Previously, electricity meters had to be read by hand, or by utility employees driving from neighborhood to neighborhood with radio receivers in trucks, and the data would not be particularly granular: you might have one data point per month. And, as seen below, AMI is increasing throughout the country, with over half of all electricity meters now converted to smart meters. Smart meters, which are also referred to as advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), are what allow for the bi-directional, two-way communication between you and your utility. The fundamental technology that enables smart grids are smart meters. Importantly, all microgrids are smart grids, but not all smart grids are microgrids. Microgrids act as smaller, self-contained versions of the larger grid and allow certain neighborhoods or entire regions to remain energized even in the event of a blackout on the rest of the grid. Recently, microgrids have received attention as a way to provide improved resiliency and reliability in California in the wake of the wildfires and public safety power shutoffs from utilities. In order to meet these changing needs, the federal government created an official, ten-part definition of what constitutes a smart grid in the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, while the 2009 federal stimulus package provided grants for smart grid demonstration projects across the country. 2 million homes have installed solar on their properties, meaning they’re no longer just consumers, but now “prosumers” who both produce and consume electricity. Although this approach made sense as the grid expanded originally, now electricity usage has evolved in the country.
Traditionally, utilities or grid operators have no insight into how end-users actually consume electricity: they see there’s demand for more electricity, so they ramp up production from power plants and supply more power to the grid. This may sound like a straightforward distinction, but in reality, it’s a major difference from how the electrical grid has historically operated. You can be a part of the smart grid revolution by generating your own solar power: explore your options on the EnergySage MarketplaceĪt its core, the concept of a smart grid is quite simple: it is a grid designed for the two-way flow of information and electricity.Smart grids can help utilities and their customers save money on electricity costs.Smart grids are advanced electrical grid setups, designed for the two-way flow of information and electricity.
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