Xanthus Consulting International
Smart Grid Consulting
Xanthus provides Smart Grid engineering consulting services to the electric power industry, focusing primarily on information standards, cyber security requirements, and integration of systems for power system operations. Our focus areas include distributed energy resources (DER), advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), demand response (DR), plug-in electric vehicles (PEV), distribution automation (DA), substation automation, and energy market operations.
What is the the Smart Grid?
Different definitions of the "Smart Grid" abound, with various definitions reflecting the viewpoint of their authors - not unlike the 6 blind men and the elephant. Smart Grid is not only Smart Meters, but also Smart Generation, Smart Operations, and Smart System Integration. The official source, the federal Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 can possibly be captured succinctly as follows:
The term "Smart Grid" refers to a modernization of the electric power system through automation, new technologies, and new paradigms involving customers in making energy-related decisions.
The Smart Grid will shift from the old-fashioned centralized grid management with one-way flows of power from bulk generation to customer loads, to a future with decentralized energy management utilizing distributed generation and storage, renewable energy, microgrids, intelligent appliances, and demand response by customers.
The Smart Grid will be enabled by international information interoperability standards, and will be protected by cyber security to ensure highly reliable energy.