By SmartGridNews.com
Who knew something called quantum cryptography could play a role in protecting the grid from cyber thugs? A team at Los Alamos National Lab says they’ve demonstrated the concept successfully. Scroll down for more on that, plus updates on smart grid demos focused on integrating renewables, assessing transactive control systems and bringing smart grid technologies into the real world.
Iberdrola is leading a three-year European initiative to study the impacts of integrating renewable energy on grids. The Spanish energy company launched the iGREENGrid project along with 11 of the main electricity distribution companies and research institutions in Europe, with the ultimate goal being to define and pool procedures, technological advances and best practices that will contribute towards increasing the capacity of electricity grids to receive distributed generation from renewable sources. Iberdrola points out that iGREENGrid reflects one of the most crucial lines of research in the area of smart grids due to the amount of renewables already connected to grids in Germany and France. Learn more…
Duke Energy just won an award from POWERGRID International magazine and PennWell Corp. for a similar initiative. Its battery installation at a North Carolina substation was named Project of the Year for integrating renewable energy into the grid. At the Rankin Substation, a 402-kilowatt/282-kilowatt-hour sodium nickel chloride battery system is being used to smooth out large minute-by-minute peaks and valleys in production from a nearby 1.2-megawatt solar facility at a local industrial complex. “We have to explore every avenue to make sure the grid can handle the influx of more renewables,” said Dan Sowder, Duke’s senior project manager. “We want to see if a central battery installation at a substation can support the grid. In the future, there may be neighborhoods full of rooftop solar. We need to be ready for that.” Learn more…
A Los Alamos National Laboratory quantum cryptography (QC) team successfully completed what it says is the first-ever demonstration of securing control data for electric grids using QC. According to a news release from the lab: “Novel methods for controlling the electric grid are needed to accommodate new energy sources such as renewables whose availability can fluctuate on short time scales. This requires transmission of data to and from control centers; but for grid-control use, data must be both trustworthy and delivered without delays. The simultaneous requirements of strong authentication and low latency are difficult to meet with standard cryptographic techniques. New technologies that further strengthen existing cybersecurity protections are needed. Quantum cryptography provides a means of detecting and defeating an adversary who might try to intercept or attack the communications.” Learn more…
Southern California Edison (SCE) is moving closer to the June 30 launch of its stimulus-supported Irvine project designed to demonstrate smart grid solutions in the real world. SCE is working with GE and others on the project, which includes automation and communications in the substation and across power lines to smart meters, smart appliances, rooftop solar and plug-in electric vehicles in homes. “We’re moving the smart grid discussion from engineering and concepts on the drawing boards to our customers,” said Doug Kim, SCE director of Advanced Technology. “Consumers who have been hearing about a smarter electric grid will now experience it firsthand. With increased insight, more options and greater control over their energy usage, consumers in this demonstration project will help us engineer a better energy future.” GE says the demonstration project will help participants fine-tune the software, communications, automation, hardware and network management tools that will make an advanced energy infrastructure possible. Learn more…
The Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project, hailed as the country’s largest, has released its 2012 Annual Report. “Our project completed its infrastructure design, development and deployment phase and is now well into end-to-end testing of transactive control in the crucial data collection and analysis phase,” noted Project Director Ron Melton of Battelle in the report’s introduction. Melton says this current phase may be the most important. “Initially, we will examine the performance of our transactive control system and improve the algorithms affecting the behavior of approximately 12,000 smart grid-responsive assets, which include solar panels, water heaters, smart appliances, battery storage units, plug in hybrid vehicles and backup generators,” Melton said. “We are also collecting data about the benefits of approximately 80,000 smart grid enabled assets, such as smart meters, smart transformers, and distribution automation equipment. We will be able to draw a few preliminary conclusions about how a smart grid on an even wider scale could look like.” The five-year, $178-million project involves 60,000 electric consumers across five states (see the infographic on page 2). Funded by DOE and project partners, it involves Battelle, the Bonneville Power Administration, 11 utilities and five technology partners.
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