From the powering of the first commercial light bulb in
1882, the electric power industry has been on a journey of continual change and
improvement. Over the course of this journey, advances in technology have led
to revolutionary transformations in the way power is generated, delivered, and
consumed.
Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, the
electric power industry is once again on the verge of a revolutionary
transformation as it endeavors to transition all aspects of the electrical
enterprise to meet the needs of the ‘Digital Society’. Television, radio,
movies, telephony, audio, computing, books, and, of course, the Internet are all
merging into an ocean of digital information. As members of this Digital
Society, electricity consumers are surrounded by this ocean, where information
is instantly accessible, easily searchable, rich in variety and texture, secure
when needed, and (nearly) always available. The expectations brought about by
the Digital Society are now driving similar changes in the power industry.
Power customers are demanding higher reliability, more choice, and a constant
flow of information–all at constant, or even lower, prices.
Without a unified vision, however, the issues facing the
power system will be addressed individually by utilities, government agencies,
and power system organizations. The net result of isolated development
activities will be a power system plagued by ‘islands of separation’, where the
power system of the future is only realized in limited areas or on a small
scale. The Integrated Energy and Communications System
Architecture–IntelliGrid Architecture–overcomes this isolated development and is the first step to
unite power system organizations on their journey to the future.
As with all journeys, having a vision of the ultimate
destination is vital to find the best path to the next waypoint, avoid pitfalls,
and minimize expenditures. The IntelliGrid Architecture vision for the power system of the future
is:
A power system made up of numerous automated transmission and
distribution systems, all operating in a coordinated, efficient and reliable
manner.
A power system that handles emergency conditions with
‘self-healing’ actions and is responsive to energy-market and utility
business-enterprise needs.
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
reliable and economic power to the evolving digital economy.
To date, the paths leading to this vision have been rocky
and diverse. Although portions of this vision do exist today within selected power
utilities, there is a wide range of variation in the level of capability and
compatibility across the overall power system. Generally, system integration
and coordination are not performed on a wide enough scale to address the
severity of the problems faced by the grid today, as clearly illustrated by
analysis of previous blackouts.
IntelliGrid Architecture is intended to integrate two systems in the power
industry: the power and energy delivery system and the information
system (communication, networks, and intelligence equipment) that controls
it. In the past, the power delivery system has been a primary focus of
development efforts within the power industry. However, to effectively move the
industry toward identified goals, the electric system must increasingly rely on
the information system as well. These two systems must be developed in parallel
and will be comprised of advanced communications and networking technologies
working with intelligent equipment and algorithms to execute increasingly
sophisticated system functions.
