies that will provide electricity consumers and elec-
tricity producers with the information they need, in a
form they can use, to change the way they interact
with the electricity supply system.
The skills of ABB and T-Systems complement each
other well. ABBs experience in power transmission
and distribution, network management and energy
trading systems, and T-systems knowledge of
broadband communications and
ABB background information: smart grids | 11
telecommunications billing systems, will com-
bine to help consumers and producers of
electricity to balance supply and demand more
effectively. Flexible tariffs that reflect real-time
demand patterns, coupled with more sophis-
ticated appliance control functions that en-
able consumers to take advantage of cheaper
electricity will make better use of existing
resources and accommodate energy sources
such as wind and solar power, which are less
predictable than thermal or hydroelectric power
stations.
Balancing supply and demand more accurately
and making better use of renewable power
sources are essential if the ambitious carbon-
reduction targets that have been set in many
countries are to be achieved. Some commen-
tators predict that the share of power from
renewable energy in Germany will be as high
as 35 percent by 2020. The added complexity
that this level of renewable generation will bring
to electricity distribution systems should not be
underestimated.
Unless the fluctuating levels of power that
are typical of renewable generation are care-
fully controlled, the impact on the grid will be
severe. At best, the system will operate inef-
ficiently. At worst the system will suffer fre-
quent interruptions and societies will suffer the
consequences. Introducing more sophisticated
communications and automation systems into
the power system developing a smarter grid
will help to stabilize supplies, accommodat-
ing renewable power and supporting efforts to
combat climate change.
ABB background information: smart grids | 12
ABB background information: smart grids | 13