Intelligent. Sensitive. Flexible. These words may read like the opening monologue of Sex in the City, but they’re in fact a representation of the future of our energy infrastructure. Indeed, our great challenge today is to morph the national electric grid from the old boor of a man it is today into the modern, attentive and efficient “man of our dreams.”

The manifestation of that dream is called a Smart Grid. Our current grid is, if anything, not that. Today, we struggle to use 21st-century technology and energy by way of a 20th-century grid system that simply can’t “understand” and manage the digital age.

Photo Credit: TreeHugger

Out with the old

It’s certainly not for lack of size that the current grid is sagging under pressure. According to the Department of Energy, the old grid contains 9,200 electric generating units and 300,000 miles of transmission lines, including over 1 million megawatts of generating capacity. And yet it’s so inefficient as to need immediate upgrade.

The elder grid is a momentous achievement of 20th-century innovation, and a smarter grid will not destroy that lesson. It’ll merely update it to handle increasing diversity in energy supplies, technology, and communication. (more…)

Popularity: 22% [?]

If there’s one milestone that the majority of solar industrialists would hail as the top priority, it’s grid parity. It is that point in which solar electricity can compete or surpass conventional, fossil-fuel energy sources. In fact, the solar market has effectually become a race toward grid parity, even within the industry, where the winner will have a healthy head start on permanent success.

Yet many people still question solar power’s ability to reach that milestone of equality with fossil fuels. On the one hand, you have solar proponents who predict grid parity in as little as five years, and on the other, you have a much more skeptical outlook, such as the already infamous remarks by BP CEO Tony Hayward. Still, the debate rages on…

The Case for Grid Parity

Recent studies in the U.S. and Europe have bolstered the position that grid parity will soon be reached. Travis Bradford, founder of The Prometheus Institute, said at a conference earlier this month that two-thirds of the U.S. solar market will reach grid parity by 2015. The driving forces Bradford noted included federal incentives (now extended through 2016) and a consistent rise in fossil-fuel energy prices. Also contributing are a fast drop in solar panel prices, as well as lower costs for other solar system components, such as mounting systems. (more…)

Popularity: 3% [?]

One advantage for solar over wind power is its ability to integrate with relative seamlessness into the municipal landscape. Wind turbines have either been too large, such as the 300-ft. tall behemoths comprising remote wind farms, or quite small, just big enough to power a single home. A dilemma for wind energy proponents has been how to create an effective, quiet, community-friendly midsize turbine for use with schools, government buildings, and other community-based facilities.

Middle Ground

Now a handful of wind turbine manufacturers are releasing products they hope will quell the issue of midsize wind power. Instead of the huge 3,000 kilowatt rated turbines shipped out to utility-scale farms on fleets of trucks, there are now much smaller 150 to 300 kilowatt turbines on the market — or coming soon. Manufacturers also hope these turbines will be found useful and financially sound in areas not known for a high wind resource. That includes Connecticut-based Optiwind, formed two years ago specifically to make midsize turbines that work in places like its home state and are geared toward schools, water treatment plants, and businesses — facilities with high energy needs which also lie within the community electrical grid.

There wind enthusiasts run into the hurdle of a population often leery of potential noise pollution, visual appeal, and flickering lights. In response Optiwind has varied considerably from the now-conventional three-blade turbine design. Instead they’ve opted for a cylindrical design (still about 200 feet tall) which has fans mounted on either side. The idea is that the wind will hit the circular structure swirl around it and through the fans, thus concentrating the wind so that it will enter the fans at a higher density and produce more power using less space. (more…)

Popularity: 3% [?]