{"id":16450,"date":"2019-09-27T11:00:04","date_gmt":"2019-09-27T19:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2019\/09\/27\/news-10190\/"},"modified":"2019-09-27T11:00:04","modified_gmt":"2019-09-27T19:00:04","slug":"news-10190","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2019\/09\/27\/news-10190\/","title":{"rendered":"Microgrids and megatrends: Creating a 21st century-ready grid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Credit to Author: Aamir Paul| Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2019 19:01:39 +0000<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the summer of 1977, New York City was brought to a standstill by a power outage. This year, history repeated itself: Two more major outages due to aging electrical grid components. But the issue isn\u2019t limited to New York. In the Bay Area, the world\u2019s cradle of technological innovation, Pacific Gas & Electric has begun load shedding<\/a> to reduce wildfire risk from an electricity grid in need of modernization and repair.<\/p>\n

Megatrends are changing the energy landscape, and megacities like New York and San Francisco are on the front lines. Climate change<\/a>, urbanization, and digitization are challenging cities and industries to find ways to deliver reliable and sustainable electricity \u2014 all while overcoming rising power consumption<\/a>, aging infrastructure<\/a>, and the daily complexities of supporting millions of people.<\/p>\n

Consider what\u2019s changed, and what hasn\u2019t, since 1977, the year I was born. Telecommunications technology is nearly unrecognizable and, more broadly, information technology has experienced breakthroughs in every field. But electrical infrastructure? Even Thomas Edison would recognize it.<\/p>\n

Now\u2019s the time to work together to transform the way we produce, transmit, and consume electricity. While there are a few magical, pie-in-the-sky answers, I want to share two pragmatic ways we can start.<\/p>\n

Two approaches: Smart grid solutions and microgrids<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The first step: Harness IoT connectivity to monitor critical infrastructure assets like the smart grid.<\/p>\n

To do this, we can consider the spiritual insight, \u201ceverything is connected,\u201d as a strategic objective. The smart grid is already home to billions of smart devices. But just because we\u2019ve deployed these devices doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re getting the most out of them.<\/p>\n

Meters, relays, and sensors need to be connected to sophisticated analytics and management tools<\/a>. With these tools, you can do more than pinpoint outages. You can automate fault detection, streamline proactive maintenance, and thus enhance performance and reliability. The video below shows how smart grid solutions bolster resilience during extreme weather.<\/p>\n