The near term future includes a strong possibility of increasingly high penetration of Distributed Energy Resources (DER), which broadly cover demand response (DR), energy storage, distributed generation, renewable energy, and the combination of some or all of these in pluggable/plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). Incorporating an expanding base of DER into our T&D networks and energy market operations requires us to develop a different understanding of how we deliver power.

Rather than today’s “one-way” model of power flowing from large, regional generators through basic wires to customers, it is likely that the grid will become a “power plexus” – think of a network such as a circulatory or nervous system – that is capable of moving power from any source to any destination and sensing the complex interactions between its “nodes.” This has deep implications for the way the grid is designed, engineered, and operated and will require changes in the technologies and methods used for protection, control, and operations.

In particular, Broadband over Power Line (BPL) and how it uses the RF characteristics of the grid itself can provide not only “embedded high performance communications everywhere” but “diagnosis everywhere”. Related to communications everywhere is how a next generation of cheap sensors and technologies such as dynamic radio-frequency identification (RFID) could also lead to “sensors everywhere”. And, two way high speed  communications everywhere based on Internet protocols and advanced network management techniques can lead to self-configuring, localized control systems where every intelligent device is able to access newly available monitoring and diagnosis as it becomes available.

To read more about the "Power Plexus" concept, use the link below to download the KEMA report "Enabling the Power Plexus. Beyond the Smart Grid."