The liberation of energy inspired by nature.
The Electrical Grid
Energy 2.0 - The Hydrogen Economy
Energy 1.0 - Conventional Energy
Fuel Cell
Electrical Grid
The current power, or electrical grid is commonly called a "dumb system" as it only transmits power out, and does not communicate with the consumer to determine demand, or manage the overall electrical system based on current requirements throughout the system. The grid of the future will have two way communication with a "smart" meter (or hopefully, a NOHRMAN control unit) to determine demand and manage power transmission both in and out as required. The "smart "system will also have the ability to request the production of power from distributed systems such as the NOHRMAN (H+e) Hydrogen-Electric System to meet grid requirements.
Distributed power generation represents significant benefits to the economy and to the homeowner. Gone will be the days of power outages because of storms and poor grid maintenance. Gone will be the monthly bills for electrical power, gas, gasoline, home heating oil and many other fuels. Distributed power generation puts the control of energy in your hands. Below is additional information on the old and new grid systems (extracted from Wikipedia.org).
Electric power transmission, a process in the delivery of electricity to consumers, is the bulk transfer of electrical power. Typically, power transmission is between the power plant and a substation near a populated area. Electricity distribution is the delivery from the substation to the consumers. Electric power transmission allows distant energy sources (such as hydroelectric power plants) to be connected to consumers in population centers, and may allow exploitation of low-grade fuel resources that would otherwise be too costly to transport to generating facilities. Due to the large amount of power involved, transmission normally takes place at high voltage (110 kV or above). Electricity is usually transmitted over long distance through overhead power transmission lines. Underground power transmission is used only in densely populated areas because of its high cost of installation and maintenance, and because the high reactive power produces large charging currents and difficulties in voltage management.
Smart Grid is a transformed electricity transmission and distribution network or "grid" that uses robust two-way communications, advanced sensors, and distributed computers to improve the efficiency, reliability and safety of power delivery and use. Smart Grid is called several other things, including "Smart Power Grid," "Smart Electric Grid," "Intelligrid," "FutureGrid," etc. Deploying the Smart Grid became the policy of the United States with passage of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (Title 13). The law, Title 13, sets out $100M in funding per fiscal year from 2008-2012 in addition to other reimbursements and incentives.[1] The Smart Grid is also being promoted by the European Union and other nations.
The term Smart power grid may best be defined as using communications and modern computing to upgrade the current electric power grid so that it can operate more efficiently and reliably and support additional services to consumers. Such an upgrade is equivalent to bringing the power of the Internet to the transmission, distribution and use of electricity - it will save consumers money and reduce CO2 emissions.
Today's alternating current power grid was created in 1896, based on Nikola Tesla's design published in 1888. (See War of Currents) Many implementation decisions that are still in use today were made for the first time using the limited emerging technology available 120-years ago. Specific obsolete power grid assumptions and features (like centralized unidirectional[1] electric power transmission, electricity distribution, and demand-driven control) are the result of experimental 19th century possibilities.
The development of modern micro-electronics, and especially the entry of the microprocessor, opened new ways to significantly improve power grid control. The evolutionary integration of intelligent, distributed, and highly-adaptive control systems made available with microelectronics is being referred as the smart grid in Title XIII of the U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.[2]
This evolving intelligent power distribution network includes the possibility to reduce power consumption at the client side during peak hours (Demand Side Management), facilitating grid connection of distributed generation power (with photovoltaic arrays, small wind turbines, micro hydro, or even combined heat power generators in buildings), grid energy storage for distributed generation load balancing, and improved reliability against many different component failure scenarios (in contrast to today's catastrophic widespread power grid cascading failures).
Extracted from Wikipedia
