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“SMART GRID”? WCEC HAS IT!
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 “SMART GRID”? WCEC HAS IT!
A very popular term being thrown around throughout the electric utility industry is “Smart Grid”. The stimulus package as passed by the US Legislature offers funding for a “Smart Grid”. This gives people the impression that the old electric grid is not smart. At Wharton County Electric Cooperative, we have incorporated features of the “smart grid” into our electrical system for the past 10 years. We are not doing things just because they can be done - we are doing things in our system that will pay. Our members should be pleased to know that what we have exactly fits the definition of a “smart grid” and it is saving money and providing reliability to WCEC members.
We are one of the first utilities to use advanced metering infrastructure (AMI). We called it automatic meter reading (AMR) 10 years ago when we launched the program. Our system is a two-way system that we now learn qualifies to be called by the new buzz word “AMI” and/or Smart Metering. With our system, we can take advantage of off peak rates to our members and we have been doing this for eight years through our Home Team Power Partner Program. We send signals to our members when wholesale electric prices are high allowing them to cut back on their power usage during the peak times. In some cases we control the load for them automatically over our power line communications system. Members receive a monthly credit on their bills for allowing the cooperative to manage their usage and the savings created on our wholesale power bill is passed through to all members.
“We are not doing things just because they can be done - we are doing things in our system that will pay.”
Our grid can tell us when a breaker or reclosure operates and allows us to determine where a fault occurred. Furthermore it allows us to restore the power from the office or employee’s home at night and weekends. Our technology is several years old and new technology is being introduced using broadband internet as a communications tool. We have a pilot project in place that can use the internet to control lighting, water heating, and air conditioning from our office or from the members’ home computer. This technology is currently of no use until rates and appliances are developed to take advantage of it. We are simply studying the situation. The system that we do have in operation can do everything needed to manage the load when necessary. We have developed strategies to migrate all or part of our “smart grid” to new technologies when it becomes beneficial. We have estimated that our cooperative, through the use of our “smart grid”, saves our members $1.1 million per year. These savings are flowed through to the member each month by reducing the PCRF on their electric bills.
Other “smart grid” approaches which we use include engineering load studies directly from our billing and metering system, computerized GPS mapping with data bases so that we can look at any location on our system and know exactly what we have at the location including distances, length of lines, transformer size and other equipment data that expedites new line extensions and repairs in the event of an outage.
Through our “smart grid” and all of the systems that we have in place, we are happy to report that our reliability is one of the highest in the country and in South Texas at 99.99% according to records kept in our office and verified by the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation. Our rates are among the lowest in the South Texas area partially due to the “smart grid” applications that we operate.
Whenever you hear the term “smart grid” and admonishments from environmentalists or the administration to improve our electric grid and to make it smart, please be aware that our grid has been smart for over 10 years and we do recommend it for the rest of the country. But “smart grid” technology should be installed in increments whereby the investment is justified in savings and not the installation of “smart grid” applications just because we can.
In the not too distant future (4 or 5 years), rates will be available to take full advantage of “smart grid” technologies and all electrical appliances will be able to talk to your home computer and allow you to control their use through your laptop from anywhere in the world. If you would like to start making your home “smart” so that you can take advantage of information on the “smart grid”, please call me at 979-543-6274. We have access to the computer programs and “smart grid” and “smart house” devices to get you started.
If you would like more information on the technologies used at WCEC, please do not hesitate to call me.
Sincerely,
Don Naiser |
 Admin on September 10 2009 08:24:17
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