POWER November 2020 - 40

COMMENTARY
Smart Energy Communities
Can Make Our Grid More
Human-Centric
Grant Samms
've always been drawn to the swarm ship design concept in
science fiction. The idea is that what initially looks like one
massive spaceship is actually a cluster of really small vessels
that can split apart when the going gets tough. As one, it's
efficient; as many, it's resilient.
This concept offers a powerful consideration for what
the electrical grid could be. For nearly a century, the grid
has been one, solid, hulking, inflexible machine. Now, with
the rise of technologies like microgrids, distributed renewables,
battery storage, and vehicle-to-grid applications, we
can reimagine the grids that enclose our communities to be
like those fictional spaceships. Nominally together for efficiency,
but modular when advantageous. It's an idea that
has recently seen progress. Through the concept of a smart
energy community, people are looking at the monolithic grid
that surrounds them and reimagining it in a more humancentric
way.
I
Remote Communities Benefit
Clustered 28 miles off the southwest coast of Great Britain,
the Isles of Scilly are home to 2,200 residents and an electrical
dilemma. While they are connected to the larger grid,
there's only one long, snaking cable that brings electricity
across the seabed from the mainland. The resulting power
is expensive and unreliable. In the past, residents frequently
had to shut off certain appliances so others could access the
available trickle of power.
This remote and unreliable energy environment made for
a perfect test of smart energy community concepts. With
funding from the European Union, Hitachi launched an extreme
grid makeover on the archipelago. The Isles are now
better able to manage their own electrical needs through
use of solar generation; battery storage systems; efficient
heating, ventilation, and air conditioning equipment; and microgrids
(a way for the island to become its own miniature
grid disconnected from the mainland).
The system essentially draws a series of concentric circles
for grid operation. A home can operate as a small grid and coordinate
with the microgrid as needed, which in turn can coordinate
with the mainland grid as needed. The result is that power
on the islands is cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable than at any
time in the Isles' history. Hitachi also aims to incorporate electric
vehicles, vehicle-to-grid technology, and its own artificial
intelligence-based microgrid management system to further
optimize grid function.
Urban Communities Benefit
People living in the world's largest cities can also utilize smart
energy community strategies. For example, the Park Slope
neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, used smart energy con40
cepts
with the help of LO3 Energy to install a neighbor-toneighbor
solar trading platform. After implementing a smart
meter system and some aspects of blockchain, those who
produce solar power can sell their excess energy directly to
their neighbors in a system that extends the concept of " buy
local " to electricity.
Smart energy community ideas are also finding a home in
new residential developments. More potential homebuyers
are becoming aware of the benefits smart energy technologies
can offer and are seeking them out. Taking note, developers
are beginning to include them in residential projects
as a highly marketable feature. Alabama Power has worked
with housing developers in the Birmingham area to place new
neighborhoods on microgrids that integrate solar generation,
storage, and efficient homes to provide an extra layer of energy
resilience to these suburban communities.
Policies Will Become More Flexible
With the right combinations of smart energy technologies,
communities have the ability to boost their energy resilience
while also lowering costs and emissions. What's exciting
about this reimagination of energy is that (from a technical
point of view) it's ready to be implemented. The barriers
that face this energy transformation are more human in nature.
Introducing this level of flexibility and self-sufficiency
to the electrical grid runs counter to a century of established
norms and policies. While there exists plenty of examples
of how to implement these projects and the benefits they
can bring, many established stakeholders are weary about
implementing them. Historically, the grid has been a oneway
street, and that unidirectionality is the basis for most
existing profit models.
While suppliers and residents are growing more familiar
with the combinations of technologies that make a smart energy
community, there is a lack of this understanding within
the policy sphere. As more and more people look to boost their
energy resilience, however, an increasing amount of pressure
will be placed on grid authorities to make this type of arrangement
commonplace.
Not only are consumers beginning to see the potential benefits
of this system, they also are requiring them. Electrical supply
vendors are starting to see a massive new market. Those
forces pressure our existing grid systems, both physical and
regulatory, to be better versions of themselves. Because of
this, the future of our grid is beginning to look like that fictional
spaceship that has always intrigued me-one large machine
for convenience, many small machines when stressed. ■
-Grant Samms is a research analyst contributing to
Guidehouse Insights' Smart Cities Tracker solution.
His research focuses on energy use and efficiency, smart city
development, and the human/built environment interface.
www.powermag.com
POWER | November 2020
http://www.powermag.com
POWER November 2020

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