Smart grid – a case study
K . Kamal Raj, kmalrj@gmail.com
VII SEMESTER
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING,
SRI BHAGAWAN MAHAVEER JAIN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
Abstract-Technology is rapidly changing the way we
approach almost everything we do in life. A variety
of influencing factors are causing utilities to get on-
board with the latest Smart Grid technologies and
placing consumers in the driver seat when it comes to
energy conservation. There are a myriad of
approaches being explored to provide everyone with
accurate data and allowing something as complex as
the energy grid to be able to operate efficiently and
intelligently. By staying flexible and using a variety
of communication resources, the Smart Grid will
mean many things to many people. Ask a person to
define the Smart Grid and you will receive a wide
range of answers. If you ask a meter engineer, they
will suggest it is Advanced Metering Infrastructure
(AMI). If you ask a Protection and Control Engineer,
they will suggest it provides substation and
distribution automation services. A Control Room
Operator focuses on the benefits of distribution and
outage management. The responses by each group
are 100% accurate, and demonstrate the wide ranging
requirements of this emerging technology. EPRI
defines the Smart Grid as, “A power system that
serves millions of customers and has an intelligent
communications infrastructure enabling the timely,
secure and adaptable information flow needed to
provide power to the evolving digital economy.”
(EPRI® Intelligrid 2007)
Keywords: Introduction, History, Technology, Need,
Advantages, Applications, Case Study.
I. INTRODUCTION:
Smart Grids is a common denominator for a wide
range of developments that make medium and low
voltage grids more intelligent and flexible than they
are nowadays. Main motive for Smart Grid initiatives
is that such developments improve reliability of
supply and/or support the trend towards a more
sustainable energy supply.
At this moment, medium and low voltage networks
can not be remotely observed and controlled. Various
companies are developing technologies aiming at
creating smarter networks. However, these
developments tend to root in technological
possibilities, rather than in a sound problem analysis
and a structured approach towards its solution. In the
recent past, a great variety of sensors, protocols,
communication equipment and the like has been
designed to support the move towards Smart Grids.
However, many of them have not found wide
application, which can be at least partly attributed to
the fact that there were no "problems" for which they
provided a solution so that it was not possible to draw
up a positive business case.
The fact that some of manufacturers of unsuccessful
technologies even blame network operators as
conservative instead of improving the price
performance ratio of their products further hampers a
real take off of Smart Grids. Notwithstanding the
mixed present picture, Enexis has high expectations
of the future of Smart Grid technologies. In the short
term, Enexis focuses on applying Smart Grid
technologies for improving the reliability of supply
through increasing the speed of restoration after an
interruption.
Smart G- rid technologies can thus battle the
expected increase in component failures, the
inevitable consequences of an ageing infrastructure.
In the longer term, Smart Grid technologies will play
an important role in maintaining reliability of supply
and improving sustainability. The complexity of
electricity distribution increases. Gardeners connect
CHP plants to the grids and the number of wind
turbines increases. This also applies for small
generators, such as micro CHP plants and PV panels.
Smart Grids support these developments by
continuously monitoring and controlling the grid and
the generators.
 Although these points tend to be the
"conventional wisdom" with respect to smart
II. History grids, their relative importance is debatable. For
instance, despite the weaknesses of power
Today's alternating current power grid evolved after
network being publicly broadcast, there has
1896, based in part on Nikola Tesla's design
never been an attack on a power network in the
published in 1888 Many implementation decisions
United States or Europe. However, in April 2009
that are still in use today were made for the first time
it was learned that spies had infiltrated the power
using the limited emerging technology available 120
grids, perhaps as a means to attack the grid at a
years ago. Specific obsolete power grid assumptions
later time. In the case of renewable power and its
and features (like centralized unidirectional electric
variability, recent work undertaken in Europe
power transmission, electricity distribution, and
(Dr. Bart Ummels et al.) suggests that a given
demand-driven control) represent a vision of what
power network can take up to 30% renewable
was thought possible in the 19th century.
(such as wind and solar) without any changes
Part of this is due to an institutional risk a version whatsoever.
that utilities naturally feel regarding use of untested
The term smart grid has been in use since at least
technologies on a critical infrastructure they have
2005, when the article "Toward A Smart Grid",
been charged with defending against any failure,
authored by S. Massoud Amin and Bruce F.
however momentary. Over the past 50 years,
Wollenberg appeared in the September/October
electricity networks have not kept pace with modern
issue of IEEE P&E Magazine (Vol. 3, No.5, pgs
challenges, such as: security threats, from either
34-41). The term had been used previously and
energy suppliers or cyber attack national goals to
may date as far back as 1998. There are a great
employ alternative power generation sources whose
many smart grid definitions, some functional,
intermittent supply makes maintaining stable power
some technological, and some benefits-oriented.
significantly more complex conservation goals that
A common element to most definitions is the
seek to lessen peak demand surges during the day so
application of digital processing and
that less energy is wasted in order to ensure adequate
communications to the power grid, making data
reserves high demand for an electricity supply that is
flow and information management central to the
uninterruptible digitally controlled devices that can
smart grid. Various capabilities result from the
alter the nature of the electrical load (giving the
deeply integrated use of digital technology with
electric company the ability to turn off appliances in
power grids, and integration of the new grid
your home if they see fit) and result in electricity
information flows into utility processes and
demand that is incompatible with a power system that
systems is one of the key issues in the design of
was built to serve an “analog economy.” For a simple
smart grids. Electric utilities now find
example, timed Christmas lights can present
themselves making three classes of
significant surges in demand because they come on at
transformations: improvement of infrastructure,
near the same time (sundown or a set time).Without
called the strong grid in China; addition of the
the kind of coordination that a smart grid can
digital layer, which is the essence of the smart
provide, the increased use of such devices lead to
grid; and business process transformation,
electric service reliability problems, power quality
necessary to capitalize on the investments in
disturbances, blackouts, and brownouts.
smart technology. Much of the modernization
work that has been going on in electric grid
modernization, especially substation and
distribution automation, is now included in the
general concept of the smart grid, but additional
capabilities are evolving as well.
 III. Technology
The bulk of smart grid technologies are already
used in other applications such as manufacturing
and telecommunications and are being adapted
for use in grid operations. In general, smart grid
technology can be grouped into five key areas.
Integrated communications
Some communications are up to date, but are not
uniform because they have been developed in an
incremental fashion and not fully integrated. In
most cases, data is being collected via modem
rather than direct network connection. Areas for
improvement include: substation automation,
demand response, distribution automation,
supervisory control and data acquisition
(SCADA), energy management systems,
wireless mesh networks and other technologies,
power-line carrier communications, and fiber-
optics. Integrated communications will allow for
real-time control, information and data exchange
to optimize system reliability, asset utilization,
and security.
Sensing and measurement
Core duties are evaluating congestion and grid
stability, monitoring equipment health, energy
theft prevention, and control strategies support.
Technologies include: advanced microprocessor
meters (smart meter) and meter reading
equipment, wide-area monitoring systems,
dynamic line rating (typically based on online
readings by Distributed temperature sensing
combined with Real time thermal rating (RTTR)
systems), electromagnetic signature
measurement/analysis, time-of-use and real-time
pricing tools, advanced switches and cables,
backscatter radio technology, and Digital
protective relays.
Smart meters
A smart grid replaces analog mechanical meters
with digital meters that record usage in real time.
Smart meters are similar to Advanced Metering
Infrastructure meters and provide
communication path extending from generation
plants to electrical outlets (smart socket) and
other smart grid-enabled devices. By customer
option, such devices can shut down during times
of peak demand.
Phasor measurement units
High speed sensors called PMUs distributed
throughout their network can be used to monitor
power quality and in some cases respond
automatically to them. Phasors are representations of
the waveforms of alternating current, which ideally in
real-time, are identical everywhere on the network
and conform to the most desirable shape. In the
1980s, it was realized that the clock pulses from
global positioning system (GPS) satellites could be
used for very precise time measurements in the grid.
With large numbers of PMUs and the ability to
compare shapes from alternating current readings
everywhere on the grid, research suggests that
automated systems will be able to revolutionize the
management of power systems by responding to
system conditions in a rapid, dynamic fashion.
A Wide-Area Measurement Systems (WAMS) is a
network of PMUS that can provide real-time
monitoring on a regional and national scale. Many in
the power systems engineering community believe
that the Northeast blackout of 2003 would have been
contained to a much smaller area if a wide area
phasor measurement network was in place.
Improved interfaces and decision support
Information systems that reduce complexity so that
operators and managers have tools to effectively and
efficiently operate a grid with an increasing number
of variables. Technologies include visualization
techniques that reduce large quantities of data into
easily understood visual formats, software systems
that provide multiple options when systems operator
actions are required, and simulators for operational
training and “what-if” analysis.
a
 IV. Five Reasons to go for Smart Grid:
India is predicted to be one of the hottest smart grid
markets in the coming years given its energy needs
are expected to double in 10 years, and the country’s
dominant power distribution company, State Grid
Corp., has a goal of building out a smart grid by
2020. India might not have the same momentum or
government funds in the pipeline as China, but Indian
utilities are still looking at pilot projects and the
Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM)
is working on a smart grid pilot project. According to
research from the Bangalore-based nonprofit Center
for Study of Science, Technology and Policy
(CSTEP), these are five reasons why developing
countries need, and want, smart grids.
Stopping Power Theft: Not such a problem in
developed countries, but in India with little oversight
of the grid and higher poverty rates, power theft is
quite common. Rahul Tongia writes in his white
paper for CSTEP that just basic grid accounting —
knowing where the power is flowing when — will be
a “strong driver” to cut down theft.
Higher Quality/Reliability of Power, Fewer
Blackouts: If homes in developing countries are
connected to the grid, often times the connection is
poor, and users can only access electricity during
certain times of the day. Grid load balancing and
distribution automation services can help keep power
flowing more continuously and alert utilities to
blackouts
Leapfrog to Smart Grid: In many developing
countries, power grids have not been fully built out
— in Tanzania 80 percent of the population lives
within 5 kilometers of a transmission line but only 10
percent has access to electricity. But smart grid
technology can “represent an opportunity for
developing countries to leapfrog in the growth of
their power sector to more manageable, reliable, and
scalable designs,” writes Tongia. Basically skip the
older systems, and start with the newer IT-based
ones. Many have speculated that developing
countries could do the same thing with renewable
power.
Growth Justifies the Cost: Some developing nations
like India, which will double its energy needs in a
decade, are growing at such a rapid pace that the
addition of smart grid technologies can be justified to
utilities by the growth of power consumers. The
hardest part for utilities in the U.S. is making the
economics of smart grids work, but in India the
addition of many new customers can help with the
return on investment.
Renewable Power Needs Smart Grid: If developing
countries are more successful in adding distributed
clean power than developed countries, utilities will
need a smart grid to manage problems caused by
intermittency (the sun and wind only happen during
certain times of the day) and distributed power.
Tongia writes that distributed clean power will
“fundamentally change the design of the grid, beyond
any policy or regulatory changes distributed end-user
generation entails.”
V. Key characteristics of a smart grid:
• Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) –
smart meters;
• Demand response – utilities offer incentives
to customers to reduce consumption at peak
times;
• Grid optimization – system reliability,
operational efficiency, and asset utilization
and protection;
• Distributed generation – not only traditional
large power stations, but also individual PV
panels, micro-wind, etc;
• Grid-scale storage;
• Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs)
and vehicle to grid (V2G) – the latter being
5 to 10 years off;
• Advanced utility control systems – energy
management systems (EMS), SCADA,
distribution management systems (DMS),
meter data management (MDM), and
geographic information systems (GIS).
 VI. Advantages
Peak Leveling
The two-way smart grid communication technologies
allow control over consumption by both the user and
service provider. Smart grids have the potential to
gain central control over many remote devices such
as the consumer’s washing machines, heaters, factory
machinery and others, and automatically turn such
appliances on and off during non-peak hours. Peak
leveling makes possible optimized power flow,
reducing waste and maximizing use of lowest-cost
generation resources.
The primary benefit of distributed automation smart
grids is considerable all-round savings for all the
stakeholders. The benefits result from the following
ways:
Peak leveling enables the load curve to level itself,
and this helps transmission companies by improving
load efficiency and reducing the spinning reserves
electric utilities keep on stand-by.
Power generation companies save through higher
asset utilization made possible by peak leveling. This
allows provision of additional services with the same
installed capacity, savings from not having to install
additional capacity to meet fresh demand, and re-
deployment of existing assets to perform new
functions such as backup, on-site generation, or other
ancillary services.
Consumers save on energy charges. Smart grid
makes possible differential tariffs based on timings,
and utility companies could pass on a portion of
benefits of peak power savings.
Democratization of Electricity
Smart grid has the potential to revolutionize the
energy industry by creating new energy markets that
make it possible for everybody from individual
homes to big businesses to sell electricity. The two-
way interface of smart grid allows businesses and
homes that generate wind and solar energy to release
the surplus electricity from such sources to the
central gird.
Such distributed automated smart grids trigger
tapping into alternative energy sources such as wind
and solar energy in a big way. The major impediment
in harnessing wind and solar energy at present is the
complexity of variable power generation, changing
usage patterns, and multiplicity of sources making
such forms of distributed energy more costly than
centralized power from the grid. Smart grid offer
seamless integration of such alternative energy
sources through simplified interconnection processes
and universal interoperability standards.
VII. APPLICATIONS
Wide-Area Control
The proposed control concepts described here are all
wide-area controls. Although local controls continue
to be improved using newer technologies, the
conceptual functionality of these local controls will
remain the same. The wide-area controls presented
here will often take care of the local controllers but
the main objective is to improve the overall stability
of the power system. The concepts are presented in
the order of increasing complexity, also implying that
the ones presented first would be easier to implement.
Frequency Control
Frequency is controlled by balancing load with
generation. The primary governor control at the
generators is local while the secondary AGC control
that adjusts the governor set points is area-wide. The
primary control is continuous whereas the secondary
control is discrete usually using 2-4 second sampling.
Given that all generators in a region are no longer
owned by the same organization, this area-wide AGC
control has become more decentralized. Ancillary
markets for regulation capacity have developed to
handle this service. The Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (FERC) ancillary service regulations do
allow third-party AGC but a new communication-
computation-control scheme needs to be developed
before this can occur in any large scale. As this
control is quite slow (2-4 second sampling),
feasibility of control is not a problem.
The more complex communication scheme required
is also not a problem; although a meshed
communication network is required rather than the
present star network, the bandwidth requirement
remains modest. However, such a network introduces
other modes of failures like signal delays and the
control have to be robust enough to handle them.
Regional Voltage Control
Voltage control in North America has always been
local, although Europe and China are trying some
regional control schemes. FERC recognizes voltage-
VAR control as an ancillary service but it has been
difficult to develop any auction markets for this
service.
Control schemes for regional voltage control would
be useful in North America as voltage collapse has
played a prominent part in all recent blackouts. This
type of control, like frequency control, is relatively
slow and so the feasibility of the control and
communication is not an issue. The main hurdle has
been the selection of input and output variables of the
controller that can handle all the varied operating
conditions that the power system endures. Thus this
challenge is a classical one of developing a practical
robust controller.
Small signal stability control
Small signal instability occurs when a system
perturbation, even a small one, excites a natural
oscillatory mode of the power system. These
oscillations are slow, usually under 1Hz. The main
method used today to guard against small signal
instability is the off-line tuning of power system
stabilizers (PSS). These PSS are local controllers on
the generators. Thus local controllers are used to
mitigate system oscillation modes, a procedure that
works well for local oscillation modes but not inter-
area modes.
Voltage stability control
Voltage instability occurs when a change in the
power system causes an operating condition that is
deficient in reactive power support. Guarding against
such instability requires the anticipation of such
contingencies that can cause voltage instability and
Taking preventive action. New preventive control
schemes are needed that can also include special
protection schemes that could isolate those areas with
var deficiencies. This is not a stability control in the
traditional sense that responds to a disturbance.
This is an action plan to ensure that the system
operating condition does not stray into an area where
a perturbation can cause voltage instability. This
calculation requires good contingency analysis which
in turn requires a good real time model (state
estimator) as discussed in the next section.
Transient stability control
The development of such a control scheme is by far
the most difficult because a disturbance that can
cause instability can only be controlled if a
significant amount of computation (analysis) and
communication can be accomplished very rapidly.
This concept is approached in three increasingly
difficult levels:-the first is to use off-line studies to
manually adjust protective schemes which would
operate only if the disturbance occurs;
-the second is to automatically adjust these protective
schemes with on-line calculations;
-the third and final would be to directly operate the
control actions after the disturbance occurs.
Real time control of transient stability
The objective here is to develop a global control for
transient stability (with no off-line assists). For this to
be feasible, the computation needed to determine the
disturbance scenario and then computing the
necessary controls for stabilization, has to be in the
same time-frame as today’s protection schemes
(milliseconds). Whether this is indeed possible with
today’s technology is not known. However, the goal
here would be to determine what kind of
communication-computation structure will be needed
to make this feasible.
 Speak has a robust set of integration definitions that
supports nearly all of the software interfaces
VIII. CASE STUDY
necessary for a distribution utility or for the
Today’s Grid Principal Modern Grid distribution portion of a vertically integrated utility.
Characteristic Multi Speak integration is defined using extensible
markup language (XML) and web services.
Responds to Self heals Automatically detects and
prevent further responds to actual and The IEEE has created a standard to support
damage. Focus is emerging transmission synchrophasors — C37.118.
on protection of and distribution problems.
assets following Focus is on prevention. A User Group that discusses and supports real world
system faults Minimizes consumer experience of the standards used in smart grids is the
impact. UCA International User Group.
Consumers are Motivates and Informed, involved and There is a Utility Task Group within LonMark
uninformed and includes the active consumers. Broad
International, which deals with smart grid related
non-participative consumer. penetration of demand
with power system response.
issues.

Vulnerable to Resists attack Resistant to physical and There is a growing trend towards the use of TCP/IP
malicious acts of cyber attack.Less technology as a common communication platform for
terror and natural vulnerable to natural Smart Meter applications, so that utilities can deploy
disaster. disaster rapid restoration multiple communication systems, while using IP
capabilities. technology as a common management platform.
Focused on Provides power Quality of power meets IEEE P2030 is an IEEE project developing a "Draft
outages rather quality for 21st industry standards and
Guide for Smart Grid Interoperability of Energy
than power century needs. consumer needs. Various
quality problems. levels of power quality at
Technology and Information Technology Operation
various prices. with the Electric Power System (EPS), and End-Use
Applications and Loads"
Relatively small Accommodates all Very large number of
number of large generation and diverse distributed NIST has included ITU-T G.hn as one of the
generating plants storage options. generation and storage "Standards Identified for Implementation" for the
provide majority devices deployed to Smart Grid "for which it believed there was strong
of generation. complement the large stakeholder consensus" G.hn is standard for high
generating plants.
speed communications over power lines, phone lines
and coaxial cables.

IX. Standards and groups

X. References:
IEC TC57 has created a family of international
standards that can be used as part of the smart grid. http://www.brighthub.com/environment/renewable-
These standards include IEC61850 which is an energy/articles/74984.aspx#ixzz10xwgOr6A
architecture for substation automation, and IEC
61970/61968 — the Common Information Model Smart_Grid_IEEE_P&E_Amin_Wollenberg.pdf
(CIM). The CIM provides for common semantics to
be used for turning data into information. Papers from Conference Proceedings (Published, or
pending publication):
Multi Speak has created a specification that supports
distribution functionality of the smart grid. Multi
[1] Dalton, Howard, and Flynn, Byron, “SCADA • M. Amin, “National infrastructures as
Integrated with Transformer Monitoring Systems complex interactive
over a Secure Wireless Ethernet”, 2005
DistribuTECH Conference and Exhibition, • networks,” in Automation, Control, and
SanDiego, California January 25-27, 2005. Complexity: An Integrated Approach, T.
Samad and J. Weyrauch, Eds. New York:
[2] Flynn, Byron, “Case studies regarding the
integration of monitoring & diagnostic equipment on • Wiley, 2000, ch. 14. pp. 263–286.
aging transformers with communications for SCADA
• M. Amin, “Toward self-healing
and maintenance”, DistribuTECH 2008, Conference
infrastructure systems,”
and Exhibition, Tampa Convention Center, Tampa,
FL, January 22-24, 2008.
• IEEE Computer, vol. 33, no. 8, pp. 44–53.
[3] Flynn, Byron, “Secure Substation Automation
• IEEE Comput. Appl. Power, vol. 14, no. 1,
Architectures for Operations & Maintenance”, 2006
pp. 20–28.
DistribuTECH Conference and Exhibition, Tampa,
Florida, February 7-9, 2006. • C.W. Gellings, M. Samotyj, and B. Howe,
“The future’s power delivery system,” IEEE
[4] Flynn, Byron, “What is the real potential of the
Power Energy Mag., vol. 2, no5, pp. 40–48.
Smart Grid?” Autovation 2007, The AMRA
International Symposium, Reno, Nevada, September
30 – October 3, 2007.

[5] Lathrup, Steve, and Flynn, Byron, “Distribution

Automation Pilot at PacifiCorp”, Western Energy
Institute, 2006 Operations Conference, Costa Mesa,
CA, April 5-7, 2006.

[6] Stewart, Robert, and Flynn, Byron, “Modeling

DA Improvements to Reliability Performance
Metrics”, 2007 WPDAC, Spokane, Washington,
April 3 – 5, 2007.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrcqA_cqRD8

XI. For Further Reading

• M. Amin, V. Gerhart, and E.Y. Rodin,

“System identification via artificial neural
networks: Application to on-line aircraft
parameter estimation,” in Proc. AIAA/SAE
1997 World Aviation Congress, Anaheim,
CA, 1997, p. 22.