Smart Grid Upgrades Coming
by Nancy Wood,
April 21, 2011, page 15.....

On April 13 the Charlotte Energy Committee hosted a presentation and community discussion at the Town Hall on the Smart Grid. The grid is the network of transmission and distribution power lines that connect generating stations of all sorts with consumers of electricity. Charlotte resident Brian Otley, vice president of operations at Green Mountain Power (GMP), described how the upgrades will bring greater reliability and operational efficiencies to the grid. He also discussed the timeline for installing smart meters on local homes and businesses, which will offer opportunities for customers to reduce their carbon footprint and save money on their electric bills. Otley is the leader of GMP’s technology operations and Smart Grid program.
The Smart Grid project, called GMP Connects, will replace 100% of the existing electric meters on homes and businesses in the service area by 2013. Otley described the current analog meters as “dumb,” unable to “talk” with the utility. GMP only knows of an outage when customers call; and the more who call, the better, as it helps pinpoint the location. The current grid is also not able to handle the increasing load from distributive renewable generation electricity – net-metered wind and solar. The capacity for power generated from wind and solar installations will double from the current ceiling of 2% to 4% of total power.
The $138 million Smart Grid project is being funded through a $69 million federal grant awarded in 2010, matched with $69 million from Vermont utilities. The project must be completed within three years. All of the utilities in the state combined forces in an application for U.S. Department of Energy funding to upgrade to the newer technology. Vermont received the largest per capita share of the pool available to speed up transition to the new smart grid technology. None of the other applicants were statewide, and there is interest at the Department of Energy for Vermont to be a national model.
The goal of the project is to develop a grid that is more cost-efficient, lower carbon-emission and reliable. The work includes 1) adding electronic monitors at sensing points throughout the grid that can provide real-time communications with the utility; 2) grid automation with fiber optic at all substations; and 3) installing smart meters at the homes and businesses of all GMP customers. Installation of smart meters in Charlotte is expected to occur during the first or second quarter of 2012.
Otley said the project “will bring the system to life.” Using wireless technology, the smart meters will send hourly data to the utility of energy consumption by each customer. The data is broken down into 15-minute intervals. This information will be available on the web, and will provide customers the opportunity to modify behavior and lower their electric bills.
The intelligent monitors along the grid will enable the utility to see the load balance by area, which will help determine where equipment changes are needed. The grid automation at substations will include video surveillance, and will help integrate higher-level renewables.
Once the system is completed, GMP will offer optional rate structures. For example, smart meters and home thermostats will be able to communicate with each other, and the customer could choose to allow the utility to control the temperature level to reduce energy use during peak times. Appliances are being developed and brought to market that are compliant with the “ZigBee standard,” which means they can talk with the smart meter.
Otley emphasized that such options will be voluntary. He said that it will be the customers’ choice, and expects it will lead to a reduction in peak usage, which will lower the use of fossil fuels.
The Vermont utilities are early adopters of the Smart Grid technology, with currently only 7% of the nation already making the switch. An early leader is American Energy Power (AEP) that launched an initiative called gridSMART® in 2007. Its pilot project in 2009 in South Bend, Indiana, involved 10,000 meters. On the AEP website are listed some of what has been learned:
“The technology that allows AEP to manage its grid from our back office systems, such as billing, to the meter and distribution field equipment, works. But the technology that goes beyond the meter into the customer’s home is still evolving. Customers who participated in the time-of-day rate plan did shift their demand to different times, as expected. Cost savings from better system management, fewer crew trips, reduced fuel consumption, better theft detection and streamlined billing are being achieved. During the cooling season, customers who volunteered allowed us to raise the temperature in their homes using a programmable, communicating thermostat, demonstrating that we can control customer usage directly between the meter and the home through wireless technology.”
AEP’s goal is to install five million smart meters in their service areas by 2015.

Other GMP Work in Charlotte
Mike Burke, who is in charge of field operations, described the fieldwork that GMP will conduct in Charlotte during 2011. There are projects along Spear Street, Carpenter Road and Meadowside Drive. Most involve replacing lines and conductors that are over 30 years old and have ongoing maintenance problems. Red Xs mark poles GMP will replace.
Burke described as his “pet project” the replacing of older streetlights with LEDs. He said the LEDs are 66% more efficient than mercury- or sodium-vapor lights, cost less and require less maintenance. They are also dark-sky friendly. There are only three public streetlights in Charlotte, which will be replaced. There are another 52 private streetlights that the owners have the option of replacing.
Asked about the reason for installing replacement lines overhead rather than underground, Burke said that the cost is 10 times higher. For example, the cost to replace 3,000 feet of power lines is approximately $50,000 for overhead, versus $500,000 for underground. The Town would be responsible for paying the difference. The Charlotte Town Plan currently calls for conversion to underground lines, but this has not happened. As part of the Town Plan Update process, the Planning Commission expects to discuss whether to change this recommendation at the public meeting on April 28 at the Senior Center.