.

Chapter Three: The Smart Grid

The smart grid is a manifestation of the modern digital age and the age of data, which
is characterized by the overlap and integration of technologies with each other, and
the reliance on modern sciences in management and decision-making such as artificial
intelligence, data analysis, the Internet of things, and security and protection
technologies. Smart grids will affect many sectors, industries, supply and value
chains, and the ways the residential, commercial and industrial sectors are consumed.
In this paper, we will discuss how the smart grid works and what its technical
components are.[2]

2.1 Smart Electrical Grid:

It is an integration between the electricity distribution network, information systems,

and measuring devices, and provides electricity flow from the supplier (for example,
the electricity company) to consumers and back, through the power distribution
network and using two-way digital technologies. The supplier has the ability to
communicate with the end-user’s electrical devices and collect information from them
or control them, which enables him to anticipate the increase in demand during peak
hours and work to achieve a better balance between supply and demand

Figure 1 is a simplified form of the smart grid

The smart grid includes an intelligent monitoring system that tracks the flow of
electricity in the system, and the use of superconducting transmission lines to reduce
energy losses, in addition to the possibility of integrating renewable energy sources
such as solar and wind energy and connecting them to the grid.

Electricity on the part of the supplier and consumers as well. We can define the smart
electric grid in short as the development of the electric grid and its integration with a
computerized two-way communication network, allowing the integration of new
technologies and control systems into the energy system easily.

Many governments today are promoting smart grids as a way to address energy
reliability, global warming, and resilience to emergencies.[2]

2.3 smart grid goals

1. Instant system control

2. Using smart grid technology to efficiently manage voltages in the grid to improve
power supply more efficiently.

3. Using smart grid technology to manage and raise the efficiency of load distribution
and monitor its value in real time.

4. Efficient fault detection, isolation, restoration and maintenance (FDIR)

5. Installing smart sensing equipment to identify and isolate faults in the network to
recover energy faster.

6. Monitor substations (transformers) and feeders in real time (SFM) to avoid any
emergency problems.

7. Using integrated solutions for smart measurement devices to better predict the state
of the system, which helps prevent service interruptions across a wide area of the
network (Wide Area Measurement (WAM)).
8. Take advantage of smart communication platforms to reduce the cost of obtaining
essential information, including voltage surges in underground cables.

9. Using smart network technology to detect illegal uses and network infringement.

10. Using smart network technology to detect leaks in the network, whether in aerial
or ground cables.

11. Using smart grid technology to manage and direct consumption by remote control
of the power supply, especially during peak hours (separating the service from one or
more times at the customer by controlling the smart meters)

12. Using smart grid technology to manage customer consumption returns by cutting
and connecting the power remotely in case the customer does not pay the authority's
dues on time.

13. Using smart grid technology to collect, monitor and document data for later use in
advance planning in coordination with other ministries that follow the smart
government.[1]

3.3. smart grid components

1. smart phones:

The introduction of artificial intelligence and Internet of Things technologies in home

and industrial appliances will allow electricity companies to track customers’ energy
consumption, analyze their usage data in real time, and take advantage of that to
determine their preferences of times and amount of consumption, which in turn will
contribute to avoiding high generation costs at peak times. Among these devices are
various sensors, such as the temperature sensor, which measures and controls
temperatures.

2. Protection and Cyber Security Systems:

System protection systems enhance safety from two sides, the physical integrity of the
equipment engineering, and the cyber integrity of the network as a whole. The first
part includes protecting essential equipment (eg transformers) from unstable supply
and faulty currents that would cause faults in the electrical network, and to avoid
uncontrollable chain reactions. While the second part works on taking preventive
measures that help preserve consumer data and privacy, and protect energy generation
and transmission systems as a whole from external penetration.

3. Distribution management system:

The Distribution Management System is the counterpart to the Environmental

Management System (EMS), which performs the functions of controlling the power
distribution network. The Outage Management System is an important component of
the DMS in countries that suffer from frequent power outages.

4. Energy management system:

The power management system is the control center of the transmission network,
offering today's customers what customers need from an open architecture that gives
them better support for avoiding blackouts and easy integration of information
technologies such as network state visualization, and dynamic analysis that
demonstrates network stability.

5. Smart meters:
A smart meter is an energy usage meter that provides two-way communication
between energy providers and end consumers, providing a number of benefits such as
automating billing data to make readings faster and more accurate, detecting faults
and sending technical support teams to fix them much faster, not having to visit sites
to take readings, Issuance of bills on the same day the meter is read, electrical load
control, and the ability to sell electricity generated from renewable energy sources in
homes on the grid.

6. Smart Substations:

Intelligent substations monitor and control critical and non-critical operating data,
such as power status, transformer status, power factor performance, and safety. It is
also necessary in the process of dividing the path of electric current flow in multiple
directions, and the frequency conversion of voltage in various locations. Smart
substations contribute to a safe and reliable supply of electrical energy, and their
operation requires a number of large and expensive equipment such as transformers,
switches, capacitors, circuit breakers, network-protected relays and many other
devices.

7. Superconducting cables:

In centralized energy production, power must be transmitted over long distances

through power lines, which results in energy loss of up to 15% during transmission,
and a fault in one of the power lines can cut off the power of hundreds and thousands
of homes. Whereas in the decentralized distributed generation of electricity in smart
grids, superconducting cables are used to provide power transmission over distances,
equipped with automatic monitoring and analysis tools to detect faults or predict
vulnerable cables based on real-time weather data and outage history.

8. Communication and Information Technology Systems:

The basis of smart grid technologies is integrated communications, which must be at

the speed necessary to meet the needs of the system in real time. Many different
technologies are used in smart grid communications such as PLC, wireless
technologies, cellular technologies, and supervisory control for data acquisition. Key
considerations for integrated communications are ease of deployment, short response
time, compliance with standards, adequate data storage capacity, security, and
network coverage capacity.

9. Energy and Energy Quality Monitoring Systems:

This component of the smart network is considered by the quality control and
management bodies in different companies, as it is an independent system concerned
with monitoring the workflow of all other components within the network, noting
errors and defects, analyzing their causes and treating them[2].

10. Energy Storage Units:

Because the production of renewable energy is variable and not stable, it is necessary
to store the produced energy until it is used reliably so as to reduce the increasing
burden on the public network, especially in times of peak load.

The main means of energy storage:

1. Hydroelectric Energy Storage:

It is a common method of energy storage since ancient times, and is based on the
principle of pumping water up to a high reservoir using excess electrical energy
(particularly from wind turbines), and when energy is needed, the water is released to
go down the slope and move the turbines of electric generators, meaning that the
process depends on Converting the potential energy in water stored at a height into
kinetic energy, which in turn operates generators to produce electrical energy.

The method of pumping and storing hydroelectric energy has a storage efficiency of
70-85%, and it is the most mature and most widespread technology in the world for
storing electricity, as it currently provides about 127 thousand megawatts around the
world and in countries such as the United States, Japan, and China. However, the
possibility of its application is limited by geography, as this model requires building
energy stores on mountain heights often, which is expensive and has a negative
environmental impact, and the installation of high-voltage transmission lines to
connect storage sites to networks often leads to environmental problems as well.

2. Chemical batteries:

Several types of chemical batteries are available on the market, such as lead batteries
used in cars, or sodium sulfur batteries that are already used to store electricity on a
small scale, but experiments have found that lithium-ion batteries are currently the
best solution for energy storage, which is a type of rechargeable battery It is often
used in consumer goods, as it has gained its position during the past years as the best
choice of energy storage and sustainable reserve applications, and its importance has
increased over the past years to become the most widely used technology in stationary
energy storage projects, as is the case in Australia and others. However, its capacity is
still relatively limited compared to the amount of energy to be stored globally, and its
irresponsible manufacture and handling at the end of its lifespan may cause
environmental harm as well.

Lithium-ion batteries are currently being installed in energy-storage applications in

systems that handle low-kilowatt-hours, such as homes and rooftop buildings, as well
as multi-megawatt backup energy storage in local grids. Today, the global
manufacturing capacity of lithium-ion batteries is about 131 GWh annually, and it is
expected to reach 400 GWh by 2021 AD to meet the increasing demand, and its cost
is expected to drop by more than 50-60% by 2030 AD.

An alternative is integration with the smart grid:

The main goal of electrical energy storage technologies is to achieve a quantitative

balance between supply and demand, but it can be seen to reduce energy consumption
at peak time as the best and most effective method to achieve this goal, which was not
possible without the two-way communication feature of smart grids, instead of just
Adjusting electricity supply In response to fluctuations in fluctuating demand, the
smart grid will adjust demand as well. If the demand reaches its peak, the smart grid
can decide to take some measures to reduce it, such as cutting off the power to
secondary devices such as home refrigerators, air conditioning systems in offices and
other non-urgent uses.

Storage technologies and smart grids will work together to bypass the problems of
grid overload, meaning that on average it will produce the electricity it needs and
maintain a reliable supply by exchanging modest amounts of energy through energy
storage technologies. With the maturity of technologies, it can be said that the
potential global capacity of energy storage may reach 1,000 gigawatts in the next
twenty years
The transition to a smarter network requires a new energy infrastructure that takes
into account all the digital and physical components that operate within the network,
such as sensors and various computer systems, and interconnecting them through
high-speed communication networks and using unified protocols, to ensure the
harmonious work of all components of the smart electric grid.

4.3 Benefits of the smart grid:

1. Employment of Artificial Intelligence Systems:

Smart grids use AI systems with limited memory, which take into account past
experiences and available data to guide decisions that occur in the not-too-distant
future. These systems will be employed to prevent or reduce power outages with the
ability to sense and redirect overloads, and are quicker to respond and more accurate
than humans in dealing with different conditions, and they can work independently to
maintain faults, as will be mentioned later.

2. Reducing electricity costs:

The smart grid provides both suppliers and consumers with several options to reduce
electricity costs, such as electricity suppliers directing consumers to reduce the use of
low-priority electronic devices when network loads are high and supply rates are low,
and to reduce wastage during transportation through the use of more efficient
connectors and cables and to detect faults more quickly Consumers can take
advantage of the surplus renewable energy generated by their own plants by selling it
on the grid.

3. Diversify the energy mix:

The smart grid is characterized by its ability to accept electrical energy from various
sources of generation, including the integration of local renewable energies, especially
solar and wind energy, which are easy to integrate into the energy system, and this
would provide a more reliable source of energy and a catalyst for the transition to a
clean and sustainable economy.

4. Consumer Involvement:
Smart grids offer consumers the advantage of tailoring energy consumption to their
personal preferences, such as price and environmental concerns, by enabling two-way
communication between consumers and energy suppliers in real time.

5. Environmentally friendly:

Smart grids are a key element in smart cities, as they contribute to achieving the most
important goals of smart cities represented in providing clean energy. Smart grids
contribute to mitigating the acceleration of global climate change and thus
participating in achieving significant environmental improvement.

6. Decentralization of Energy Generation:

A distributed or decentralized grid system allows individual users to generate energy

on their site, using the methods most appropriate in their view and discretion,
including local renewable energy systems such as solar panels in homes and schools.

7. Flexibility and security:

Smart grids have highly efficient management and operation systems that provide
both the flexibility necessary to face natural disasters and emergency accidents,
including the ability to isolate parts of the electrical network that are exposed to any
type of danger to prevent short power outages from turning into long-term outages on
a larger scale. In addition, the smart grid provides security protocols and protection
against potential cyber-attacks, which are imposed by the smart grid architecture that
combines information and communication technologies and physical components.

8. Self-repairing:

Smart grids can repair themselves through artificial intelligence techniques, by

predicting failures and the need for proactive maintenance of network components,
which saves unnecessary replacement costs for equipment and reduces maintenance
costs and time. Plus, it's able to automatically detect and fix power outages without
waiting for consumer reports, which means fast power restoration.

9. Energy storage:

The ability of the traditional electric network to store surplus electricity is almost
non-existent, as the generated energy must be consumed immediately! However,
"smart grids" contribute to the development of various solutions for energy storage
through the use of modern technologies, the integration of renewable energies, and
consumer involvement in energy generation.

10. New Markets:

The smart grid represents a unique opportunity to transfer the energy industry to a
new era of smart energy. It also allows electricity markets to grow, which contributes
to improving the economic situation of countries and bringing many benefits to the
smart energy ecosystem, in addition to creating job opportunities and training in the
field of smart grids industry that is growing. the growth.

The integration of advanced information and communication technologies into

electrical distribution networks has contributed to improving the entire system of
power generation, transmission and storage, and raising efficiency in all its aspects.[2]

5.3 Smart Electric Grid Characteristics and Functions:

A- Maintaining the smart electric grid treatment: The smart electric grid contains a
monitoring system that analyzes performance using self-learning that governs
strategies for managing the behavior of the electric grid for any possibility of change
when there are some failures in the devices. Such a system must be used to control
electronic switches that are coupled to multiple stations with varying generation costs
and reliability. By using real-time data from built-in sensors and automated controls
to detect and respond to system problems, a smart electric grid can automatically
avoid power outages, power and quality of service issues and disruptions.

B- Freedom from damage and attacks: Real-time data obtained by smart monitoring
devices, which is the basis for monitoring and management of the smart electric grid,
helps network operators identify any man-made disturbances or natural disasters. As a
result, affected areas can be easily isolated, and energy flows can be redirected
throughout the affected areas, maintaining energy availability.

C- Stimulating consumer participation: The smart electric grid helps compensate

consumers for their efforts in saving and selling energy in real time and through two-
way communication through networked measurements. There should be a mechanism
to change the consumer's behavior towards changing electrical ratios, or to pay a
significant increase to the rates of electrical service excellence that can be relied upon
during periods of high consumption. This is done by diversifying the distribution of
energy resources such as residential solar energy, small wind generators, and
activating the use of the smart grid through small individual dwellings, or small
companies to sell electricity to their neighbors or link to the grid. This should
similarly apply to commercial companies that have new energy reserves or power
generation facilities. It can provide energy at demand price during demand hours.

D- Provide adequate storage of high-quality electrical energy: Smart electrical grids

support traditional loads and easily connect small turbines, new energy cells, fuel
cells, and other distributed generation technologies at the local and regional levels.
The integration of on-site generation plants and local micro-stations allows
residential, commercial and industrial customers to decide the right decision for them,
as well as the possibility of generating and selling excess power in the network with
minimal technical and regulatory barriers. This improves power quality and
reliability, reduces electricity costs and provides more choices for customers.

E - Availability of the Electricity Market: The significant increase in transmission

capacity requires the bulk of improvements in the management of the electricity
transmission network. These improvements aim to create an open market, where
alternative energy sources from remote geographic locations can easily be sold to
customers wherever they are located.

F- Optimal selection of assets: The smart electric grid can optimize capital assets
while reducing operating and maintenance costs. It is also possible to achieve
maximum flows and maximize the use of resources at the lowest costs, and waste
generation can be reduced. Balanced local distribution with regional energy flows and
transportation optimizes the utilization of assets in the existing grid, and reduces grid
interference and blocking, saving energy to the consumer.

G- The possibility of overcoming intermittent sources of generation: Often the bulk of

the renewable energy resources in nature are intermittent resources. This is due to
both climate and environmental changes. Smart electric grid technologies should
enable power systems to handle a large amount of energy resources so that both
suppliers and consumers are able to address this problem. [4]

6.3 Smart Electric Grid Features and the merits they encounter:
A - Decentralization of electric power generation: it allows individual consumers to
generate energy using the site in any appropriate way, and helps them to adapt
between generation and loading, making the network less affected by power outages.
It also allows the reverse flow to the main network when there is an excess of energy
generated by the local sub-grid, after the consumption needs are met.

B - Adjusting the load: The total load connected to the electrical network is the sum of
the individual choices of a huge number of consumers, and therefore the total load is
not fixed but rather uneven. By using the method of mathematical algorithms, it is
possible to predict the number of backup generators and the need to use them to reach
the potential damage percentage. With the smart electric grid, the failure rate can be
eliminated by reducing a small portion of the customer's load in the traditional grid so
that costs can be reduced for a larger number of standby generators.

C- Demand response support: The smart electric grid allows the interaction between
electric generators and loads in an automated manner in real time, and coordinates
between this according to demand. It also manages energy consumption in response to
supply conditions or market prices. It gives a message to consumers to only use high-
priority devices during the peak period, thus reducing a tiny percentage of the
demand. Lower peak demand eliminates the additional cost of standby generators,
extends equipment life and allows users to lower energy bills by advising them to use
lower priority energy.

D- Setting cost indicators for consumers: There is an advantage in applying the smart
electric grid is the pricing of consumption over time. The consumer can find an
indicator of the changing price in a few seconds and thus the electrical equipment is
given messages to react to it. This encourages consumers to choose the best field of
energy in cooperation with the electricity grid at the right time.

E - Communications and Visuals: There is an urgent need for communications to

enable more efficient use of renewable energy for the benefit of society. Integrated
communications will allow real-time control, network control, information and data
exchange to improve system reliability, advanced protection, use of available assets
and the necessary security.

Data is collected in most cases via the modem rather than directly from the network.
All information can be visualized through multiple intelligent layers of data, and this
aids in analysis and communication. This technology allows consumers to know the
incentives to download and monitor at all times. This helps customers incentivize and
time-based pricing which incentivizes consumers to set and adjust usage to take
advantage of price fluctuations. Another advantage mainly for customers is the close
monitoring which achieves balanced loading according to the response of supply and
demand. Although the smart electric grid increases opportunities for demand response
by providing real-time data to producers and consumers, and economic and
environmental incentives, the driving force behind these operations is still handling of
peak hours. Finally, a smart electric grid improves communication between electricity
producers and consumers, making decisions about when and how to generate and
consume electrical energy. This technology allows consumers to know their download
incentives at all times. This helps customers link pricing to time of consumption and
motivates consumers to set and adjust their usage to take advantage of price
fluctuations. Another advantage mainly associated with customers is the ability to
generate and control electrical power, so that any power load can be shifted according
to the response of demand and trade in the energy market. Thus the smart grid
increases opportunities to respond to demand by providing real-time data to producers
and consumers, and establishing economic and environmental incentives.[4]
Reference: [1]

Location: Linked in

Author: Montaser Ahmed

Article date: 08/18/2015

Last visit: 10/25/2021

The link: https://ae.linkedin.com/pulse/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AF

%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%87-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B0%D9%83%D9%8A
%D9%87-
%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%A8%D9%83%D8%A7%D8%AA-
%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%87-%D9%85%D9%88%D8%AC
%D8%B2%D9%87-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D8%B5%D9%84-
%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%88%D9%84-montaser-ahmed

Reference: [2]

Website: Saudi Scientific

Article: Smart grids: the technology that will change the future of energy

Author: Editorial team at the Saudi Scientific Foundation

The 9th Saudi Smart Grid Conference

Article date: November 26, 2019

Date of last visit: 10/13/2021

Link :

Reference: [3]

Location: the seventh day

Author: Rahma Ramadan

Article date: 11/1/2020

Last visit: 10/25/2021

The link: https://m.youm7.com/story/2020/1/11/%D8%AA

%D8%B9%D8%B1%D9%81-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-
%D9%85%D9%83%D9%88%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%AA-
%D8%B4%D8%A8%D9%83%D8%A9-
%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D9%87%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%A1-
%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B0%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A9-
%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%86%D8%AA%D8%B8%D8%B1-
%D8%A5%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%A4%D9%87%D8%A7-%D8%AE
%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D8%AA
%D8%B1%D8%A9/4568115

Reference: [4]

Location: Canal Electricity Distribution Company

Author: Dr. Muhammed Al Yamani

Article date: November 25, 2012

Last visit date: November 5, 2021

Link :

https://cced.gov.eg/ar/index.php?news=869