Smart Grid Effort Research Articles

A FRAMEWORK FOR ENCOURAGING CONSUMER BEHAVIORAL CHANGE BY MODELING SMART METER DATA ENERGY USAGE

Responding to climate change requires efforts from utility providers for the production of and engagement with more advanced integrated electrical distribution grids. For example, much of the smart grid effort focuses on bridging together renewable energy sources (as well as an increased level of smart monitoring and automation of electrical transmission). Within the smart grid, the smart meter also has the potential to play a role in reducing the level of carbon emissions for all residential customers, as smart meters provide the means for customers to manage and reduce their electricity usage. For example, detailed energy profiles of energy usage patterns can be constructed and reported back to the end-user. As such, this research investigates residential home environments and how the data produced by smart meters can be used to profile energy usage in homes. In particular, this project concerns the design of a system and algorithm to model and predict household behavior patterns from smart meter readings. The aim is to model the behavioral trends in homes to develop an autonomous system that can advise home users on changes that can be adopted to reduce their carbon emissions. The data used for the research were constructed from a digital simulation model of multiple smart home environments. Using a two-class boosted decision tree, the system is able to detect anomalous users with 71.7% AUC.

Smart Grids and Load Profiles in the GCC Region

The members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), namely Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, and United Arab Emirates (UAE), are facing challenges to meet the growing electricity demand and reduce the associated hydrocarbon emissions. Recently, there has been a pressing need for a shift towards smart power grids, as smart grids can reduce the stress on the grid, defer the investments for upgrades, improve the power system efficiency, and reduce emissions. Accordingly, the goal of this paper is to delineate an overview of current smart grid efforts in the GCC region. First, we present a detailed overview of the current state of the power grids. Then, we classify the efforts into three broad categories: (i) energy trading and exchange through GCC interconnection; (ii) integration of renewable resources; and (iii) demand side management technologies for shaping the demand profile. Furthermore, we provide the details of our API object level real-time GCC power demand automated program that creates the database for the load profiles of the GCC members. Accessing such information for research and development purposes is a critical step in the region, because due the conservative structure of the governing institutes, there is no publicly available dataset. Therefore, the data provided in this paper is critical and will serve as a main reference for the future research efforts.

The Japanese Smart Grid Initiatives, Investments, and Collaborations

A smart grid delivers power around the country and has an intelligent monitoring system, which not only keeps track of all the energy coming in from diverse sources but also can detect where energy is needed through a two-way communication system that collects data about how and when consumers use power. It is safer in many ways, compared with the current one-directional power supply system that seems susceptible to either sabotage or natural disasters, including being more resistant to attack and power outages. In such an autonomic and advanced-grid environment, investing in a pilot study and knowing the nation readiness to adopt a smart grid absolves the government of complex intervention from any failure to bring Japan into the autonomic-grid environment. This paper looks closely into the concept of the Japanese government go green effort, the objective of which is to make Japan a leading nation in environmental and energy sustainability through green innovation, such as creating a low-carbon society and embracing the natural grid community. This paper paints a clearer conceptual picture of how Japan smart grid effort compares with that of the US.

Decentralized agent-based underfrequency load shedding

As part of the transition to a smart grid efforts are being made to decentralize control of electric power systems and modernize protection schemes that are currently in use. One specific applicati...

Decentralized agent-based underfrequency load shedding

As part of the transition to a smart grid efforts are being made to decentralize control of electric power systems and modernize protection schemes that are currently in use. One specific application of distributed control is underfrequency load shed