[RTC List] Smart grid & broadband

[M Welch]

Hi William. No, I have not heard about that invite. Such is life off-grid, though my on-grid Arcata office has not received one either. But maybe that is because our building is a net-producer of electricity, via our two 3.2 KW photovoltaic arrays.

I guess I did not do a very good job of explaining how the utility will reach into your home. Right now, the plan relies on 2G or 3G RF technologies.

Anyway, meter readers will be a thing of the past once the local parts of the smart grid are fully under way. I am temporarily living in Sacramento, so only the gas is PG&E. But I have noticed a little box cobbed onto every gas meter that contains a radio. I am not sure, but I think there is still a meter reader that has be within proximity to read the meter with a hand held device, though ultimately it could be cellular. But no more dog bites, no more locked gates for meter readers to deal with.

Also, for the electric system, most folks will not even notice when their appliances are adjusted. Cutting back just a small amount in an area will be enough to prevent grid overloads, and the grid overload dangers are usually for short periods. So say they need to cut back 10% of households' usage, and they need to do it for 2 hours. That means (for example) they can divide residences into 10 groups, and turn down their thermostats and turn off water heaters for four 3-minute periods for each group, and meet their needs -- yet the period of time is so short that the homeowner will not even notice.

Of course, many will view this as an intrusion upon their personal freedom and will not want to participate -- who wants the utility to know what appliances they are using? Which reminds me of another smart grid "feature:" utilities will be able to remotely turn off and on your service -- for nonpayment or moving (or typical utility errors). Hopefully the smart grid software will be robust, and the computers that run it will not be subject to smart grid fiddling. And hopefully, those with life-maintaining medical equipment at their home will have a way of disallowing disconnection.

Just happened across this article which explains PG&E's efforts, and more about the smart grid:
http://tdworld.com/customer_service/pge_begins_ami_rollout/

William Van Hefner wrote at 09:43 AM 6/4/2009:
 
>Michael,
>
>Speaking of which, has anyone/everyone else on the list gotten a "special
>invitation" from PG&E to install a new, electronic thermostat in their
>homes for "free"? It supposedly gives PG&E the ability to fiddle with your
>heating and/or air conditioning during electrical shortages.
>
>Last I checked, PG&E still uses meter readers to walk around town and
>check electric and gas meters every other month. So, how are they
>magically going to be able to reach into my home and adjust the
>thermostat? Maybe they will just send a meter reader knocking at my front
>door when they want the heat turned down? :-)
>
>
>-- 
>William Van Hefner - President
>
>Vantek Communications, Inc.
>e-mail: editor at humboldtonline.com
>http://www.humboldtonline.com
>
>
>
>On Thu, June 4, 2009 9:28 am, M Welch wrote:
>> I do not know a lot about it, but I wonder about some key elements of
>> communications over power lines (CPL).
>>
>> As part of the funded and high-priority smart grid that is being
>> developed in N. America, we will soon be seeing smart KWH meters and
>> smart appliances, with the dual ideas of preventing blackouts and to help
>> the end consumer better manage energy consumption.
>>
>> The thing is, this will require a lot of comm. As it is shaping up, each
>> home will have a mesh network for appliance and metering comm, and the
>> utility meters will be part of this. The utilities will communicate with
>> the meter, and even be able to adjust their system-wide loading by
>> turning off heavy users like electric water heaters and even adjusting
>> thermostats on household A/C.
>>
>> Right now, the utilities are content to do most of the communication with
>> 2G/3G cell technologies and maybe soon over already-existing broadband
>> services. But as the smart grid technologies proliferate, you can pretty
>> much count on the utilities starting up their own broadband service, and
>> making a little money on the side by offering it to us in competition
>> with cable and phone line broadband services.
>>
>> When I notice the momentum building up for smart grid, I wonder what CPL
>> will be offering rural areas, and if it is being included in the
>> discussions that are happening about bringing redundant access to our
>> community, and for currently under-served rural areas.
>>
>> And I wonder if CPL is a backbone technology, or if it is only for local
>> use requiring fiber for the backbone.
>>
>>
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