Special Topics on Smart Grid

For a downloadable copy of this eNewsletter, please visit the IEEE Smart Grid Resource Center.

The mission IEEE Smart Grid (SG) program continues as a leading provider of globally recognized resources of smart grid information. By collaborating stakeholders from various disciplines, IEEE Smart Grid leverages their common interest in developing a future grid infrastructure, envisioned by professionals dedicating their time and effort towards our goal; an infrastructure on which we can relay to absorb the extensive advanced technologies, to serve humanity in an evolutionary lifestyle.

With 2019 winding down and 2020 right around the corner, the R&D Committee wanted to say thank you for supporting our cause, and we applaud your continued backing in the future.

In September 2018, we started a new committee within the framework of the IEEE Smart Grid: The Committee on Meetings and Conferences. In addition to the ongoing set of activities in the IEEE Smart Grid, we strongly felt the need to provide a forum for showcasing additional and alternative aspects of the Smart Grid, in the form of conferences and workshops. Given that there are 14 different operating units that make up the IEEE Smart Grid, there is a broad set of interests, expertise, intersections, and viewpoints that needs to be reflected in these gatherings. With this as the goal, the Smart Grid Meetings and Conferences Committee was formed. I was appointed as a Chair mid-2018, and we put together an Advisory Board to oversee the operations of this committee. The board members are Anuradha Annaswamy (Chair), Steve Collier, Laura Pullum, Pete Sauer, and Thomas Strasser.

At the dawn of 2020 we witness what can only be described as an unprecedented focus on Smart Grid paradigms and applications. The devastating forest fires in California that led to massive and long service interruptions for thousands of customers in the area, brought to the center stage the idea of operating numbers or parts of feeders as microgrids. For years, the premises of organizing customers and their distributed resources as microgrids have been researched in-depth and from multiple perspectives. Numerous proofs of concept of fully operational microgrids have been tested in the framework of R&D projects at universities, laboratories, and limited real systems. Nevertheless, the obstacles of policy and standardization have seemed unsurmountable. Until the tragic fires in California. After those events regulators, operators, utilities and the public have been considering the microgrid as a valid alternative to the “lights out” option employed to the day.

By Vigna K Ramachandaramurthy, Kang Miao Tan, Jia Ying Yong

In the modern age, energy consumers have high expectations for energy supply reliability. Many advanced measures are required to ensure that the power grid is ready for the large integration of Electric Vehicles (EVs). A proper architecture design for an EV charging system is crucial to ensure a reliable power supply for EV demands. Healthy interaction between the EV and power system can greatly upgrade the reliability and sustainability of the power grid, as well as provide ancillary services to the power grid. This technology is denoted as Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G). In the early development stage of V2G, a small-scale framework shall be easy and efficient enough to stimulate a wider adoption of the technology. This also serves as an educational stage in getting the society ready to accept this new concept. When the technology matures, these small-scale V2G building-blocks can be combined and interact via aggregators for smart grid applications. Literature has demonstrated the flexibility of the EV charger when interacting at various scales of the power grid such as smart home, power distribution grid and microgrid.


Read Full Article: Overview of Electric Vehicle System Architecture (March 2019)

By Anish Jindal and Neeraj Kumar

The focus of this article is on the demand response application aspect of the smart grid by leveraging the data analytics techniques. This would throw light on how these techniques can help in solving the various long-term problems in the smart grid and how the information gained can help the utilities to cut their costs. Smart grid comprises of many entities which are connected to the Internet for transferring the energy-related information, thereby forming a large network of Internet-of-energy. This network can be benefited from various cutting-edge technologies like data analytics to process a large amount of gathered data. The need and impact of performing data analytics on such a network is also described along with the various challenges and constraints that restrict the use of data analytics in the present scenario.


 Read Full Article: Demand Response Applications in Smart Grid Using Data Analytics - Various Facets (April 2019)

By Hassan Bevrani, Qobad Shafiee, and Hêmin Golpîra

Frequency stability and control is one of the most important problems in interconnected power grids design and operation. Several control loops are operating to maintain the system frequency at its set-point. Each one has its particular specification and relies on a given amount of power reserve that is kept available to cope with power deviations. The majority of supply-demand balancing is achieved by controlling the output of dispatchable generating units.


 Read Full Article: Frequency Stability and Control in Smart Grids (September 2019)

By Vishu Gupta, Rajesh Kumar & BK Panigrahi

With limitations on fossil fuels and increase in the amount of released emissions, the transportation sector is being redesigned. The use of Electric Vehicles (EV) instead of harmful emission releasing Internal Combustion Engine vehicles (ICEV) proposes to not only solve the problem of accessibility and affordability of expensive fossil fuels but also helps with the reduction in the emissions from the growing number of vehicles. A number of countries across the globe have targets set out for electrification of transportation and hope to replace a certain percentage, if not all, of their ICEVs. This is a challenge, especially in densely populated countries such as India where the number of registered vehicles currently exceeds 200 million.


Read Full Article: Electric Vehicle Charging Management – Battery Charging vs. Swapping in Densely Populated Environments (October 2019)


Past Issues

To view archived articles, and issues, which deliver rich insight into the forces shaping the future of the smart grid. Older Bulletins (formerly eNewsletter) can be found here. To download full issues, visit the publications section of the IEEE Smart Grid Resource Center.

IEEE Smart Grid Bulletin Editors

IEEE Smart Grid Bulletin Compendium

The IEEE Smart Grid Bulletin Compendium "Smart Grid: The Next Decade" is the first of its kind promotional compilation featuring 32 "best of the best" insightful articles from recent issues of the IEEE Smart Grid Bulletin and will be the go-to resource for industry professionals for years to come. Click here to read "Smart Grid: The Next Decade"