Smart Grid and Climate Change

How can we use the smart grid to address climate change? Utilities across the country are deploying smart grids, driven by the need to modernize infrastructure, improve efficiency, and empower customers. If implemented wisely, smart grids also could reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by five percent to nine percent from 2005 levels, to deliver nearly one-quarter of the proposed Waxman-Markey GHG reduction targets for 2030. A network-first approach to smart grid planning is critical to leverage these investments for forthcoming GHG policy compliance, by accelerating deployment and enhancing the delivery of key GHG-reducing applications, including:

Energy conservation through end-use efficiency improvements;
Grid efficiency through grid optimization;
Renewable integration for both utility-scale and distributed renewables; and
Transport electrification, including electric vehicles powered by renewables.

Energy Conservation: The smart grid enhances end-use energy conservation by providing real-time feedback on energy usage and communicating time-sensitive price information to customers. Studies have shown a demonstrable and persistent reduction of five percent to fifteen percent in electricity consumption due to more frequent feedback of energy usage alone. This powerful effect is approximately doubled by availability of enabling technologies, including programmable communicating thermostats and smart appliances. A two percent reduction in end-use energy consumption that is enabled by smart grid deployment can deliver 0.1 gigatons of US CO2e GHG reductions.

Grid Efficiency: Up to 10 percent of the electricity generated at power plants is lost during energy delivery over the grid. Smart grid infrastructure can improve grid efficiency to reduce these line losses by networking distribution automation (DA) devices to minimize reactive power flows through adaptive voltage control. One percent reduction in grid losses from smart grid-networked DA translates into 0.03 gigatons of US CO2e GHG reductions.

Renewable Integration: Renewables stand to benefit dramatically from the smart grid. Using smart grid-enabled demand response transforms static demand into active loads that can offset intermittency from renewable generation. Furthermore, reliable smart grid networking of small-scale distributed renewables is essential for utilities to identify and manage safety risks to line workers posed by decentralized power generation. Both utility-scale and distributed renewables also benefit from smart grid-networked energy storage, which boosts the profitability of renewable generation by storing off-peak generation for on-peak sales. These smart grid-enabled mechanisms can facilitate an additional 10 percent of renewable generation in the overall generation mix, delivering 0.3 gigatons of US CO2e GHG reductions.

Transport Electrification: Electric vehicles (EVs) present a powerful opportunity for the electric grid to reduce US GHG emissions significantly by displacing internal combustion with electric power. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory estimates that EVs could reduce total US carbon emissions by as much as 27 percent by utilizing offpeak power generation and energy delivery capacity to charge plug-in electric vehicles, displacing imported petroleum with domestic electrons.

Renewable-powered EVs: Smart grid networking will be necessary for EVs to take full advantage of off-peak renewable power generation. Powering EVs with renewables would effectively eliminate carbon emissions from EV transportation. 50 percent EV penetration leads to 0.1 gigatons of US CO2e GHG reductions from vehicle electrification, which can be doubled to 0.2 gigatons CO2e, if EVs are charged using power from renewable generation.

Cumulatively, these opportunities can reduce US GHG emissions by 0.7 gigatons CO2e by 2030. This represents nearly one-quarter of the 3 gigatons CO2e reduction from 2005 GHG emissions levels targeted by 2030 in the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. While some of these GHG-reducing opportunities, such as end-use conservation and grid optimization, may be implemented to without smart grid connectivity, all of these applications will benefit from and can be enhanced through deployment and utilization of the smart grid.

Network-First: How can we fully harness the smart grid's potential to achieve these reductions? Building utility smart grids should begin with a network-first approach to achieve these reductions more quickly and at lower cost.

Although most people are naturally excited by the prospect of smart grid devices and applications, the heart of any smart grid is at its underlying networking infrastructure. A network-first approach to smart grid deployment prioritizes the performance, interoperability, and security of smart grid networking technologies. Done right, these networks can serve as the foundation for related and subsequent investments in smart grid devices and applications, reducing cumbersome systems integration and interoperability issues associated with deploying applications in parallel or in advanced of an integrated network infrastructure.