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Renewable Energies Technology and Smart Grid in China Chapter j 6 121

Today, transmission and distribution lines have 500 owners and numerous
property owners (Energy Information Administration). The coordination is
mostly among three regional interconnections (Western interconnection,
Eastern interconnection, and Texas interconnection) and their grid systems are
in turn coordinated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The diversity of energy sources and the smart grid have designed-in
specification that matches the current standard of the existing coal-based po-
wer plants. The existing power grid needs to add additional transmission lines,
shown in Fig. 6.1 as green lines. Readers are referred to a lecture by Prof. Dan
Kammen on October 5, 2009, at UC Berkeley. Additional transmission lines
are required for power transmission within each interconnection region and
among the three power interconnections. By getting renewable energy sources
connected to grid and adding additional transmission lines as required, this
will produce sufficient power flowing to consumers. A new power grid can
adopt cleaner and more efficient power plants than just the current coal-fired
power plant.

THE SMART GRID AND MARKET SOLUTION
In 2009, smart grid companies exhibit significant and fast growing spots
alongside the clean tech market need in the United States. The need for smart
grid is fundamental to develop the modern energy networks (Major interests,
2010) in the United States, in European Union, in China, and in every grid-
connected nation worldwide.
What is a smart grid? The smart grid is a collection of energy control and
monitoring devices, software, networking, and communications infrastructure
that are installed in homes, businesses, and throughout the electricity distri-
bution grid. This collective system generates a nerve system for the grid and
for customers that provides the ability to monitor and control energy con-
sumption comprehensively in real time.
Many tech giants such as Cisco and Google work to bring their products to
the smart grid market. Cisco in its May 2009 announcement about its smart
grid roadmap stated that the expanding smart grid market is one of its “new
market priorities.” The advances of these products are most likely to address
the challenges of our times in market demand, clean energy need, and
greenhouse gas emission reduction.
For example, Cisco expects (Rechargenews) the smart grid market to be
bigger than the Internet in reach. The company has identified $15 billion to
$20 billion in opportunities globally in the next 5e7 years, Laura Ipsen, Senior
Vice President of Cisco’s smart grid unit, said at the Reuters Global Climate
and Alternative Energy Summit in April, 2012.
However, this market pales when compared with the market opportunity in
China. More details will be described in section titled China Rebuilds a Power
System and Smart Grid. “A lot of us looking at the China market see $60