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Module-I

Evolution of Electric Power Grid

• An electrical Power grid is an interconnected network for electricity delivery from producers to consumers. Electrical grids vary in size and can cover whole countries or continents.
• It consists of:
• Power stations: often located near energy and away from heavily populated areas. A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power from naturally available enegy sources. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid.

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• Electrical substations to step voltage up or down. A substation is a part of an electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system. Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse, or perform any of several other important functions. Between the generating station and consumer, electric power may flow through several substations at different voltage levels. A substation may include transformers to change voltage levels between high transmission voltages and lower distribution voltages, or at the interconnection of two different transmission voltages.

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• Electric power transmission to carry power long distances. Electric power transmission is the bulk movement or transform of electrical energy from a generating site, such as a power plant, to an electrical substation. The interconnected lines which facilitate this movement are known as a transmission network.

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• Electric power distribution to individual customers, where voltage is stepped down again to the required service voltage(s). Electric power distribution is the final stage in the delivery of electric power; it carries electricity from the transmission system to individual consumers.

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• As the grid was being built in the late 19^th and early 20^th Centuries, electric utilities operated in isolation. The power plants were developed all over the country , consisting of large , centrally placed generators that distributed electricity in one direction, to areas in need.
• In time the grid become more interconnected and efficient. It has provided safe, reliable and affordable electric service for more than a century.
• But the grid’s equipment and infrastructure are aging and our needs are changing.
• With a growing population advancements in technology and many new electronics devices, we consume substantially more electricity that we used to.
• New environmental initiatives are also emerging as well as a rise in renewable energies more variable energy sources that are placed closer to their areas of use.
• In addition we also have to deal with the growing threat of physical and cyberattacks as well as manage and respond to changing weather condition.
• These developments are pushing the grid to do more than it was designed for and forced it to evolve, modernize and smarter.
• Advanced instrumentation and technologies such as relays, sensors and switches have become more affordable and are being added to our grid’s existing network, enhancing communication, adaptability and efficiency. The result is a bidirectional system that supports energy consumers, communities and utilities as well as environmental and economic efforts.

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Smart Grid:

• A Smart Grid is an electricity network enabling a two-way flow of electricity and data with digital communications technology as well as the detection, reaction and prevention of changes in usage and other difficulties. Smart grids are self-healing and allow power users to have an active role in the system.
• Smart Grid is an Electrical Grid with Automation, Communication and IT systems that can monitor power flows from points of generation to points of consumption (even down to appliances level) and control the power flow or curtail the load to match generation in real time or near real time.

Concept:

• Smart Grid is a concept for transforming the electric power grid by using advanced automatic control and communications techniques and other forms of information technology. It integrates innovative tools and technologies from generation, transmission and distribution all the way to consumer appliances and equipment.
• The main components of a Smart Grid basically include electric power substations, electric power generators, distribution and transmission lines, controllers, collector nodes, smart meters, and also distribution & transmission control centers.
• The areas of application of smart grids include: smart meters integration, demand management, smart integration of generated energy, administration of storage and renewable resources, using systems that continuously provide and use data from an energy network

• Smart Grid Architecture will wonderfully connect all residences, electric vehicles, cities, industries with renewable energy sources or electricity delivery from generating station to different consumers through an efficient energy management system. The Smart Grid architecture is a combination of various hardware devices, management and reporting software tools.

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Difference between conventional & smart grid:

Challenges of Smart Grid:

• Smart Grid analytics is the application of advanced analytics methodologies of the data including predictive and prescriptive analytics, forecasting and optimization. The opportunities for smart grid analytics are expanding because there’s exponentially more data available to develop analytical models.

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• The technical challenges include lack of policies, storage concern, cybersecurity vulnerabilities while connecting the grid to cyber-physical systems, inadequacy in grid infrastructure to accommodate the future needs and demands in the storage of intermittent power generation.
• In general, communication infrastructure for smart grid should meet requirement for time synchronization, reliability, latency, criticality of data delivery and support for multicast.
• the challenges for smart grid select all that apply is, Increase in Energy Demand ,Rise of the middle class, Very limited customers using electricity, Global rise in temperature, Reliability and Power Quality is Declining.
• The key challenges for smart grid in India is the implementation of smart grid is not going to be an easy task as the Indian power sector specially transmission and distribution poses a number of issues such as minimizing transmission and distribution losses, power theft, inadequate grid infrastructure, low metering efficiency and lack of awareness.

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Need for establishment of Smart Grid:

A smart grid distribution system, whose objective is to develop a power grid more efficient and reliable, improving safety and quality of supply in accordance with the requirements of the digital age.

• Higher Penetration of renewable resources or distributed generation.
• Extensive and effective communication overlay from generation to consumers.
• Use of advanced sensors and high speed control.
• Higher operating efficiency.
• Greater resiliency against attacks and natural disasters.
• Automated metering and rapid power restoration.
• Provided greater customer participation.

Presently the Indian Electricity System faces a number of challenges such as:

 Shortage of power

 Power Theft

 Poor access to electricity in Rural areas

 Huge losses in the Grid

 Inefficient Power Consumption

 Poor reliability

To overcome these problems; smart grid is needed.

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Advantages of Smart Grids

• The definitive solution for managing the grids of the future.
• More efficient transmission of electricity.
• Quicker restoration of electricity after power disturbances.
• Reduce operational and maintenance cost for utilities and ultimately lower power costs for consumers.
• Energy savings through reducing consumption.
• Better customer service and more accurate bills.
• Fraud detection and technical losses.
• Reduced balancing cost.

Disadvantage of smart grid

• One of the major drawbacks is that the overhead costs of a smart grid are extremely expensive and time-consuming, which would increase labor costs.

Smart Meter

• A smart meter is an electronic device that records information such as consumption of electric energy, voltage levels, current, and power factor.
• Smart meter communicate the information to the consumer for greater clarity of consumption behavior and electricity suppliers for system monitoring and customer billing.
• Smart meter are intended to have benefits for consumers , suppliers and networks.
• For consumers, smart meters could provide more accurate bills ,easier switching, clearer energy use through an in-home display and the potential for reduced bills based on reduced consumption.

Real time Pricing

• Real time pricing is one important application of Smart energy meters which benefits the consumers and the utility companies. Through this system, the consumers could obtain a more organised data regarding their electricity consumption
• Real-time pricing, also known as dynamic pricing, is a utility rate structure in which the per-kWh charge varies each hour based on the utility's real-time production costs.
• Rate structure
• Simple (or fixed) – the rate at which customers pay a flat rate per kWh.
• Tiered (or step) – rate changes with the amount of use (some go up to encourage energy conservation, others go down to encourage use and electricity provider profit)
• Time of use (TOU) – different rate depending on the time of day.

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Smart Appliances

• An appliance that include the intelligence and communication to enable automatic or remote control based on user preferences or external signals from a utility or third party energy service provider.
• Examples of Smart Appliances
• Smart Kitchen Appliances: Refrigerators, Ovens, Microwaves, Coffee makers, Blenders.
• Smart Household Appliances: Water dispensers, Vacuums, Washers, Dryers.
• Smart Lighting: Light bulbs, Outlets, Plugs, Lighting kits.
• In your smart home, many of your appliances will be networked together, allowing you to access and operate them through your EMS. An EMS provides the ability to turn on your heater or air conditioner from work when you’re about to go home or keep track of the energy use of specific appliances or equipment—like tracking the energy use of your pool pump, or seeing how much energy you saved with your new Energy Star dishwasher.
• Smart appliances will also be able to respond to signals from your energy provider to avoid using energy during times of peak demand.

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Automatic Meter Reading

• Automatic meter reading (AMR) is a technology used in utility meters for collecting the data that's needed for billing purposes. AMR, which works by translating the movement of the mechanical dials on a meter into a digital signal, does not require physical access or visual inspection. The data can be transmitted from the meter to the utility company by telephone, power line, satellite, cable or radio frequency.
• Automatic meter reading (AMR) is the technology of automatically collecting consumption, diagnostic, and status data from water meter or energy metering devices (gas, electric) and transferring that data to a central database for billing, troubleshooting, and analyzing.
• This technology mainly saves utility providers the expense of periodic trips to each physical location to read a meter.
• Another advantage is that billing can be based on near real-time consumption rather than on estimates based on past or predicted consumption.
• This timely information coupled with analysis can help both utility providers and customers better control the use and production of electric energy, gas usage, or water consumption.

Outage Management System(OMS)

• Outage management systems or OMS are a variety of computer-aided systems which are used by electrical distribution systems. They are primarily used by the grid and distributed system supervisors to return power to the grid or assist in restoration of power.
• Major functions usually found in an OMS include:
• Prediction of location of transformer, fused, recloser or breaker that opened upon failure.
• Prioritizing restoration efforts and managing resources based upon criteria such as locations of emergency facilities, size of outages, and duration of outages.
• Providing information on extent of outages and number of customers impacted to management, media and regulators.
• Calculation of estimation of restoration times.
• OMS benefits include:
• Reduced outage durations due to faster restoration based upon outage location predictions.
• Reduced outage duration averages due to prioritizing
• Improved customer satisfaction due to increase awareness of outage restoration progress and providing estimated restoration times.
• Improved media relations by providing accurate outage and restoration information.

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Home Automation:

• “Home automation” refers to the automatic and electronic control of household features, activity, and appliances. In simple terms, it means you can easily control the utilities and features of your home via the Internet to make life more convenient and secure, and even spend less on household bills.
• With smart home devices, you can remotely monitor your home appliances and ensure that all devices are safely switched off. One of the biggest advantages of home automation is that it keeps your home safe, and prevents accidental fires, water leaks, gas leaks, and other disasters.
• Example: Amazon Alexa, Google Nest Mini, Nest Hello and Google Home Hub etc.

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Building Automation

• A Building Automation System (BAS), (also referred to as a Building Management System or a Building Control System), is a system that controls various electric, electronic and mechanical systems throughout a building.
• A building automation system (BAS) is a network designed to connect and automate certain functions inside a building. All of the building control systems, from lighting and HVAC (Heating, Ventilation & Air Conditioning) to fire and security systems—all wired through one set of controls.
• Examples:
• Lighting and other electrical systems.
• Plumbing systems.
• HVAC systems and rooftop units.
• Fire alarms and other emergency systems.
• Elevators and other mechanical systems.
• Surveillance cameras and other security systems.

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• Building Automation System is a structural system and generally consists of five components: sensors, controllers, output devices, communication protocols and a terminal or user interface.

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Substation Automation:

• Substation automation refers to using data from Intelligent electronic devices (IED), control and automation capabilities within the substation, and control commands from remote users to control power-system devices.
• Substation Automation System Key Benefits
• Automatic supervision of interlocks.
• Graphical presentations of safety procedures.
• Local & global alarm & warnings.
• Detect fault location - useful for distribution systems.
• Equipment diagnostics.
• Intelligent interlocking system.
• Diagnostics of disturbances.

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Feeder Automation:

• Distribution feeder or “feeder” means a three-phase set of conductors come out from a substation circuit breaker serving customers in a defined local distribution area. This includes three-phase, two-phase and single-phase branches that are normally isolated at all endpoints.
• Feeder automation is an essential part of distribution automation systems that primarily handle aspects like remote monitoring and the efficient management of the distribution system and the related equipment. They are a powerful device that ensures improved customer service and minimum operational costs.
• Feeder automation is a constituent of distribution automation system, which principally focuses on remote monitoring and control of the distribution systems & their equipment.

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Smart Sensor:

• A smart sensor is a device that takes input from the physical environment and uses built-in compute resources to perform predefined functions upon detection of specific input and then process data before passing it on.
• Sensors capture data from preferred environments and transform their physical properties into measurable electrical signals. These properties include temperature, mass, speed, pressure, or presence of heat bodies like humans.
• Smart sensor technologies have been used for monitoring and control mechanisms in a wide variety of environments, including smart grids, flood and water level monitoring systems, environmental monitoring, traffic monitoring and control, energy saving in artificial lighting, remote system monitoring and equipment fault .

Geographic Information System(GIS)

• A geographic information system is a computer system & a type of database containing geographic data, combined with software tools for managing, analyzing, and visualizing those data or displays geographically referenced information. It uses data that is attached to a unique location.
• A geographic information system (GIS) is a system that creates, manages, analyzes, and maps all types of data. GIS connects data to a map, integrating location data (where things are) with all types of descriptive information (what things are like there).
• This provides a foundation for mapping and analysis that is used in science and almost every industry. GIS helps users understand patterns, relationships, and geographic context. The benefits include improved communication and efficiency as well as better management and decision making.
• Hundreds of thousands of organizations in virtually every field are using GIS to make maps that communicate, perform analysis, share information, and solve complex problems around the world. This is changing the way the world works.

• The benefits of GIS generally fall into five basic categories:
• Cost savings resulting from greater efficiency. ...
• Better decision making. ...
• Improved communication. ...
• Better geographic information recordkeeping. ...
• Managing geographically.
• GIS Applications
• Mapping. Geographic Information System (GIS) is used to gather, manage and analyze spatial related data. ...
• Urban Planning. ...
• Transportation Planning. ...
• Disaster Risk and Management. ...
• Agricultural Value Chain. ...
• Natural Resource Management. ...
• Surveying. ...
• Public Health.

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• Components of a GIS:

A working GIS integrates five key components: hardware, software, data, people, and methods.

Hardware : Hardware is the computer on which a GIS operates. Today, GIS software runs on a wide range of hardware types, from centralized computer servers to desktop computers used in stand-alone or networked configurations.

Software :GIS software provides the functions and tools needed to store, analyze, and display geographic information.

Data: Possibly the most important component of a GIS is the data. Geographic data and related tabular data can be collected in-house or purchased from a commercial data provider. A GIS will integrate spatial data with other data resources and can even use a DBMS, used by most organizations to organize and maintain their data, to manage spatial data.

People: GIS technology is of limited value without the people who manage the system and develop plans for applying it to real world problems. GIS users range from technical specialists who design and maintain the system to those who use it to help them perform their everyday work.

Methods: A successful GIS operates according to a well-designed plan and business rules, which are the models and operating practices unique to each organization.

Key software components are: · Tools for the input and manipulation of geographic information · A database management system (DBMS) · Tools that support geographic query, analysis, and visualization · A graphical user interface (GUI) for easy access to tools

Intelligent Electronic Devices (IED)

• In the electric power industry, an intelligent electronic device is an integrated microprocessor-based controller of power system equipment, such as circuit breakers, transformers and capacitor banks.
• IEDs receive data from sensors and power equipment and can issue control commands, such as tripping circuit breakers if they sense voltage, current, or frequency anomalies, or raise/lower tap positions in order to maintain the desired voltage level.
• Common types of IEDs include protective relaying devices, tap changer controllers, circuit breaker controllers, capacitor bank switches, recloser controllers, voltage regulators etc. This is generally controlled by a setting file.
• IEDS are used for protection purposes, power quality analysis, network monitoring, energy metering.
• Protective relay is an example of an intelligent electronic device

Protective Relay