Page 122 - From Smart Grid to Internet of Energy

106 From smart grid to internet of energy

wireless network is formed in a region among the SMs of a home cluster. A NAN
can potentially utilize a multi hop mesh method since the transmission range is
typically more than 500 m. Communication technology, protocol and standards
with stability, security, power efficiency, low-cost and low latency characteris-
tics are required for the NAN which also have the ability to empower asynchro-
nous upstream data traffic. The NANs use both wireless technologies such a
Wi-Fi, radio frequency (RF) technologies, Worldwide Interoperability for
Microwave Access (WiMAX), cellular (3G and 4G), and Long Term Evaluation
(LTE) and wired technologies such as, PLC, Ethernet, Data over Cable Service
Interface Specification (DOCSIS) [9]. The most common applications of the
NANs are meter reading, distribution automation (DA), DR, outage resource
management, TOU pricing, service-based switching operation, prepaid pay-
ment, electric transmission and distribution monitoring, end user information
and message alerts, buildings network admin, utility updates, program and
configuration updates, etc. [14].
Energy consumption information from all appliances are gathered by the
meter reading process and collected information are shared with the utility cen-
ters by exploiting two-way communications. By observing the power usage of
each individual end user from utility center, SM readings support better man-
agement of energy utilization. An application of on-demand meter readings per-
mits the end user to know about their energy consumption queries whenever
required. Software-based utility application is being adopted by SM interval
that gathers information from SMs after well-defined intervals regularly in a
day by utility centers.
One of the most important features of TOU is broadcasting of price infor-
mation to user that authorizes the end user to manage their loads to minimize
their energy bills. Due to sudden variations in load, RTP provides short-term
fluctuating price information (e.g., variation of price in 10 or 30 min). Pricing
information at very high peak demand is given by critical peak pricing (CPP).
One of the most important task of the SG is DR that permits utility centers to
govern load in relative to peak timings at the end users premises such as con-
trolling of thermostats, electrical vehicle charging, air conditioning, and so on.
All the important services and operations such as connection or disconnections
to improve the reliability of SG are done by utilities by following DR.
One of the other important SG operations is outage and restoration manage-
ment (ORM) that immediately senses outages of power. Using SM readings,
one can understand the issues of low voltages and high voltages immediately.
The issues arise in electrical vehicle charging can be fixed. The SG become
more intelligent due to the ORM and alleviates the performance by improved
utility management. The background software that utilize to operate SG and
fixes the errors for improving performance is regularly updated by Firmware.
End users may be informed about their energy consumption through customer
information and messaging information.