Saving money, electricity and reducing emissions
The distribution grid is inefficient. This inefficiency leads to wasted electricity, unnecessary generation, squandered money, and harmful CO2 in the atmosphere. According to the US Energy Information Administration, the United States loses approximately 250 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) per year. A small improvement of efficiency on the distribution grid would save money and reduce carbon emissions.
How can we make the grid more efficient? The simplest way that we can do this is to improve the effectiveness of electricity flow. To understand how this can be accomplished, we need to discuss the difference between real and reactive power.
Real power is the energy that charges our phones, runs our air conditioning, and keeps our factories producing goods. Real energy does the work. Reactive energy, on the other hand, contributes nothing to energy output, but nonetheless takes up space on a power line and produces unnecessary heat on a conductor line. The more reactive power, or VARs, on the power line, the less room there is for real power. You could compare this to the amount of foam on top of your soda.
To optimize the movement of electricity, we want to eliminate reactive energy. Today, many utilities use tools such as capacitor banks or special transformers either in the substation or on the distribution grid. These devices work to keep reactive power low. This is commonly referred to as volt/VAr control.
Now, with smart grid technology, we can use a more intelligent approach and put into place volt/VAr optimization, or VVO for short. What is the difference? The difference is found in what we know about the status of the power lines.
ABB's GridSync™ combines sensors with wireless communications to increase grid visibility and efficiency. GridSyncTM is able to calculate many different data points on the power lines, including VArs, as well as power factor, power quality, real and reactive power, and much more. The GridSyncTM unit can then communicate that data back to the utility where they can take action based on the analysis of the power line data.