Smart Grid Features and Functions

Smart Grid Features and Functions


Before examining particular technologies, a proposal can be understood in terms of what it is being required to do. The governments and utilities funding development of grid modernization have defined the functions required for smart grids. According to the United States Department of Energy's Modern Grid Initiative report[24], a modern smart grid must:

1. Be able to heal itself
   


2. Motivate consumers to actively participate in operations of the grid
   


3. Resist attack
   


4. Provide higher quality power that will save money wasted from outages
   


5. Accommodate all generation and storage options
   


6. Enable electricity markets to flourish
   


7. Run more efficiently
   


8. Enable higher penetration of intermittent power generation sources
   

Self-healing



Using real-time information from embedded sensors and automated controls to anticipate, detect, and respond to system problems, a smart grid can automatically avoid or mitigate power outages, power quality problems, and service disruptions.


As applied to distribution networks, there is no such thing as a "self healing" network. If there is a failure of an overhead power line, given that these tend to operate on a radial basis (for the most part) there is an inevitable loss of power. In the case of urban/city networks that for the most part are fed using underground cables, networks can be designed (through the use of interconnected topologies) such that failure of one part of the network will result in no loss of supply to end users. A fine example of an interconnected network using zoned protection is that of the Merseyside and North Wales Electricity Board (MANWEB).


It is envisioned that the smart grid will likely have a control system that analyzes its performance using distributed, autonomous reinforcement learning controllers that have learned successful strategies to govern the behavior of the grid in the face of an ever changing environment such as equipment failures. Such a system might be used to control electronic switches that are tied to multiple substations with varying costs of generation and reliability.[25]


Consumer participation


A smart grid, is, in essence, an attempt to require consumers to change their behavior around variable electric rates or to pay vastly increased rates for the privilege of reliable electrical service during high-demand conditions. Historically, the intelligence of the grid in North America has been demonstrated by the utilities operating it in the spirit of public service and shared responsibility, ensuring constant availability of electricity at a constant price, day in and day out, in the face of any and all hazards and changing conditions. A smart grid incorporates consumer equipment and behavior in grid design, operation, and communication. This enables consumers to better control (or be controlled by) “smart appliances” and “intelligent equipment” in homes and businesses, interconnecting energy management systems in “smart buildings” and enabling consumers to better manage energy use and reduce energy costs. Advanced communications capabilities equip customers with tools to exploit real-time electricity pricing, incentive-based load reduction signals, or emergency load reduction signals.


There is marketing evidence of consumer demand for greater choice. A survey conducted in the summer of 2007 interviewed almost 100 utility executives and sought the opinions of 1,900 households and small businesses from the U.S., Germany, Netherlands, England, Japan and Australia[26]. Among the findings:

1. 83% of those who cannot yet choose their utility provider would welcome that option
   


2. Roughly two-thirds of the customers that do not yet have renewable power options would like the choice
   


3. Almost two-thirds are interested in operating their own generation, provided they can sell power back to the utility
   

And as already noted, in the UK where the experiment has been running longest, 80% have no interest in change (source: National Grid).


The real-time, two-way communications available in a smart grid will enable consumers to be compensated for their efforts to save energy and to sell energy back to the grid through net-metering. By enabling distributed generation resources like residential solar panels, small wind and plug-in hybrid, smart grid will spark a revolution in the energy industry by allowing small players like individual homes and small businesses to sell power to their neighbors or back to the grid. The same will hold true for larger commercial businesses that have renewable or back-up power systems that can provide power for a price during peak demand events, typically in the summer when air condition units place a strain on the grid. This participation by smaller entities has been called the "democratization of energy"—it is similar to former Vice President Al Gore's vision for a Unified Smart Grid.


Resist attack


Smart grid technologies better identify and respond to man-made or natural disruptions. Real-time information enables grid operators to isolate affected areas and redirect power flows around damaged facilities.


One of the most important issues of resist attack is the smart monitoring of power grids that is the basis of control and management of smart grids to avoid or mitigate the system-wide disruptions like blackouts. The traditional monitoring is based on weighted least square (WLS) that is very weak and prone to fail when gross errors (including topology errors, measurement errors or parameter errors) are present. New technology of state monitor is needed to achieve the goals of the smart grids.


High quality power


Outages and power quality issues cost US businesses more than $100 billion on average each year[27]. It is asserted that assuring more stable power provided by smart grid technologies will reduce downtime and prevent such high losses.


Accommodate generation options


As smart grids continue to support traditional power loads they also seamlessly interconnect fuel cells, renewables, microturbines, and other distributed generation technologies at local and regional levels. Integration of small-scale, localized, or on-site power generation allows residential, commercial, and industrial customers to self-generate and sell excess power to the grid with minimal technical or regulatory barriers. This also improves reliability and power quality, reduces electricity costs, and offers more customer choice.


Enable electricity market


Significant increases in bulk transmission capacity will require improvements in transmission grid management. Such improvements are aimed at creating an open marketplace where alternative energy sources from geographically distant locations can easily be sold to customers wherever they are located.


Intelligence in distribution grids will enable small producers to generate and sell electricity at the local level using alternative sources such as rooftop-mounted photo voltaic panels, small-scale wind turbines, and micro hydro generators. Without the additional intelligence provided by sensors and software designed to react instantaneously to imbalances caused by intermittent sources, such distributed generation can degrade system quality.


Optimize assets


A smart grid can optimize capital assets while minimizing operations and maintenance costs. Optimized power flows reduce waste and maximize use of lowest-cost generation resources. Harmonizing local distribution with interregional energy flows and transmission traffic improves use of existing grid assets and reduces grid congestion and bottlenecks that can ultimately produce consumer savings.


Enable high penetration of intermittent generation sources


Climate change and environmental concerns will increase the amount of renewable energy resources. These are for the most part intermittent in nature. Smart Grid technologies will enable power systems to operate with larger amounts of such energy resources since they enable both the suppliers and consumers to compensate for such intermittency.


Features


Existing and planned implementations of smart grids provide a wide range of features to perform the required functions.


Load adjustment


The total load connected to the power grid can vary significantly over time. Although the total load is the sum of many individual choices of the clients, the overall load is not a stable, slow varying, average power consumption. Imagine the increment of the load if a popular television program starts and millions of televisions will draw current instantly. Traditionally, to respond to a rapid increase in power consumption, faster than the start-up time of a large generator, some spare generators are put on a dissipative standby mode. A smart grid may warn all individual television sets, or another larger customer, to reduce the load temporarily (to allow time to start up a larger generator) or continuously (in the case of limited resources). Using mathematical prediction algorithms it is possible to predict how many standby generators need to be used, to reach a certain failure rate. In the traditional grid, the failure rate can only be reduced at the cost of more standby generators. In a smart grid, the load reduction by even a small portion of the clients may eliminate the problem.


Demand response support


Demand response support allows generators and loads to interact in an automated fashion in real time, coordinating demand to flatten spikes. Eliminating the fraction of demand that occurs in these spikes eliminates the cost of adding reserve generators, cuts wear and tear and extends the life of equipment, and allows users to cut their energy bills by telling low priority devices to use energy only when it is cheapest[28].


Currently, power grid systems have varying degrees of communication within control systems for their high value assets, such as in generating plants, transmission lines, substations and major energy users. In general information flows one way, from the users and the loads they control back to the utilities. The utilities attempt to meet the demand and succeed or fail to varying degrees (brownout, rolling blackout, uncontrolled blackout). The total amount of power demand by the users can have a very wide probability distribution that requires spare generating plants in standby mode to respond to the rapidly changing power usage. This one-way flow of information is expensive; the last 10% of generating capacity may be required as little as 1% of the time, and brownouts and outages can be costly to consumers.


Greater resilience to loading


Although multiple routes are touted as a feature of the smart grid, the old grid also featured multiple routes. Initial power lines in the grid were built using a radial model, later connectivity was guaranteed via multiple routes, referred to as a network structure. However, this created a new problem: if the current flow or related effects across the network exceed the limits of any particular network element, it could fail, and the current would be shunted to other network elements that eventually may fail also, causing a domino effect. See power outage. A technique to prevent this is load shedding by rolling blackout or voltage reduction (brownout).


Decentralization of power generation


Another element of fault tolerance of smart grids is decentralized power generation. Distributed generation allows individual consumers to generate power onsite, using whatever generation method they find appropriate. This allows individual loads to tailor their generation directly to their load, making them independent from grid power failures. Classic grids were designed for one-way flow of electricity, but if a local sub-network generates more power than it is consuming, the reverse flow can raise safety and reliability issues. A smart grid can manage these situations.


Price signaling to consumers


In many countries, including Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK, the electric utilities have installed double tariff electricity meters in many homes to encourage people to use their electric power during night time or weekends, when the overall demand from industry is very low. During off-peak time the price is reduced significantly, primarily for heating storage radiators or heat pumps with a high thermal mass, but also for domestic appliances. This idea will be further explored in a smart grid, where the price could be changing in seconds and electric equipment is given methods to react on that. Also, personal preferences of customers, for example to use only green energy, can be incorporated in such a power grid.


Technology


The bulk of smart grid technologies are already used in other applications such as manufacturing and telecommunications and are being adapted for use in grid operations. In general, smart grid technology can be grouped into five key areas[29]:


Integrated communications


Some communications are up to date, but are not uniform because they have been developed in an incremental fashion and not fully integrated. In most cases, data is being collected via modem rather than direct network connection. Areas for improvement include: substation automation, demand response, distribution automation, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), energy management systems, wireless mesh networks and other technologies, power-line carrier communications, and fiber-optics. Integrated communications will allow for real-time control, information and data exchange to optimize system reliability, asset utilization, and security.


Sensing and measurement


Core duties are evaluating congestion and grid stability, monitoring equipment health, energy theft prevention, and control strategies support. Technologies include: advanced microprocessor meters (smart meter) and meter reading equipment, wide-area monitoring systems, dynamic line rating (typically based on online readings by Distributed temperature sensing combined with Real time thermal rating (RTTR) systems), electromagnetic signature measurement/analysis, time-of-use and real-time pricing tools, advanced switches and cables, backscatter radio technology, and Digital protective relays.


Smart meters


Main article: Smart meter


A smart grid replaces analog mechanical meters with digital meters that record usage in real time. Smart meters are similar to Advanced Metering Infrastructure meters and provide a communication path extending from generation plants to electrical outlets (smart socket) and other smart grid-enabled devices. By customer option, such devices can shut down during times of peak demand.


Phasor measurement units


Main article: Phasor measurement unit


High speed sensors called PMUs distributed throughout their network can be used to monitor power quality and in some cases respond automatically to them. Phasors are representations of the waveforms of alternating current that ideally in real-time, are identical everywhere on the network and conform to the most desirable shape. In the 1980s, it was realized that the clock pulses from global positioning system (GPS) satellites could be used for very precise time measurements in the grid. With large numbers of PMUs and the ability to compare shapes from alternating current readings everywhere on the grid, research suggests that automated systems will be able to revolutionize the management of power systems by responding to system conditions in a rapid, dynamic fashion[30].


A Wide-Area Measurement Systems (WAMS) is a network of PMUS that can provide real-time monitoring on a regional and national scale. Many in the power systems engineering community believe that the Northeast blackout of 2003 would have been contained to a much smaller area if a wide area phasor measurement network was in place.[31]


Advanced Components


Innovations in superconductivity, fault tolerance, storage, power electronics, and diagnostics components are changing fundamental abilities and characteristics of grids. Technologies within these broad R&D categories include: flexible alternating current transmission system devices, high voltage direct current, first and second generation superconducting wire, high temperature superconducting cable, distributed energy generation and storage devices, composite conductors, and “intelligent” appliances.


Advanced control


Power system automation enables rapid diagnosis of and precise solutions to specific grid disruptions or outages. These technologies rely on and contribute to each of the other four key areas. Three technology categories for advanced control methods are: distributed intelligent agents (control systems), analytical tools (software algorithms and high-speed computers), and operational applications (SCADA, substation automation, demand response, etc). Using artificial intelligence programming techniques, Fujian power grid in China created a wide area protection system that is rapidly able to accurately calculate a control strategy and execute it[32]. The Voltage Stability Monitoring & Control (VSMC) software uses a sensitivity-based successive linear programming method to reliably determine the optimal control solution[33].


Improved interfaces and decision support


Information systems that reduce complexity so that operators and managers have tools to effectively and efficiently operate a grid with an increasing number of variables. Technologies include visualization techniques that reduce large quantities of data into easily understood visual formats, software systems that provide multiple options when systems operator actions are required, and simulators for operational training and “what-if” analysis.


Standards and groups


IEC TC57 has created a family of international standards that can be used as part of the smart grid. These standards include IEC61850 that is an architecture for substation automation, and IEC 61970/61968 — the Common Information Model (CIM). The CIM provides for common semantics to be used for turning data into information.


MultiSpeak has created a specification that supports distribution functionality of the smart grid. MultiSpeak has a robust set of integration definitions that supports nearly all of the software interfaces necessary for a distribution utility or for the distribution portion of a vertically integrated utility. MultiSpeak integration is defined using extensible markup language (XML) and web services.
The IEEE has created a standard to support synchrophasors — C37.118.


A User Group that discusses and supports real world experience of the standards used in smart grids is the UCA International User Group.


There is a Utility Task Group within LonMark International that deals with smart grid related issues.


There is a growing trend towards the use of TCP/IP technology as a common communication platform for Smart Meter applications, so that utilities can deploy multiple communication systems, while using IP technology as a common management platform.[34][35]


IEEE P2030 is an IEEE project developing a "Draft Guide for Smart Grid Interoperability of Energy Technology and Information Technology Operation with the Electric Power System (EPS), and End-Use Applications and Loads"[36][37].


NIST has included ITU-T G.hn as one of the "Standards Identified for Implementation" for the Smart Grid that it believed there was strong stakeholder consensus"[38]. G.hn is standard for high-speed communications over power lines, phone lines and coaxial cables.


OASIS EnergyInterop' – is an OASIS technical committee developing XML standards for energy interoperation. It's starting point is the California OpenADR standard.


The following footnotes and links will be published with each blog in this series.

Footnotes

1. http://earth2tech.com/2009/06/05/why-the-smart-grid-wont-have-the-innovations-of-the-internet-any-time-soon/
   
2. http://earth2tech.com/2009/04/21/ciscos-latest-consumer-play-the-smart-grid/
   
3. http://earth2tech.com/2008/05/01/silver-springs-the-cisco-of-smart-grid/
   
4. http://earth2tech.com/2009/05/20/utility-perspective-why-partner-with-google-powermeter/
   
5. http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/67126.html?wlc=1245096400&wlc=1245366756
   
6. Supersmart grid paper
   
7. http://earth2tech.com/2009/04/20/smart-grid-miami-fpl-ge-cisco-silver-spring-rolling-out-1m-smart-meters/
   
8. "The rise of the Smart Grid". Deloitte TMT Predictions. http://www.deloitte.co.uk/TMTPredictions/technology/SmartGrid-electricity-grid-efficiency.cfm.
   
9. "Obama's Speech on the Economy". New York Times. 2009-01-09. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/us/politics/08text-obama.html?pagewanted=4.
   
10. "NIST Announces Three Phase Plan for Smart Grid". National Institute for Standards and Technology. 2009-04-13. http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/smartgrid_041309.html.
    
11. NIST announces smart grid interoperability project via IEEE P2030, June 2009
    
12. St. Arnaud's "green broadband" news
    
13. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Pat Wood, III (appointed by George Bush) stated that the US transmission system cannot afford to be "antiquated" in this news release Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (2002-09-18) (pdf). FERC news release on ISO. p. 1. http://www.ferc.gov/news/news-releases/2002/2002-3/Sept18rto9.pdf. Retrieved 2009-04-29.
    
14. [L. D. Kannberg]; M. C. Kintner-Meyer, D. P. Chassin, R. G. Pratt, J. G. DeSteese, L. A. Schienbein, S. G. Hauser, W. M. Warwick (2003-11) (pdf). GridWise: The Benefits of a Transformed Energy System. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory under contract with the United States Department of Energy. p. 25. http://arxiv.org/pdf/nlin/0409035. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
    
15. Smart Grid Working Group (2003-06) (pdf). Challenge and Opportunity: Charting a New Energy Future, Appendix A: Working Group Reports. Energy Future Coalition. http://www.energyfuturecoalition.org/files/webfmuploads/EFC_Report/EFCReport.pdf. Retrieved 2008-11-27.
    
16. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff report (2006-08) (pdf). Assessment of Demand Response and Advanced Metering (Docket AD06-2-000). United States Department of Energy. p. 20. http://www.ferc.gov/legal/staff-reports/demand-response.pdf. Retrieved 2008-11-27.
    
17. a b National Energy Technology Laboratory (2007-08) (pdf). NETL Modern Grid Initiative — Powering Our 21st-Century Economy. United States Department of Energy Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability. p. 17. http://www.netl.doe.gov/moderngrid/docs/Modern%20Grid%20Benefits_Final_v1_0.pdf. Retrieved 2008-12-06.
    
18. "Gridwise History: How did GridWise start?". Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. 2007-10-30. http://gridwise.pnl.gov/foundations/history.stm. Retrieved 2008-12-03.
    
19. a b c d Qixun Yang, Board Chairman, Beijing Sifang Automation Co. Ltd., China and .Bi Tianshu, Professor, North China Electric Power University, China. (2001-06-24). "WAMS Implementation in China and the Challenges for Bulk Power System Protection" (pdf). Panel Session: Developments in Power Generation and Transmission — Infrastructures in China, IEEE 2007 General Meeting, Tampa, FL, USA, 24–28 June 2007 Electric Power, ABB Power T&D Company, and Tennessee Valley Authority (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). http://www.ewh.ieee.org/cmte/ips/2007GM/2007GM_china_intro.pdf. Retrieved 2008-12-01.
    
20. "Building for the future: Interview with Andres Carvallo, CIO — Austin Energy Utility". Next Generation Power and Energy (GDS Publishing Ltd.) (244). http://nextgenpe.com/currentissue/article.asp?art=273073&issue=244. Retrieved 2008-11-
21. Betsy Loeff (2008-03). "AMI Anatomy: Core Technologies in Advanced Metering". Ultrimetrics Newsletter (Automatic Meter Reading Association (Utilimetrics)). http://www.utilimetrics.org/newsletter/index.cfm?fuseaction=Newsletter.showIssuetoPrint&Issue_ID=68. Retrieved 2008-11-26.
    
22. Demanding standards: Hydro One aims to leverage AMI via interoperability
    
23. Smartgrids Advisory Council. "Driving Factors in the Move Towards Smartgrids" (PDF). European Smartgrids Technology Platform: Vision and Strategy. European Commission. p. 9. ISBN 92-79-01414-5. http://www.smartgrids.eu/documents/vision.pdf.
    
24. a b National Energy Technology Laboratory (2007-07-27) (pdf). A Vision for the Modern Grid. United States Department of Energy. p. 5. http://www.netl.doe.gov/moderngrid/docs/A%20Vision%20for%20the%20Modern%20Grid_Final_v1_0.pdf. Retrieved 2008-11-27.
    
25. Anderson, Roger; A. Boulanger, J. A. Johnson and A. Kressner (2008 ISBN 978-1-59370-157-4). p 333. Computer-Aided Lean Management for the Energy Industry.
    
26. 2007 IBM Energy and Utilities Global Residential/Small Business Consumer Survey http://www-03.ibm.com/industries/utilities/doc/content/landingdtw/3165578119.html?g_type=pspot
    
27. page 10
    
28. Energy Future Coalition, “Challenge and Opportunity: Charting a New Energy Future,” Appendix A: Working Group Reports, Report of the Smart Grid Working Group. http://www.energyfuturecoalition.org/pubs/app_smart_grid.pdf
    
29. U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory, Modern Grid Initiative, http://www.netl.doe.gov/moderngrid/opportunity/vision_technologies.html
    
30. Yilu Liu, Lamine Mili, Jaime De La Ree, Reynaldo Francisco Nuqui, Reynaldo Francisco Nuqui (2001-07-12). "State Estimation and Voltage Security Monitoring Using Synchronized Phasor Measurement" (pdf). Research paper from work sponsored by American Electric Power, ABB Power T&D Company, and Tennessee Valley Authority (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University). http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download;jsessionid=3B975B94733D906CA197813C53C2BD86?doi=10.1.1.2.7959&rep=rep1&type=pdf. Retrieved 2008-12-01. abstract Lay summary. ""Simulations and field experiences suggest that PMUs can revolutionize the way power systems are monitored and controlled."".
    
31. a b Patrick Mazza (2005-04-27) (doc). [http://fortress.wa.gov/wutc/home/webdocs.nsf/de53b07997d108ea882563b50072c5b3/bc3ced6bb5f4cf29882570200083aaa3/$FILE/Powering%20Up%20Smart%20Grid%20report.doc Powering Up the Smart Grid: A Northwest Initiative for Job Creation, Energy Security, and Clean, Affordable Electricity.]. Climate Solutions. p. 7. http://fortress.wa.gov/wutc/home/webdocs.nsf/de53b07997d108ea882563b50072c5b3/bc3ced6bb5f4cf29882570200083aaa3/$FILE/Powering%20Up%20Smart%20Grid%20report.doc. Retrieved 2008-12-01.
    
32. (pdf) Wide Area Protection System for Stability. Nanjing Nari-Relays Electric Co., Ltd. 2008-04-22. p. 2. http://www.nari-relays.com/en/files/Wide%20Area%20Protection%20System%20for%20Stability.pdf. Retrieved 2008-12-12. Examples are given of two events, one stabilizing the system after a fault on a 1 gigawatt HVDC feed, with response timed in milliseconds.
    
33. "On-Line Voltage Stability Monitoring and Control (VSMC) System in Fujian power grid" (pdf). Proceedings, Power Engineering Society General Meeting, 2007. (Tampa, FL, USA: IEEE). 2007-06-24. doi:10.1109/PES.2007.385975. Lay summary.
    
34. Cisco Outlines Strategy for Highly Secure, 'Smart Grid' Infrastructure
    
35. Why the Smart Grid must be based on IP standards
    
36. IEEE P2030 Official Website
    
37. EETimes.com: IEEE, conference drive smart grids - P2030 aims to develop a guide to grid standards
    
38. Commerce Secretary Unveils Plan for Smart Grid Interoperability
    
39. Li, Jerry (2009), From Strong to Smart: the Chinese Smart Grid and its relation with the Globe, AEPN, Article No. 0018602, Asia Energy Platform. Available at http://www.aepfm.org/link.php
    
40. http://www.smartgrids.eu/: Look under 'background'
    
41. "U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007". http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.6.ENR:. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
    
42. http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ140.110
    
43. http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/news_detail.cfm/news_id=12364
    
44. "Report: Smart Grid Market Could Double in Four Years". Zpryme Smart Grid Market. http://www.smartgridnews.com/artman/publish/Business_Markets_Pricing_News/Report-Smart-Grid-Market-Could-Double-in-Four-Years-1662.html.
    
45. http://www.e-energy.de/en/index.php
    
46. a b c d e Massachusetts rejects utility's prepayment plan for low income customers, The Boston Globe, 2009-07-23
    

• Tsouvalas, Dean (1 September 2009), "Smart Grid 101", Exec Digital Magazine (Boston), http://www.execdigital.com/Magazine.aspx?id=1448&page=32, retrieved 2009-09-01
  

External links

• The NIST Smart Grid Collaboration Site NIST's public wiki for Smart Grid
  
• Smart Grid News Free weekly news letter with information on Smart Metering and the Smart Grid
  
• Opal-RT provides Real-Time Smart Grid Simulator Hardware and Software.
  
• Video Lecture: Computer System Security: Technical and Social Challenges in Creating a Trustworthy Power Grid, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  
• Video Lecture: Smart Grid: Key to a Sustainable Energy Infrastructure, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  
• Google Map of AMI & Smart Metering Programmes across the World. Maintained by Smart Metering Project Team at the Energy Retail Association in the UK.
  
• Similar Google Map showing North American Initiatives categorized by AMR/AMI/Smart Grid Data provided by Enernex, map created by Energy Retail Association project team in the UK.
  
• How the Smart Grid will recharge Plug-In Electric Hybrids
  
• Smart Grid Takes Off, Sustainable Industries Magazine.
  
• Power meters help homeowners track and cut their energy use, The Christian Science Monitor.
  
• Latest News in Smart Grid and Smart Metering
  
• Smart Metering and Smart Grids: Intelligent Technology for Utilities
  
• Who's Who in Smart Grid and Smart Metering
  
• Smart Policy: Achieving a Smart Grid
  
• Smart Grid Software: I.S/g