Transcript Ambient Vision 1.14.13 - Massachusetts Grid Modernization

MA DPU Grid Modernization Working Group
Grid-Facing Subcommittee
Ram Rao, Chief Technology Officer
Ambient Corporation
January 14, 2013
Copyright© 2013 Ambient Corporation
Ambient’s role in the Smart Grid ecosystem.
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A leading communications & applications platform supplier based in Newton, MA
Technologies enable utilities to effectively deploy & manage multiple mission critical
grid applications
Platform provider to the largest utility in North America
12+ years of development and field deployment (125K+ Nodes)
Patented and proprietary technologies
Founded in 1996, went public in 1998 – AMBT(Nasdaq)
The Challenges…
• The grid infrastructure has aged to a state that cannot meet the
changed nature & expectations of the consumer
• Modernization of the grid:
• extends beyond new poles, wires and metering
• requires new sensors and IT resources that can be adapted to changing consumer
patterns, new applications, and enhanced sensor technologies
• minimizes the stranding of legacy assets, while establishing an upgrade path forward in
the reinvestment cycle
• must address the evolving needs of the consumer, utility and regulatory constituencies
• The need to convert the grid from a one-way to a two-way flow of
energy
• Demand Response
• Metering – supportive of legacy assets while establishing foundation for
migration from AMR to AMI
• Improve the efficiency of the distribution system
Copyright© 2013 Ambient Corporation
The Questions...
• What can the grid look like?
• How different will it be from today’s?
• What can it do differently or better than
today?
Copyright© 2013 Ambient Corporation
An intelligent grid can evolve to meet
changing technologies & demands…
• A one-way energy flow becomes two-way to accommodate a
variety of Distributed Generation resources
• Intelligence throughout increasingly integrates with
centralized management systems & processes
• Resiliency
 Outage detection
 Storm response
• Legacy assets are pulled forward
• AMR to AMI
• New applications to meet the changing needs of managing
the grid and which suit the evolving profiles of consumers
Copyright© 2013 Ambient Corporation
What the grid will do differently & better
than today – Resiliency.
• Intelligence will bring the Utility agility and greater
control of their resources
• Remote fault identification and isolation substantially
improve a Utility’s ability to address:
• Outage Detection & Monitoring
• Storm Response
• Self-healing
Copyright© 2013 Ambient Corporation
What the grid will do differently & better
than today – Enabling a broader variety of
Distributed Generation resources.
• Solar, other DG, CHP
• Storage
• Electric Vehicles
• Regulatory landscape similar for all distributed generation
technologies
• Variable output vs. continuous technologies must be considered
when determining feasibility and “level of modernization” for
two-way energy flow
• State level microgrid programs are accessing clean DG as main
source of generation
• Helps address local power reliability
• Increases local resiliency
• Introduces the topic of “smart grid” in terms of critical load
management
Copyright© 2013 Ambient Corporation
What the grid will do differently & better
than today – Improved Efficiency.
• Volt/VAR
• Asset Management - Proactive Monitoring
• Identification & Monitoring of System Loss
Copyright© 2013 Ambient Corporation
What the grid will do differently & better
than today – Communications with the
Consumer.
• Continuously improved Time-of-Use/Variable Pricing
schemes
• More accurate and timely information on Outages
• Retail services by third-party suppliers
• Evolving roles for utilities and public utility
commissions
• Ability to respond to info through third parties’ products and
services
Copyright© 2013 Ambient Corporation
The Benefits – Enhanced Service &
Improved Economics
• Empowering customers with information on
consumption
• Ability of the utility to communicate ‘price’
information in real-time
• Price responsive demand can stem, even
reverse, perpetual increases in peak demand
• Third-party applications and services
available to both the consumer and the
utility
Copyright© 2013 Ambient Corporation
MetaVu Smart Grid Audit Summary
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The Public Utility Commission commissioned an
independent third party review on the cost and benefits of
the Duke Ohio smart deployment, focusing on the 20 year
NPV of the project.
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Numbers were extrapolated from 31% of full deployment
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20 year NPV operational benefits of the deployment to be
about $382.8M in a range from ($325.8M – $447.5M
Benefits by Category
Benefits by Category
($ Millions)
(% of $382.8M total)
$53.0
10.0%
$134.7
$65.6
45.0%
45.0%
$129.5
AMI
Volt/VAR
Other DA
Avoided O&M
Deferred Capital
Avoided Fuel Costs
Increased Revenue
Smart Grid Emerging Technology Roadmap
REGULATORY
INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY
GRID DEVICES
TELECOM
Incremental
(0 – 3 Years)
Strategic
(3 – 10 Years)
Transformational
(10+ Years)
• Migration of 3G to LTE and rise of small
cellular
• Ongoing shift of wired to wireless
• Tighter integration of comm. and grid /
sensor technologies
• Telecom evolution will continue to
outpace utility adoption
• M2M growth
• Low bandwidth, high latency
• 3G cellular disappears
• Requirements for larger amounts of data
• Wired connections migrate to MPLS
networks/fiber pushed deeper into
networks
• Network data load continues to increase
• Devices utilize multiple paths/providers
rather than a single provider/path.
• Telecom / utilities back-office and
customer fulfillment integration
• Migration of 4G to 5G cellular
• Increased telecom capability evolves from
nice to have to required as utility,
healthcare, transportation become
dependent on data
• High band
• width, very low latency
• Centralized intelligence
• Initial development of the tools and
control schemes to manage the
distribution system
• Self-healing and IVVC focus
• DER “low” mkt penetration
• Central intelligence combined w/
local/distributed intelligence
• Ops driven by analytics & automation
• Shift to modularity and interoperability
• Adoption of telecom techniques for grid
management
• DER “medium” penetration
• Centralized intel combined with
widespread local/distributed intel
• Ops highly automated
• All devices have 2-way comm., memory,
and processing capabilities
• Hierarchical control of field devices
• DER “high” penetration
• Competing, proprietary standards
• Software is largely centralized and
siloed
• Architecture is centralized
• Message bus limited to data center
• “Big data” is big issue
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• Applications and architecture fully
distributed
• Silo functionality largely gone
• Data mining and analytics becomes core
competency
• Approval contingent on annual review,
pilot
• Rate base business model
• Regulatory confusion about data,
disaggregation, privacy
• Benefits proven for “low hanging fruit.”
• Some regulation/mandates re: privacy, data,
operational functionality.
• Business model shifting from rate base to
services-focused.
Standards and interoperability focus
Software less centralized and siloed
Architecture shifting to distributed
Limited field message bus
New tools for mining data for intel
• Regulatory maturity
• Business model is full retail competition /
disaggregation
Market
Gap
Technical Gap
Smart Grid Emerging Technology Gap Identification
Grid Devices
Telecommunications
• Silo’d architecture
• Proprietary
• Solid state transformers
• Development of network management
tools
• Integration of electric and telecom
data for more reliable grid functions
• Ability to switch (via software) among
cellular providers
• Message prioritization
• Proprietary, single-solution networks
• Most solutions are currently
operated centrally
• The architecture and hardware
necessary to implement a
distributed system have not been
designed or implemented
• Silo functionality
• Data mining and analysis
• Regulatory limitations
• Procurement by silo,
not by system or with
overall vision in mind
• Lack of momentum for
new deployments
• Stimulus funding
• Migration from 3G to LTE
• Adoption of Gobi
• Willingness of utilities to have their
smart grid systems hosted by nontraditional companies
• Migration away from single-use
telecom platforms
• Lack of awareness of the need to
switch to a distributed architecture
• Information overload
4/10/2016
Optimization
Ram Rao
Senior Vice President and Chief Technology
Officer
(617) 614-6789
[email protected]