Creating the infrastructure of the future

We all know that some form of smart grid is coming, but the real question is how that grid will manifest itself. Just because the concept of the smart grid is inherently "green" doesn't mean that its manifestation will be. The core technologies we deploy and how we deploy them will determine the true benefit of the smart grid in the long run. The smart grid is a lot like 3-D printing in that the power is in the concept, not the actual product itself. Just as there are many ways to approach additive manufacturing, there are many ways to approach power generation, management, and storage. Some are very "green", and some are far from it. One of the biggest concerns should be how much functionality and reliability are we obtaining from our efforts. One of the areas for the most potential confusion and potential harm is in the area of grid stiffening. Power stiffening is a term most known among the vehicular audio enthusiast crowd, as large capacitors are used in major car-stereo installations to provide energy storage for power availability during dynamic peaks, usually bass, that would otherwise tax the output of the amplifier. This philosophy, writ large, is the same concept used at the municipal level to balance the loads from multiple sources, some intermittent, and provide steady power to the grid. How that energy could be stored is an exercise in design, business, and regulation in itself. Each manner of intermediate-range storage has its pros and cons, from system efficiency to reliability to toxic impact on the community. A lead-acid battery bank is pretty robust and reliable, but incurs significant ecological impact in both operation and disposal. Flywheels are "green", but are useless for anything but short-term bridge power. Fuel cells in most cases simply shift the power production burden onto hydrogen generation systems, and they also have operational safety issues, if only for thermal management. This quandary of technological choice is not strange to the engineering community, as picking the appropriate tech for the application is one of the primary jobs of the designer. However, the fact that those choices are counterbalanced by potentially countervailing desires between the customer, the application, and the regulatory environment the solution must conform to. In the case of the smart grid, many of the rules and laws to be considered haven't even been created yet. This issue extends to other aspects of the smart-grid infrastructure, with varying levels of impact. The software in and of itself is non-polluting and doesn't take up any physical space nor does it leave any residues, but the protocols in the software can make a very large difference in the "green" aspects of the system. The bottom line is that we are in the process of creating our future energy infrastructure now, and the decisions we make will determine how much it will benefit society. This is not the time for short-term thinking or planning, as what we implement now will dominate the direction of our society for the next generation

PSD