Hawaii's Energy Future

Clean

Energy Technology

The Smart Grid

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

> 200 volunteers in the South Kihei area are needed for the Maui Smart Grid Project to test smart grid technologies and applications. Interested customers can sign up at www.mauismartgrid.com 9/21/11

> Energy partners from the U.S. and Japan will collaborate on a multi-million dollar smart grid demonstration project on Maui aimed at improving integration of renewable energy resources to the electric system in preparation for the adoption of electric vehicles.

> The Hawaii PUC has approved Hawaiian Electric's request to use a $5.3 million federal stimulus grant to install smart grid technology to portions of the electric system in urban Honolulu.

Status of the Smart Grid in Hawaii
The grid today and tomorrow
Smart Grid Capabilities
Components of the Smart Grid
The East Oahu Transmission Project
The Maui Smart Grid Project

One important element in Hawaii’s clean energy future is the development of a “smart grid” with “advanced metering infrastructure.”

Smart grid is intended to provide residential and business customers and the utility with enhanced timely information on electricity use with a greater focus on energy management. You can think of this innovative concept as an “energy internet” or “information-enabled energy” that delivers information that allows customers and the utility to make smarter choices.

Bridging the gap between concept and reality will require the development and investment in new and enhanced information technology, communications infrastructure, cyber security, and smart grid-compatible components on both the customer and utility ends of the electrical system.

A key smart grid capability currently being developed is “advanced metering infrastructure.” This involves installing new high-tech meters in customer homes and businesses along with wireless communication and new software at the utility.

Status of the Smart Grid in Hawaii

A smart grid builds upon existing utility generation, transmission and distribution. It uses automation, communications, analytics and controls to operate the grid reliably and safely with increasing amounts of intermittent renewable sources (like wind and solar power) as well as demand-side and distributed resources.

The Hawaiian Electric companies have been involved in smart grid pilot projects including the installation of advanced meters in neighborhoods across Oahu to explore the operational performance and capabilities of an advanced meter network. Integrating smart grid technology is a key component of the company’s strategic plan to make the islands’ electric system more efficient and more reliable, give customers more options to control their energy use and increase the use of renewable energy. The company is now developing a comprehensive Smart Grid Roadmap that will serve as a guide to a smart grid future.

On Maui, Maui Electric Company has partnered with the University of Hawaii and several national companies on a smart grid pilot project in the Wailea area. The results will help the rest of the state, and the nation, learn what can be done with the smart grid while improving service to all of Maui. Learn more about the Maui smart grid project and view a conceptual drawing.

The grid today and tomorrow

Hawaii’s current electrical systems historically were centralized with a few large power plants sending electricity in one direction out on the Transmission and Distribution (T&D) system. Most plants generate firm power so it is possible to know exactly how much is available to meet demand. Installation of intermittent distributed resources (such as solar electric panels on home and business roofs) on the Hawaiian Electric grids has been growing at a rapid pace. Smart grid technologies provide new and enhanced capabilities to help the grid manage these new resources.

The Hawaiian Electric companies already apply smart grid technology on their grids with the state-of-the-art System Operations Centers. System Operations collects information in real time from generation plants and the transmission system via an advanced computer system and microwave communications. The Hawaiian Electric companies also use SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) systems and automatic load transfer load to restore power in the field.

As technology evolves, there are new ways to make the system even smarter on the distribution level -- all the way to the customer’s home or business.

For the residential customer, the electric meter has changed little in decades. Mechanical wheels turn only in one direction to record the total amount of electricity used, and the meter is read manually once a month by a meter reader.

When a neighborhood outage happens, system operators often do not know about it until customers call in to report it. Based on the collection of outage calls coming in, computers analyze and predict where the trouble is located. Then the system operator sends a primary trouble shooter to investigate. In the future, with advanced meters and upgrades at neighborhood substations, system operators will have more customer outage information sooner -- without the customers calling in. Outage detection will be automatic and restoration will be faster.

With the increase of distributed renewable energy sources, demands on Hawaii’s electric grids will be more dynamic. First, many renewable energy sources are intermittent or variable, meaning the flow of electricity increases or decreases, often within seconds, depending on available wind or sun. Also, at present, many of these smaller intermittent generation systems are not visible to the system operator who therefore does not know how much distributed, intermittent electricity is being sent to the grid. Thus the operator cannot plan for the impact on the system from minute to minute, hour to hour or day to day. Under these conditions matching generation to demand to maintain power quality and reliability becomes more challenging.

With more distributed generation on the grid, electricity is now often flowing back and forth – interactively. All this must be carefully managed and integrated so the grid remains stable and power quality remains suitable for high-tech equipment such as computers and televisions. In hospitals, banks, and many high-tech businesses, power quality is even more important to health, safety and successful operations.

Equally important, customers today want to have more information on their energy use and more control or choice over how they use it. The present meter can only show how much energy is used. The opportunity to add Time-of-Use rates for residential customers will require new meters that recognize both how much power is being used and when it is being used.

Smart Grid Capabilities

The ideal Smart Grid for Hawaii, Hawaiian Electric believes, is one that:

Self-Heals - A self-healing modern grid that detects and isolates most problems (i.e., electrical disturbances) and quickly recovers if they occur, minimizing downtime and impact to the customer.
Motivates and Includes the Consumer - With a modern grid, commercial, industrial and residential energy consumers will have access to their energy use information and the ability to choose pricing options that best suit their needs and lifestyles.
Resists Cyber Attack - Security is built in from the ground up in a modern grid.
Provides Power Quality for 21st Century Needs - A modern grid as far as humanly possible seamlessly integrates with the data centers, computers, electronics and robotic manufacturing that will power our future economy.
Accommodates All Generation and Storage Options - A modern grid allows plug-and-play interconnection to practically any source of power, including renewable energy sources and energy storage technologies.
Optimizes Assets and Operates Efficiently - A modern grid allows electric utilities to fully utilize its existing systems efficiently to minimize cost.

Components of the Smart Grid

Each electrical system will have its own specific Smart Grid components, depending on what features are desired. However, the National Energy Technical Laboratory has described a Smart Grid System with the following components:

An integrated communication system – A system that connects the other components together in a reliable manner that is resistant to cyber and physical attacks.
Sensing and Measurement – Devices implemented in the field that sense and gathers pertinent data. One example is smart meters.
Advanced Control Systems – Computer-based systems that collect and process the data, react to system conditions automatically or provide diagnostic information and solutions to enhance system operator decision making and response.
Advanced Components – Devices implemented in the field such as advanced switches, flexible AC transmission systems or power quality devices, plug-in hybrids, etc.
Decision Support – Utilizes the information and systems to provide visualization of the problem, increased decision capability, simulation and training support.

The East Oahu Transmission Project

In 2007, the Public Utilities Commission approved Hawaiian Electric Company’s plan to assure greater electric service reliability to urban Honolulu with the East Oahu Transmission Project.

Power to Manoa (including the University of Hawaii at Manoa), Kaimuki, Waialae/Kahala and Waikiki is distributed through Pukele Substation in Palolo Valley. If the two transmission lines bringing power into Pukele were to go out service, 44,000 or more customers could be without power for a lengthy time.

By installing new, underground 46 kV transmission lines and making some changes in substations in central Honolulu, EOTP allows Hawaiian Electric system operators to reroute electric power and eliminate or significantly reduce possible outages to these customers. The PUC approved EOTP in two phases; the first phase will be complete in mid-2010.

The second phase called for installing nearly two miles of underground power lines and other equipment to provide back-up circuits by digging up trenches along parts of King, Cooke and McCully streets at an estimated cost of $28 million. Studying the new Smart Grid technology, Hawaiian Electric engineers determined that nearly the same level of reliability could be achieved at a lower cost, $15 million, without the disruption to traffic and businesses of digging up the streets. In addition, by securing a federal stimulus (ARRA) grant of $5 million, Hawaiian Electric is able to cut the cost of EOTP phase two to about one-third of the original cost to customers. A proposal to use Smart Grid technology is before the PUC.

The Maui Smart Grid Project

Maui Electric Company is working with General Electric on a smart grid project that will develop and demonstrate the use of smart grid technologies to help Maui Electric control peak circuit demand, maintain adequate circuit voltage levels, and integrate intermittent renewable energy resources. The project partners include Hawaiian Electric Company, Hawaii Natural Energy Institute at the University of Hawaii, Sentech, and the U.S. Department of Energy.

“While wind power has been around for some time, relying on a high percentage of wind for day-to-day power generation has been impossible. Wind availability is too unpredictable and uncontrollable,” said Juan de Bedout, global technology leader for power conversion systems at GE Global Research. “The Maui Smart Grid Project will develop grid communications and controls that will assist Maui Electric in the coordination of distributed resources, such as distributed generation, energy storage, voltage controls and residential loads, to help integrate unprecedented levels of wind and solar power into the island’s power grid.”

GE’s Smart Grid management tools will include advanced communications, automation and control technologies. The management system will control and dispatch several types of power system equipment, customer loads, and energy storage to compensate for sudden changes in wind power and circuit loads.

The island of Maui meets the definition of high-penetration renewable power. With a peak load of around 200 MW on the island, up to 30 MW can come from wind energy. Right now Maui receives nearly 10 percent of its energy from wind, with plans to add even more wind-powered generation and solar energy in the future. Even at just 10 percent, issues with grid reliability can arise due to minute-to-minute wind fluctuations. This project’s smart grid technologies will help integrate more renewable energy into Maui’s power system.

Coverage area for Maui Smart Grid project

Recent new construction in southeastern Maui, an area served by the Wailea substation, has added load to the Maui grid. Customer sites in this area also have a fair amount of distributed renewable energy, mostly photovoltaic (PV). Because PV output is variable based on sunshine or cloud cover, an increasing amount of this power is not visible to the utility system operator and presents challenges to maintaining a stable grid with high quality power.

Expected benefits of the Maui Smart Grid

The purpose of the project is to develop and demonstrate a distribution automation system that gathers together distributed resources, both generation and demand response assets, such that the electric utility can "see" these resources and utilize them with bulk power assets to help achieve system-level benefits. In this way, Maui Electric’s system operator can more effectively manage grid operations, including compensating for sudden changes in wind power, solar power and circuit loads.

At present, the effects of smaller distributed resources are not visible to the electric utility’s system operator so being able to sense and/or control these resources can help maintain grid stability and power quality.

Specific objectives of the project include:

Reduce distribution circuit peak load (by 15%)
Reduce use of petroleum and reduce climate changing emissions
Enable greater utilization of as-available or variable renewable energy sources
Maintain and improve service with quality power
Enable customers to better manage energy use to lower their bills and utilize on-site renewable energy
Support grid stability

What are the technical challenges/goals?

The Maui Smart Grid is developing general smart grid architecture that:

Uses as much existing equipment as possible to keep costs down.
Maintains control of the system by the utility system operator to insure grid stability and power quality
Integrates the system components with a secure communications system, meshing the distribution system with the IT system.

What smart grid technologies will be developed as part of this project?

Smart grid management tools such as advanced communications, automation and control technologies will be developed to aggregate distributed resources so that MECO's system operator can use this aggregated resource to manage grid operations, including compensation for sudden changes in wind power and circuit loads.