Disruptive Technologies Convergence

Now that EWPC has emerged, it is to too little, too late, to try to extend the VIUs paradigm beyond its capabilities to integrate the grid and the enterprise. The availability of at least six disruptive technologies, waiting to be tightly integrated to provide commercial quality electricity service under EWPC, offers the needed sense of urgency to restructure electric power sectors.

Disruptive Technologies Convergence

By José Antonio Vanderhorst-Silverio, Ph.D.

Systemic Consultant: Electricity

Copyright © 2007 José Antonio Vanderhorst-Silverio. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, without written permission from José Antonio Vanderhorst-Silverio. Please write to javs@ieee.org to contact the author for any kind of engagement.

Dear Mr. Finamore,

Your article identifies very important applications of the AMI technologies, such as outage detection and network load monitoring, in addition to Demand Response and ToD shifting applications as key drivers for implementation.

However, it seems that you are making an effort to justify the integration of the grid with the enterprise, now that it is too little, too late, to keep extending the IOUs vertically integrated utility (VIUs) paradigm beyond its usefulness.

As can be seen in the article The Anti-System Utility: “… Most, if not all, of the issues identified by Mr. [Warren] Causey [of the Sierra Energy Group], a very objective observer of recent industry activity, are the results of maintaining the native load requirement that IOUs have imposed on the electric industry, which keep the utility grid and the enterprise under the control of VIUs. Mr. Causey calls for integrating the grid and the enterprise, which means that IOUs have not been able to integrate both dissimilar functions, so it is easier to go forward with EWPC.”

As I explained in my [seminal] article An Alternative Business Case for Demand Response, “Demand Response is no just load shifting and conservation, but a demand side risk management tool for the whole power system.” As such, Demand Response integrates the retail and wholesale markets, making the business case of AMI much better.

Under that same [seminal] article I also wrote: “… electric power systems will also “fly” reliably (a very low frequency and duration of crashes) and experience commercial quality electricity under complete deregulation [read now as re-regulation], when Demand Response gets tightly integrated with AMI and other existing technologies under a proper market design. DR will enable the system to operate within the Normal Operating State, returning back as soon as possible from the Alert and Emergency States with Demand Response actions. This is poised to be the End-State of the electricity industry for the long run.”

Under EWPC there is a need to consider the utility as the wires only (T&D integrated) transportation utility. Such utility will operate the power system under an ultraquality imperative by developing the smart grid as envisioned in the article Solving Smart Grid Cost Recovery. As the transportation utility provides the delivery services to customers, all of the principles identified in your article can be applied to the delivery network as they interface with the customers and Second Generation Retailers.

In addition, AMI, the Smart Grid and Demand Response can be considered three of sixth disruptive technologies innovations waiting to be integrated into power system control, operation and planning, as can be seen in the article The Sixth Disruptive Technology. So at least six technologies will be participating in a much larger convergence, by reinforcing each other, to get then “tightly integrated” as I envisioned in my [seminal] article.

Best regards,

José Antonio Vanderhorst-Silverio, Ph.D.

Reference and context: Convergence of Smart Metering And the Smart Grid, by Ed Finamore, President, ValuTech Solutions Inc.