Energy Supply Transformation Needed

A lot that needs to be done to enable the transition towards larger shares of renewables in the power mix. The 5th International Conference on Integration of Renewable Energy and Distributed Energy Resources [4–6 December 2012, Berlin, Germany] brought together global participants from the energy sector to discuss the transformation of the power system, the challenges that lie ahead, and the solutions. . . .

Grid integration has evolved to become one of the pressing topics in today’s renewable energy scene. With deployment activity taking place worldwide at the moment, including large-scale demonstration and commercial projects, efficient grid integration, and smart-grid technologies are also gaining ground on the research and development front. . . .

However, a great many smart meters are still being used in a basic way, at least in the U.S., explains Abraham Ellis from Sandia National Laboratories. There are many steps and numerous players involved in more dynamic implementation.

Data security was a theme that was introduced in the opening stages of the conference discussions. The big issues highlighted by Ellis are privacy and system security. With a smart meter in every home, the usage patterns can be observed by third parties and this becomes a privacy issue for many homeowners. On a larger level, there is a possibility of people manipulating the load maliciously. Ellis, hence, believes that these systems need to get past such privacy and security issues.

Read the rest of the article at PV Magazine.