In an article by Libby Tucker of the Colombian in Sunday’s edition, she wrote on a very timely subject for continued discussion and growth possibilities in the Camas Washougal area.
The Smart Grid industry is growing rapidly. I specialize in working for companies throughout the US that need critical staff within energy storage, another key component within the smart grid and positioned for massive growth over the next few years.
Local Camas companies such as Sharp, WaferTech, and UL (notice they are not located in the Port of CW) are well positioned to contribute to the smart grid and thus for growth in the near future.
If you are unfamiliar with the smart grid, it provides consumers – residential and commercial business with the ability to integrate into the power grid with the internet and consumer products to make energy more efficient. Examples are appliances – imagine your refrigerator having a device on it that allows the PUD to monitor its efficiency, same with your dryer, washing machine, oven, water heaters, air-conditioning. And the PUD’s ability to increase or decrease power to your home based on your usage needs, the weather or outside influences. Imagine that you are out of town and want to monitor and control your utilities from a laptop or iphone. That’s what the smart grid is all about.
The Pacific Northwest is already positioned very well to be a leader in the Smart grid industry - we have many company resources already in place as well as educational; two of Washington Universities offer master level programs in power engineering (WSU and UW) Gonzaga offers undergrad studies in power. The smart energy industry already accounts for $15 Billion in annual sales. The Pacific NW already has a $2Billion share of the industry. As we continue to create a job rich energy technology sector, Camas and Washougal can continue to be a part of that growth.
One thing to keep in mind as the CW area continues to grow and attract new businesses to the area – it is advantageous for our communities and schools to SELL these companies the land and buildings. Companies moving into the area who are offered a LEASE through the Port does the City and Schools very little in the way of revenues. It’s very helpful to the port in collecting revenue – but NOT our community. When the Port leases land, 73% of the revenues leave the area. 53% goes to the State of WA, 20% to the county. 0 % goes to the local schools. So even when CW attracts new business to our community, it is vitally important to our schools and cities that they buy the land and buildings.
The smart grid concept also has its critics and concerns:
1. The existing power grid, which hasn’t been changed much since the power grid was built – can it handle the smart grid? 60% of the existing power grid needs replaced. With smart grid technologies, much of this can be eliminated with such new technologies as microgrids.
2. Big Brother fears – with all these sensors, monitors on your appliances throughout your home, can the PUD or government obtain too much information abut our private lives?
3. Will there be an “energy police” that fine people for too much energy use?
These are concerns that will continue to be wrestled with for some time.
The CW area is prime for new business moving into the area. Cities are willing to offer incentives. We have a good talent pool, and cost to business is competitive. The smart grid technology is coming like it or not, and expected to receive a large infusion from the Obama recovery stimulus incentives as well as venture capital companies loosening their purse strings and starting to invest in start ups and existing business again.
Our community can take advantage of this industry by aggressively recruiting businesses like the Sharps and Silicon Electronics – companies that contribute to this growing industry – increasing our employment base, local economy, housing and schools.
-Gary Perman
For more information and resources on this industry:
Sept. 2 -Primary Election is Certified
3 Comments
July 6, 2009 at 3:07 pm
All right! A subject I know something about!
I have been sometimes accused here of being a sockpuppet for ECFR Chief Scott Koehler, or an ‘overpaid city employee’ when defending the ambulance service provided by the City of Camas. At some point I revealed that I am actually a slightly overpaid employee of Pacific Power & Light, and that my relationship with ECFR is indeed as a volunteer, as my screen name states.
But enough about me. Now we have a power grid topic to talk about. I’m in. This will be long (sorry), but I am only scratching the surface.
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Gary wrote:
The smart grid concept also has its critics and concerns:
1. The existing power grid, which hasn’t been changed much since the power grid was built – can it handle the smart grid? 60% of the existing power grid needs replaced. With smart grid technologies, much of this can be eliminated with such new technologies as microgrids.
2. Big Brother fears – with all these sensors, monitors on your appliances throughout your home, can the PUD or government obtain too much information abut our private lives?
3. Will there be an “energy police” that fine people for too much energy use?
I’ve not heard these specific concerns, Gary. Where did you get these? Or are these your own concerns?
Item #1: Can the existing grid handle the Smart Grid?
‘Smart Grid’ improvements will theoretically reduce the need for long-distance transmission, and will also mitigate high-demand periods by curtailing usage by non-critical components at critical times. The end result: less overall demand on the grid, hence there really isn’t an issue of ‘can the grid handle it’. The issue is that the current grid cannot handle the existing growth if the trend of the last 50 years continues, so behavioral changes are being built into the grid to modify the growth trend and help the grid as it is last longer, so the growth does not outpace the rate of physical upgrades to transmission and distribution.
In addition, the installation of smaller and geographically diverse generation sources will place more generation closer to load, again reducing the reliance and demand placed on the aging transmission system while increasing reliability by providing sources that otherwise might get stranded without power when the system is damaged. It’s like our existing network of grocery stores all over in the neighborhoods, whereas the current power system resembles all of Portland and Vancouver having to shop for food at just two Costco outlets. What if one burns down?
Item #2: ‘Big Brother’ fears
Unless I am misinformed, there will never be any data sent by appliances or anything else in the home upstream to the utility company. The only two-way communication will be from your meter to the PUD on your overall usage – and that technology has been in place for many years already.
Understand that the price of energy is not static. It changes every hour based on which generation resources are supplying the grid. At night, when demand is low, a lot of generation is offline, and utility companies shut down as much high-cost generation as possible to keep overall costs down. During the day or high demand, after all the low-cost generation is at capacity, it becomes necessary to run more expensive and less-efficient resources in order to keep pace with demand, which raises the overall cost for those hours. The difference can be significant. At night, costs can be as low as $20/megawatt, and by day they can easily go north of $250/megawatt. In extremes, prices of over $5,000/megawatt have occurred.
The ‘Smart Grid’ technology to be built into appliances and the like will be capable of responding to these price fluctuations, as utility companies start passing the hourly costs to consumers instead of charging a flat rate. This will encourage consumers to use less energy by day when demand and prices are high. You could do this manually by turning your thermostat and hot water heater down in the daytime, but the ‘Smart Grid’ technology will enable you to essentially program your energy appliances according to the price thresholds you’re willing to pay, and when the signal comes down the line that price ‘x’ has been reached, things will shut down automatically according to your preferences. Remember though, this is all under user control, and you don’t have to set any limits and you can run stuff all day long if you want to pay. You can save a bundle, though, by shifting your consumption to low demand periods.
Big Brother’s only insight into your energy-consumption habits will be your overall usage, and they’ve been getting that through the Smart Meter (not related to Smart Grid) for years. And they don’t care if you change your habits or not. They’ll just bill you according to what you use and when you use it. They will care, however, if you choose not to pay, and that is no change from the last 80 years of power company operations.
Item #3: ‘Energy Police’ issuing fines
I kind of rolled that up into my response to Item #2.
Sorry that was so long. If anyone is still reading and not bored to tears….. I’d be happy to try to answer further questions on how the grid is operated, since I am a Transmission Grid Dispatcher for PP&L… it’s what I do all day.
Whether or not Camas/Washougal sees any significant economic impact from the implementation of the Smart Grid… I wouldn’t hold my breath. We’ve got a handful of special resources, I suppose, but on a continental scale (the grid is bigger than the USA), C/W is not particularly special.
For a very good and comprehensive explanation fo the Smart Grid, check this out:
http://www.oe.energy.gov/DocumentsandMedia/DOE_SG_Book_Single_Pages(1).pdf
July 6, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Volunteer – great info. thanks for adding.
the “fears” that I run into are common from people not understanding the concept and technology.
CW isn’t special as it goes for geography – the pacific NW is. CW could be if politicians, government wanted it to be, by attracting more smart grid related businesses to this area.
July 13, 2009 at 10:18 pm
One part of Smart Grid technology that people forget to mention is on the supply side. This is especially important now that wind is being integrated onto the grid. We are in a unique situation in the NW since we have hydro dams to provide reserves when the wind isn’t blowing. This makes it essential that we keep the dams on the Lower Snake River, or else we will be forced to build carbon-emitting gas power plants. Here’s a look at how BPA is integrating wind onto the grid: http://www.transmission.bpa.gov/Business/Operations/Wind/baltwg.aspx