China
Most people who follow the power generation industry are aware of the blistering pace at which China has built new coal-fired plants to meet its increasing demand. What they may not realize is that, according to China Electricity Council, as reported in June at
ShanghaiDaily.com, in 2008 the Chinese government spent more money on grid networks than on power generation. The percentage for 2009 was expected to be even higher.
A
Frost & Sullivan press release from June 2009 noted that “The Eastern China Grid Corporation, a subsidiary company of the State Grid Corp of China (SGCC), started a feasibility research on ‘smart grid’ technology in October 2007.”
“According to Pinky Wang, consultant of Energy and Power System practice, Frost & Sullivan China, smart grid in China focuses more on the transmission side than the distribution side at present. Based on the fact that coal is the main energy source in China and coal mines are far away from the main load centers, it is the right choice that the power grid development be focused on the transmission network. China has been constructing a unified national power grid network. The project includes what is known as the ‘West-East Electricity Transfer Project,’ which includes three major west-east transmission corridors construction. The transmission capacity of each corridor will be 20 GW by 2020.”
As China seeks to lower its GHG emissions and tap more of its hydro sources, it has had to explore more efficient ways of transmitting and using electricity. One tool is ultra-high-voltage transmission lines.
Siemens is involved in one such project, that, when it goes online in 2010, will transmit electricity 1,400 miles over 800,000-V lines from large hydro projects to huge population centers.
And an August smart grid story appearing in
Peoples Daily Online reported that “In January 2009, the Southeast Shanxi-Nanyang-Jingmen extra-high voltage pilot project, which is a 1,000 kV UHVAC transmission project independently researched, designed and constructed by China, was formally completed and put into operation.”
In the June ShanghaiDaily.com article, Liu Zhenya, president of the State Grid Corp of China, is cited as saying that the development of SG technical standards would begin in 2009 with a goal of 2020 for grid completion. The article also cites a power analyst as saying that China may need to spend “up to 68 billion yuan (US$10 billion) annually on smart grids.”
European Union
Much of the SG activity in Europe is being guided by EU directives. A 2006 European parliament directive, for example, requires member states to install smart meters. And, whereas the EU’s
European Strategic Energy Technology Plan goal is to accelerate development and deployment of low-carbon technologies to reach its 20/20/20 goals, smart grids are key to reaching those goals. Eighty percent of consumers are to have smart meters by 2020.
The
SmartGrids Technology Platform is a European Commission initiative for coordinating and advancing SG technology throughout the EU. Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) manufacturers Iskraemeco, Itron, and Landis+Gyr announced in September that they had
agreed on interoperable standards that will accelerate the deployment of smart meters.
For more country-specific details, see the entries for Germany, Italy, Sweden, and the UK.
Germany
Germany calls its smart grid strategy “
E-Energy” and describes it this way: “The purpose of the E-Energy model projects is to develop an ‘Internet of Energy’ which monitors, controls and regulates the electricity system intelligently. An Internet of Energy interconnects the numerous stakeholders in the energy system, ranging from power generation and transportation companies to stakeholders in power distribution and consumption. This results in an integrated data and power network featuring completely new structures and functions. For instance, smart electricity meters known as ‘Smart Gateways’ connect private households with energy providers, thus permitting a continuous bidirectional comparison of the electricity supply and demand. In this way, the consumer becomes an active market participant.”
Six
pilot projects have been selected, and integrating distributed (largely rooftop solar) renewable generation is one of their main goals. E-Energy’s overall objective are to contribute to solving energy and climate problems, create new jobs and open up new markets, speed innovative progress, and create a paradigm shift in the electricity industry.
The four-year E-Energy project will receive a total of €140 million from the federal government. The hope is that model projects “will quickly have a sweeping bandwagon effect and trigger follow-up investments. The aim here is to create a smart electricity system, which will extensively control itself and in which all energy-sector processes are optimally adapted to one another.”
E-Energy is not the only SG endeavor in Germany. A Fall 2009
Siemens publication quotes Rolf Adam, a principal at Booz & Co., as saying, “German utility companies alone plan to invest €40 to €50 billion in the modernization of the grids, with €15 to €25 billion of that going into smart grid technology.”
One unique approach by non-utility companies is the building and deployment of a
new kind of distributed power generation. In September, Automaker Volkswagen teamed up with LichtBlick, a German renewable energy company, “to build up to 100,000 power stations for home use by spring 2010.
“Under the agreement, Volkswagen will produce the high-efficiency ‘EcoBlue’ CHP (combined heat and power) plant, which is to be driven by gas engines from Volkswagen. LichtBlick will be marketing the plants as ‘ZuhauseKraftwerke’ (home power plants) and will be using them for a new, intelligent heat and power supply scheme.
“The generators would run off natural gas-powered engines similar to the ones that currently drive some Volkswagen Golf cars. Exhaust heat from the engines would warm up water for showers and central heating in the homes.”
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