杜孟远PILOTING THE SMART GRIDAhmad Faruqui, Ryan Hledik and Sanem Sergici1The transformative power of the smart grid is enormous. It is receiving much consideration frutilities and commissions across North America. Several members of the European UniChina, Japan and other nations are also engaged in the same endeavor.The smart grid has the potential for revolutionizing the way we produce and consume electric but because it contains so many new elements; its core value proposition remains untested.The unanswered questions include:What new services will the smart grid provide customers?Do customers want these new services?Will they respond by changing their energy use patterns?The answers to these questions will help policymakers in federal and state government determine whether the benefits of the smart grid will cover its costs.It is widely understood that the new services enabled by the smart grid will include different rate designs that encourage curtailment of peak loads and make more efficient use of energy. Examples include dynamic pricing and inclining block rates.2These innovative rate designs will be enhanced by various automating technologies such as Energy Orbs, programmable communicating thermostats (PCTs), whole building energy management systems (Auto DR), and in-home displays (IHDs).The smart grid will of course go beyond smart meters and rate design and enable renewable energy resources to be connected to the grid. This will allow optimal use of intermittent resources, such as wind, which often reach their peak generating capacity during off-peak hours. New off-peak loads, such as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, which reduce overall energy consumption and improve the carbon footprint, will be energized by the smart grid.To address the likely impact of the smart grid on customers, utilities, and society as a whole, it may be necessary to conduct a pilot. When should a pilot be conducted and how should it be conducted? To be useful, a pilot must yield credible results. This requires that the pilot satisfy various validity criteria. These issues form the focus of this paper. We provide examples from several recent pilots that involved dynamic pricing, a key element of the smart gird. The concluding section discusses how a hypothetical company, SMART POWER, should go about designing its own pilot. Should a Pilot be Conducted?3Policymakers should consider implementing a pilot if there is much uncertainty in the cost-benefit analysis of proceeding with full-scale deployment. A powerful method for resolving uncertainty is to assess the value of information that would be generated from a pilot. This point is best illustrated with a case study.California suffered the worst energy crisis in its history in 2001. Most analysts attributed the crisis in part to the lack of demand response in the market design. When prices rose in wholesale markets, there was no incentive for retail customers to lower demand. In the summer of 2002, the California Public Utilities Commission initiated proceedings on demand response, advanced metering, and dynamic pricing. Early in the proceedings, it became clear that the decision to deploy advanced metering was fraught with risk. The deployment would be costly and the benefits uncertain, as they depended on the customers’ price elasticity of demand.龚畅Electricity from the Oceans: Will It Really HappenAnytime Soon?By Doug PeeplesSGN News EditorGovernments and private industry have been casting a wide net to find alternative sources of sustainable power to meet accelerating demand and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. And electric power from ocean waves, tides and currents has been getting a lot more attention —and money — than ever before.But what are the chances that marine and hydrokinetic technologies (let's just call it ocean power to keep it short and sweet) are really going to take their place alongside more mature and relatively well-funded renewable energy sources such as wind and solar to feed the need for more greener power?We can't answer that question to a certainty, but we can round up a lot of the big issues: What's good about it, what's bad and what needs to happen to make ocean power a reality?The Good∙Oceans cover about 70% of the planet, and waves and tides offer a more predictable, reliable source of energy than wind and solar. And energy storage isn't an issue. The oceans are always on.∙ A British company built a large-scale tidal turbine in 2008 that's since been getting good reviews, and several countries have jumped onto the ocean power bandwagon.Globally, according to Pike Research, there are more than 300 ocean power projects"in the works." A New Jersey company has big plans for a pilot buoy project off theOregon coast and much bigger plans for a commercial-scale wave project there.∙ A January report from Pike said ocean power could generate 200 GW of electricity by 2025. A new analysis from Frost & Sullivan pegs global resources at more like2,000 to 4,000 TWh annually. The Frost & Sullivan analysis also anticipates thecommercialization of ocean power within the next 5-10 years as technology improves and production costs drop.∙In the U.S., attitudes of the federal government and private industry are taking a positive tack, too. The DOE and the Interior Department in June signed amemorandum of understanding to collaborate on commercial-scale development of offshore renewable energy projects, including wave power. The DOE has pouredmillions of dollars into hydrokinetic R&D and has put the technological and strategic muscle of its national laboratories behind it.The Bad∙Ocean power is still in the proof-of-concept phase, and initial deployments require unimaginably massive investments. Will investors bet on technologies with nosignificant track record and sky high upfront costs?∙While wave power is more reliable than wind and solar, the actual power in waves fluctuates a lot, as does the state of the oceans in general. Durability is a big issue.Pelamis Wave Power, which operated a highly regarded commercial-scale wave farm in Portugal, shut down its operations last year because of persistent technicalproblems and dwindling financing.∙How will regulations to protect aquatic ecosystems and fisheries evolve? The permitting and siting process for land-based renewable energy projects is complicated enough. The marine environment is more complex, so it seems reasonable thatpermitting and siting for ocean projects will be even more complicated.∙Standardizing technologies, connecting wave power to the electric grid and transmission also present obstacles.That Said, What's It All Mean?Who wouldn’t want to see a new, reliable, secure and green energy source? But even the most optimistic reports and analyses come with heavy disclaimers, most of them pointing at exceptionally high upfront costs and technological nightmares similar to those facing the new deepwater wind farm sector. While the future of ocean power looks a little brighter, it still looks like a long slog to the light at the end of the tunnel.What do YOU think? Will be generating significant amounts of electricity from ocean waves anytime soon ... if ever?甘凯元Radioactive Water Leaking From Crippled Japan Plantby The Associated PressWorkers spray resin on the ground near the reactor buildings to prevent the spread of radioactive substances at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.April 2, 2011Highly radioactive water was leaking into the sea Saturday from a crack discovered at a nuclear power plant destabilized by last month's earthquake and tsunami, a new setback as frustrated survivors of the disasters complained that Japan's government was paying too much attention to the nuclear crisis.The contaminated water will quickly dissipate into the sea and is not expected to cause any health hazard. Nevertheless, the disturbing discovery points at the unexpected problems that can crop up and continue to hamper technicians trying to control the crisis.Word of the leak came as Prime Minister Naoto Kan toured the town of Rikuzentakata, his first trip to survey damage in one of the dozens of villages, towns and cities slammed by the March 11 tsunami that followed a magnitude 9.0 earthquake."The government has been too focused on the Fukushima power plant rather than the tsunami victims. Both deserve attention," said 35-year-old Megumi Shimanuki, who was visiting her family at a community center converted into a shelter in hard-hit Natori, about 100 miles from Rikuzentakata.The double disaster is believed to have left nearly 25,000 dead — 11,800 confirmed. More than 165,000 are still living in shelters, and tens of thousands more still do not have electricity or running water.Although the government had rushed to provide relief, its attention has been divided by the efforts to stabilize the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, which suffered heavy damage and has dragged the country to its worst nuclear crisis since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.The plant's reactors overheated to dangerous levels after electrical pumps — deprived of electricity — failed to circulate water to keep the reactors cool. A series of almost daily problems have led to substantial amount of radiation leaking in the atmosphere, ground and sea.On Saturday, workers discovered an 8-inch long crack in a maintenance pit that was leaking highly radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean, said Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama.He said the water contaminated with levels of radioactive iodine far above the legal limit found inside the pit could be one of the sources of recent spikes in radioactivity in sea water."There could be other similar cracks in the area, and we must find them as quickly as possible," he told reporters.Soon after the discovery, the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., started filling the pit with cement to seal the crack and prevent more contaminated water from seeping into the ocean.Nuclear safety officials said the crack was likely caused by the quake and may be the source of radioactive iodine that started showing up in the ocean more than a week ago.People living within 12 miles of the plant have been evacuated and the radioactive water will quickly dissipate in the sea, but it was unclear if the leak posed any new danger to workers. People have been uneasy about seafood from the area despite official reassurances that the risk of contamination is low.The cracked pit houses cables for one of the six nuclear reactors, and the concentration of radioactive iodine was the same as in a puddle of contaminated water found outside the reactor earlier in the week. Because of that, officials believe the contaminated water is coming from the same place, though they are not sure where.A nuclear plant worker who fell into the ocean Friday while trying to board a barge carrying water to help cool the plant did not show any immediate signs of being exposed to unsafe levels of radiation, nuclear safety officials said Saturday, but they were waiting for test results to be sure.Radiation worries have compounded the misery for people trying to recover from the tsunami. Kan's visit Saturday to Rikuzentakata did little to alleviate their worries."The government fully supports you until the end," Kan told 250 people at an elementary school serving as an evacuation center. He earlier met with the mayor, whose 38-year-old wife was swept away.He bowed his head for a moment of silence in front of the town hall, one of the few buildings still standing, though its windows are blown out and metal and debris sit tangled out front.Kan also stopped at the sports complex being used as a base camp for nuclear plant workers, who have been hailed as heroes for laboring in dangerous conditions. He had visited the nuclear crisis zone once before, soon after the quake.Workers have been reluctant to talk to the media about what they are experiencing, but one who spent several days at the plant described difficult conditions in an anonymous interview published Saturday in the national Mainichi newspaper.When he was called in mid-March to help restore power at the plant, he said he did not tell his family because he did not want them to worry. But he did tell a friend to notify his parents if he did not return in two weeks."I feel very strongly that there is nobody but us to do this job, and we cannot go home until we finish the work," he said.Early on, the company ran out of full radiation suits, forcing workers to create improvised versions of items such as nylon booties they were supposed to pull over their shoes."But we only put something like plastic garbage bags you can buy at a convenience store and sealed them with masking tape," he said.He said the tsunami littered the area around the plant with dead fish and sharks, and the quake opened holes in the ground that tripped up some workers who could not see through large gas masks. They had to yell at one another to be heard through the masks."It's hard to move while wearing a gas mask," he said. "While working, the gas mask came off several times. Maybe I must have inhaled much radiation."Radiation is also a concern for people living around the plant. In the city of Koriyama, Tadashi and Ritsuko Yanai and their 1-month-old baby have spent the past three weeks in a sports arena converted into a shelter. Baby Kaon, born a week before the quake, has grown accustomed to life there, including frequent radiation screenings, but his parents have not. Their home is fine, but they had to leave because it is six miles from the nuclear plant.Asked if he had anything he would like to say to the prime minister, Tadashi, a32-year-old father, paused to think and then replied: "We want to go home. That's all, we just want to go home."In Natori, where about 1,700 people are living in shelters, others had stronger words for Kan. Toru Sato, 57, lost both his wife and his house in the tsunami and said he was bothered that Kan's visit to the quake zone was so brief about a half day."He's just showing up for an appearance," Sato said. "He should spend time to talk to various people, and listen to what they need."黄松强AEP, ITC Transmission to perform technical study on expanding 765-kV transmission into MichiganCOLUMBUS, Ohio, Nov. 6, 2006 – American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with ITC Transmission, a subsidiary of ITC Holdings Corp. (ITC), to perform a technical study to evaluate the feasibilityof extending AEP’s 765-kilovolt (kV) transmission infrastructure through Michigan to enhance reliability and support a competitive market of generation supply.The study will explore the merit and benefits of building a 765-kV transmission network in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula that would link to AEP’s 765-kV transmission system in the Midwest. The study will be shared with the Midwest ISO (MISO) and the Michigan Public Servic e Commission’s (MPSC) 21st Century Energy Planning team.The study is projected to be complete in late 2006, in time for it to be shared with the MPSC 21st Century Planning team before they complete their deliberations. The MOU signed with ITC Transmission does not include provisions to build or operate transmission. Any future activities regarding Michigan transmission will be determined after the completion of the study.―Through this agreement, we will work with ITC Transmission to determine the benefits of enhancing the Michigan transmission grid by introducing 765-kV lines, the most robust transmission in the U.S., and linking it to AEP’s 2,100-mile 765-kV transmission network in the Midwest. After the completion of the study, we will provide our analysis to the Michigan Public Service Commission, Midwest ISO and other parties to help them determine the best way to serve Michigan’s future electric reliability needs and support a successful competitive marketplace,‖ said Michael G. Morris, AEP’s chairm an, president and chief executive officer.―ITC Transmission continues in its mission to invest in the transmission infrastructure as a means to improve electric reliability for its customers and lower the overall cost of delivered energy,‖ said Joseph L. Welch, president and chief executive officer of ITC Transmission. ―The transmission grid in Michigan has suffered after a 30-year trend of underinvestment, and we must begin actively looking to implement a long-term solution that will address Michigan’s current electric reliability needs now and for years to come.‖―ITC Transmission, a subsidiary of ITC Holdings Corp. (NYSE: ITC), is the first independently-owned and operated electricity transmission company in the United States. ITC Holdings Corp. is in the business of investing in electricity transmission infrastructure improvements as a means to improve electric reliability, reduce congestion and lower the overall cost of delivered energy. Through its operating subsidiaries, ITC Transmission and METC, it is the only publicly traded company engaged exclusively in the transmission of electricity in the United States. ITC is also the largest independent electric transmission company and the tenth largest electric transmission company in the country based on transmission load served. ITC Transmission and METC operate contiguous, fully regulated, high-voltage systems in Michigan´s Lower Peninsula, an area with a population of approximately 9.8 million people, that transmit electricity to local electricity distribution facilities fromgenerating stations throughout Michigan and surrounding areas. For more information on ITC Holdings Corp., please visit . For more information on ITC Transmission or METC, please visit or , respectively.American Electric Power is one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 36,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765 kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. AEP’s utility units operate as AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east Texas). American Electric Power, based in Columbus, Ohio, is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2006.杨萌Siemens Residential Surge Protection —Implementing the Right Line of Defense on the Home FrontUnexpected voltage spikes, surges and other electrical disturbances can ruin or severely damage computers, VCRs, televisions, fax machines, scanners and copiers, disrupt satellite signals, degrade the performance of audio/video components, and wreak havoc with telecommunications systems.Because no single device can protect an entire home or office against all electrical surges, the best way to prevent damage is by implementing a systematic, tiered surge protection plan that monitors every possible incoming signal path and protects against internally generated power fluctuations, providing protection at the service entrance and at the point of use.Protection at the point of entryThe first line of defense is protection at the point of entry where electricity,surges and voltage spikes from lightning hits can enter the electrical system. This requires an electrician-installed secondary surge arrestor or transient voltage surge suppressor installed at the service entrance to limit surge voltage by diverting and conducting large surge currents safely to ground. If an AC surge arrestor does its job right, it shields motor-driven appliances like refrigerators, dishwashers, electric washers, and dryers from damage. Additional specialized service entrance protectors can be added to protect cable TV and telephone lines, and minimize damage to TVs and modems. Homeowners also can arrange for installation of branch circuit feeder devices or trips in circuit breaker panels to prevent surges from damaging equipment on specific circuit branches.Protection at the point of useThe second line of defense is the point of use. Here, homeowners can reinforce point-of-entry protection by installing plug-in surge protectors (strips) into grounded wall receptacles where sensitive electronic equipment is located. These plug-in protectors, which generally have much lower limiting voltages than entry protectors, defend against externally and internally generated surges that travel through power, phone, data, and coaxial lines. Plug-in power strips should minimally include AC power protection and appropriate signal line protection and should protect against both catastrophic and small surges. These devices should be installed wherever expensive or sensitive electronic equipment like computers, VCRs, fax machines, PCs with modems, satellite systems, stereo systems, copiers and scanners are located. All types of equipment with signal lines, such as phones, cable TV, and satellites should be equipped with multi-port protectors, which protect signal and AC lines.If you have any questions or are interested in purchasing our surge protection products, please contact us via e-mail or call 1-800-964-4114.胡嘉滨Energy Storage: Can It Replace Transmission?Grid-scale storage offers potential benefits to transmission and distribution systems of utilities in regulated and market environments. These benefits derive from cost reductions due to the time and location shifting of energy for congestion relief, reliability via enhanced stability and outage response, and incremental voltage support—once the storage device and its power electronics are in place. .Between the transmission and distribution systems, at the subtransmission or distribution substation, storage can defer capital expenditures for power transformer upgrades to meet peak load conditions. In remote areas served by radial subtransmission, storage can also be a vehicle for reliability improvement as a way to ride through un-cleared faults on the transmission line(s) that serve the substation.The potential T&D CapEx deferral angle is an interesting area to explore. One example for a substation application is to support power transformer contingency operations during peak load periods that have grown in excess of the N-1 contingency capacity of the station.This potential application, however, suffers from the same barriers today as the transmission congestion relief application:•The planning and operational methodologies are not established•The regulatory process for approval is nonexistent•It, again, crosses the boundary between transmission and distribution regulated functionality and merchant functionality, because it potentially shifts off-peak energy to on-peak delivery.In addition, as this typical substation application is likely to be in the range of 1-10 MW, it may not require centralized storage systems, but rather distributed or utility-scale devices. As previously noted, these could be portable or semi-portable in nature.One More Hurdle … For Now, At LeastAn additional hurdle that needs to be mentioned is costs. One reason multiple roles are applied to a storage device is for a means to create additional revenue that can defer initial cost for the technologies. However, this hurdle needs to be evaluated in the context of an emerging technology and not ―set‖ at current levels.Advanced energy storage technologies are still in a rapid state of evolution and development. Hence, when comparing options, solutions for areas such as CapEx deferral need to be weighed not only against today’s current options, but also with expected prices of future technologies. The intent isn’t to mask cost as a hurdle; rather, there are a number of diffe rent technologies nearing demonstration stages that have potential to alter the current cost of devices. This perceived ―cost‖ hurdle may become a moot point in the near future.Storage is not yet in widespread use to the point that it could serve as a consistent application to defer new transmission. As challenges of siting new transmission continue though, additional modeling of energy storage going forward can help to understand its benefits for a given capacity challenge better.梁诗密A secure energy future requires that we use energy more efficiently and responsibly and improve the performance of the energy delivery system. We launched gridSMART® in 2007 to give customers greater control over their energy usage, increase the efficiency of the electric grid, improve service to our customers and lead us to a new era of energy delivery.From a technology standpoint, gridSMART® incorporates a two-way communications system between AEP and our customers that facilitates the more efficient use of electricity. For example, gridSMART® may allow us to send price signals to customers so they can decide when to run home appliances. It can also allow us to adjust customer thermostats automatically, with their pre-approval, when demand is high and we need to lessen the stress on the electric grid.AEP Ohio is pursuing a comprehensive gridSMART® project involving 110,000 smart meters and distributed grid management technologies on 70 circuits. The $150 million project was funded with a $75 million grant from the DOE, in-kind contributions from vendors and regulatory recovery support from Ohio regulators. The project features smart meters,time-of-use tariffs, home energy use display devices, smart grid-enabled appliances, plug-in electric vehicles, distributed automation equipment, community energy storage devices and a cyber security center.Our most extensive smart meter deployment project is in Texas, where we are installing close to 1 million smart meters. In addition, Indiana Michigan Power Co. (I&M) and Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO) are deploying smart grid technology pilots in their states.Our initial goal was to install 5 million smart meters by 2015 throughout the AEP system. Through our early deployments we hope to determine if the expense of the meters is offset by the benefits. We will continue to pursue the deployment of these smart grid technologies where regulators are supportive and there is a proven business case. We believe modernizing the grid is critical to reducing demand and energy consumption, contributing to energy reliability and security, and preparing for the future needs of customers.Get a state-by-state breakdown of gridSMART initiativesWe believe gridSMART® will transform our relationship with our customers and through our current projects we are learning more about how that will occur. For example, we have learned that:The technology that allows us to manage the grid from our back office systems, such as remote operation of the meter and distribution automation equipment, works asexpected. The technology that goes beyond the meter, into the customers’ home, is still evolving.A significant number of customers who participated in the time-of-day rate plan didshift their demand to different times. In a larger scale deployment, this program could provide relief to the distribution systems during peak times.Better system management, fewer crew trips, reduced fuel consumption, better energy theft detection and streamlined billing can create cost savings.When customers agree to the program, we can directly control electric use through wireless technology (e.g. a two-way communicating thermostat) which allows us to raise the temperature in homes to ease stress on the grid and help customers save energy during the cooling season.More education of consumers will be needed in future projects.For more data, please see indicators EU1 through EU12 of AEP's Global Reporting Initiative Electric Utility Sector Supplement.吕思颖Are geothermal power plants safe?For all our hand-wringing over the oil supply, it might shock you to realize that the solution to our dependence on fossil fuels lies right under our feet. In Western states like California, Nevada, Idaho, Alaska and Hawaii, underground pockets of geothermal energy — hot rock, superheated water and steam — can be tapped to generate electricity. According to backers of geothermal technology like Google, this carbon-neutral, inexhaustible energy source could meet 15 percent of America's electricity needs by 2030.Harnessing SteamIn the simplest geothermal power plant, called a dry steam plant, a well is drilled into the rock to tap a steam reservoir. The steam escapes the well under great pressure, which is used to turn a turbine and generate electricity.Since steam deposits aren't as common as hot water and hot rock reserves, the most promising geothermal technology is called a binary-cycle power plant. In this system, hot water from a deep well circulates through a heat exchanger. There, the。
