ENVIRON 157 Chapter Notes - Chapter N/A: Power-System Automation, Home Network
Document Summary
In principle, smart grid is an upgrade to modernize an electrical power grid. Grid refers to using advanced control and equipment technologies and integrating digital processing and communications to the electrical production, transmission, distribution and consumption parts of the power grid. Smart grid modifications add continuous, real-time two-way communications and monitoring to the vast electrical grid network, to immediately adjust to anomalies and power demands and loads. However, without the advanced controls and two-way communications of smart grid, many utilities do not know when a power outage has occurred. Odd as it may seem, in our high tech world of computerized detectors and gadgets, utilities still depend on consumers to alert them of many system problems. Most of the 500,000 miles of the nation"s massive electrical transmission grid have not been upgraded since its construction in the 1960s and 70s. The bottom line though, is that many parts of the u. s. electrical grid are antiquated.
