Transmission: The Smart Grid's Ugly Stepsister
Anon | elp.com | March 16, 2010
I spoke on the phone today to a consultant doing research into transmission issues. My first statement to him was, "That must be hard info to find." He chuckled and replied, "It's all about the smart grid these days, isn't it?"
Indeed it is. And the smart grid is, let's face it, all about distribution. All those communication technologies, gadgets and gizmos mostly lie at the end of those lines: in substations and in family homes. Relative to the size of our very vast, very large power grid, the smart grid evolution is happening in small little urban pockets, leaving vast stretches of archaic and aging transmission lines to, once again, carry a heavier load---if you'll pardon the pun I just couldn't resist.
Now, there is some smart grid on the transmission side of things, mostly when we discuss linking up large-scale renewables, but the bulk of the smart grid---and the bulk of the technology that adds up to all that smart grid money and marketing---well, that stuff is on the downstream end of electricity.
Transmission has always been the workhorse in the power equation: It does most of the hard labor, goes the farthest distance, doesn't shirk too much of the weight and gets the job done. Of course, until the smart grid came along, distribution was pretty much pulling on the same yoke. But, these days, the smart grid is a sexy cultural buzzword, a virtual power Cinderella, and transmission is still the ugly stepsister---unattractive and mostly forgotten.
Cont.: elp.com
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