Why Volt/VAR Optimization is the most important technology you’ve never heard of
And how it might solve America’s energy problems
Last week, the U.S. energy landscape changed dramatically as the Obama Administration released the final version of the Clean Power Plan. States and utility companies across the country will now be tasked with meeting challenging goals to reduce carbon dioxide emission levels.
The plan was originally designed to have four key building blocks: improving the efficiency of coal-fired power plants; replacing coal with natural gas; deploying more renewable energy; and energy efficiency. But that final component — energy efficiency — became a source of concern among some utilities.
Most Americans typically envision energy efficiency as the responsibility of the customer — dialing down the AC, better insulating our homes, utilizing energy efficient light bulbs — and that’s why some utilities argued that efficiency measures should be a way to comply, but not a core part of setting standards under the Clean Power Plan.
While many utility companies offer energy efficiency programs to support these savings, and serve as energy advisors to help customers make meaningful improvements, they recognize that it is ultimately the customers’ responsibility to make these changes.
“There is one innovative technology that has the potential to
turn these assumptions on their head”
In fact, there is one innovative technology that has the potential to turn these assumptions on their head, allowing utilities to save energy and greatly reduce costs without requiring customers to take any action — Volt/VAR Optimization (VVO). This exciting technology could potentially produce annual efficiency savings of 67 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to switching to 1.7 billion energy efficient light bulbs, all without requiring any change in customer behavior.
So what is VVO?
When electricity is delivered to a customer’s home or business, it must be delivered at a level between 114 volts and 126 volts to ensure appliances and other electronics can operate properly. However, electricity provided by a local utility company often travels a long distance from where it’s generated to the homes and businesses it powers, and the voltage — or the measurement of that power — peaks and dips as electricity travels across the wires.
Utilities face the task of trying to predict and solve for those peaks and dips to ensure that the voltage is within the right range when it arrives to the customer’s home or business. The easiest way to meet that challenge is for the utility to produce enough energy to remain at the high end of the range — meaning utilities frequently produce and deliver more electricity than is actually required.
Volt/VAR optimization makes that entire process more efficient, enabling utilities to respond in real-time to demand. The technology uses analytics drawn straight from the grid to better match supply and demand by regulating voltage in response to real-time information.
The EPA noted in the final Clean Power Plan that the agency received many comments supporting technologies, like VVO, that improve the efficiency of the electric system, and recognized that these technologies help achieve emissions standards, and make the grid more robust and flexible.
The 97,560,000,000 kWh Savings
Many states are already exploring the benefits of VVO technology. For example, the California Public Utilities Commission recently approved a $30 million Smart Grid demonstration project to explore VVO and American Electric Power has achieved an energy savings of 4.27% with VVO in Ohio.
The benefits of VVO are clear, and so are the savings. A recent Institute for Energy Innovation report identified the most cost-effective methods for Michigan to implement Clean Power Plan regulations and found that network efficiency, including VVO, has the potential to save the state approximately $110 million in Clean Power Plan compliance costs. And if, for example, Utilidata’s VVO technology was deployed on all cost-effective electric circuits in the United States, we could save 97.5 billion kWh each year. That’s the amount of energy it takes to power 8.9 million homes — or every home in New York State.
“Saving the amount of energy it takes to power 8.9 million homes — or every home in New York State.”
And we can do this with no action required from customers: so whether an individual is the most environmentally conscious user of energy or their town’s biggest waster, VVO software makes the delivery of energy more efficient.
The Clean Power Plan represents our greatest opportunity to implement a cultural shift in America — taking every opportunity to create a cleaner, greener, and more efficient grid that will power our nation far into the next century. As utilities across the country look to meet the new standards and regulations, implementing VVO is a simple step that will go a long way to reaching these goals, without relying on consumer behavior or placing new demands on utilities.
Scott DePasquale is Chairman of the Rhode Island Cybersecurity Commission and CEO of Utilidata, a global software company working with utilities to redefine energy efficiency, reliability and grid security.
See more at Utilidata.com or follow @Utilidata.
