business case for Smart Grid

[magoo2]

Smart Grid has all the good touchy feely stuff that seems to be an emotional appeal with companies like IBM esposing their smarter planet visions. Maybe I'm alone on this, but I'd like to see where there is a good business case for justifying the huge expenditures in smart metere, advanced distribution automation, etc.

Are smart meters cost effective? And are there any objective studies that arrive at values for their alleged benefits?

 

[MikeHalloran]

I doubt you could make a business case that you'd want to disclose publicly.

As an aside, it appears that the power companies are salivating over peak shaving using electric vehicle batteries that they don't have to pay for, a possiblity enabled by smart meters that 'work both ways', so to speak.






Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[LionelHutz]

Business case for the people selling the stuff or paying for the stuff?

 

[MikeHalloran]

Precisely my point. Ratepayers get screwed, and probably won't even know it.


Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[DRWeig]

Good one Mike.

"In order to serve you better, we..." However that sentence is finished, no matter who says it, it's money out of my pocket.

Best to you,

Goober Dave

Haven't see the forum policies? Do so now: Forum Policies

 

[ausphil]

"Business case for smart grid" - That's a contradiction in terms.

Sort of like army intelligence.

Ausphil

 

[amurray]

One reason in favor of installing two-way communicating revenue meters (my interpretation of smart grid) would be the decrease in effort/time to read meters and also the added benefits of knowing outages down to the meter level. I have also seen at least 1 place where the detailed load data was used to evaluate distribution transformer loading and replace overloaded transformers before a failure.

My 2 cents
Andy

 

[magoo2]

Andy,

I agree with some of your benefits, but
- what is the decrease in meter-reading effort worth in $
- many utilities already have AMR where they drive through neighborhoods to read meters remotely. The decrease in meter-reading effort is a lot less for them compared to companies that still use meter readers.
- better outage assessment. Agree, but what's it worth?
- transformer loading. Ditto.

A smart meter will cost between $300 and $500 each. I don't believe these benefits add up to more than a fraction of the meter cost. I believe no one really wants to talk about the overall economics because it isn't favorable. IMPO, there is no good buisiness case for Smart Grid and there is no business case for smart meters.

 

[amurray]

Hi Magoo2,

I do not have any cost data for a smart meter installation. I think that with a lot of new technology installs $ is not the only driving reason. I would consider SCADA systems and digital relaying as similar projects. If you can perfectly operate & protect your system today why would you put SCADA or digital relays in? I think 1 reason is to get added features, time/work savings; need to upgrade/update at some point anyways.

Also, on the smart grid topic, I think that a better case is made for going from no 'smart meter (no AMI) to an AMR soluton than from AMI to AMR. I do know of 1 municipal having the debate now. Replacing all the AMI meters with two way AMR units & the extra back-end comms is very hard to justify. I also know that some people push back on AMR from a potential loss of privacy concern.

On the transformer loading case I have seen some cost analysis or this. It seemed to work at to be about twice as expensive to replace a failed transformer (on over-time) then to up-size an overloaded during normal business hours. Again this would not cover the cost of the AMR system but the savings, less outages and improved/updated system is the cases I have heard for AMR system installations.

Enjoying the topic.
Andy

 

[bwen08]

Just reclassify any work plan project into "smart grid" related to get some matching federal funding if it's being offered. That's your business case.

 

[QBplanner]

smart grid is another Hoax. here we have been forced to install the "Smart meters" and pay the bill later.
from my limited view, there may be only two ways you can do the business case:
1: Bribe the utility management to get the "go do it" order.
2: Apply some Gove.policies to get it.
Other than that, I have not seen any cases.