Vattenfall - Smart meters made for a smarter grid
Advances in technology mean fewer outages and safer
homes for customers.
Vattenfall has for some time used smart meters to
monitor the functioning of the low voltage power grid, with benefits for both
customer and operator. These range from shorter power-outage response times to
avoiding voltage peaks that can be harmful toboth people and property.
Now Vattenfall R&D is taking the next step and
developing grid-monitoring functions.
Development
“Our ambition is to help our customers even more and
to ensure power quality and delivery as well as safety in the grids,” says Lars
Garpetun, R&D Programme Manager at Vattenfall Distribution. “New
developments in the grid monitoring concept are underway and these face extensive
testing and further development in the Vattenfall demonstration project in
Sweden, Smart Grid Gotland.”
One new development that will be trialled and
fine-tuned on Gotland is a system to proactively identify and automatically signal
power outages before customers call to report them. Being able to instantly
understand the full magnitude of a power outage and quickly pinpoint the
affected sections is extremely useful and allows for faster rebuilding of the
grid and savings in time and money, as well as less inconvenience, for both
customer and the operator.
Customer control
The first step towards smart monitoring of the low
voltage grid was the introduction
of the smart meter. Since 2003, Vattenfall
Distribution in Sweden has provided smart meters to grid customers and now all
860,000 have one. The installation of these smart devices allowed the grid operator
to offer a variety of improvements. One of the most significant was monthly
reading (soon it will be done hourly), based on actual consumption. Customers
can also follow – and be in control of – their daily energy consumption through
Vattenfall’s web site. The smart meter-monitoring concept is the latest
development and Vattenfall has already implemented a range of functions.
At the heart of the concept is the smart meter. By
using it as a sensor, personnel in the operations centre are able to gather
information directly from customers’ premises and analyse the grid. Today Vattenfall
is able to perform these measurements from 70 per cent of the installed smart
meters and the remaining 30 per cent will be upgraded in future.
“It is actually not rocket science,” Garpetun says.
“For example, we receive abnormal voltage data by constantly measuring the three
phases. The trick, though, is to analyse and use the information in a smart
way. By doing this we gain knowledge and can act faster, sending out personnel
to avoid the risk of upcoming ground failures, like Zero Point deviation.”
Security
Security is another important aspect. So-called “Zero
faults” are caused by broken or damaged groundings. These can result in
extremely high voltages that can damage not only plasma-screen televisions and
refrigerators but also pose a threat to householder and electricians. If,
despite everything, outages occur, smart meter data makes it possible to analyse
the situation more quickly and give customers the compensation they deserve.
This means more efficient processes and when more meters can be used to remotely
diagnose the grid problems the more satisfied customers we will have.
Advanced smart grid technology means fewer outages and
safer homes for our customers.