EE403 Distributed

Generation & Smart

Grids
 Module III
• Protection issues for Microgrids: Introduction, Islanding, Different
islanding scenarios, Major protection issues of standalone Microgrid
- Impact of DG integration on electricity market, environment,
distribution system, communication standards and protocols.
• Smart Grid: Components – NIST Smart Grid Reference Architecture
• Introduction to Smart Meters, Electricity tariff – one part tariff, two
tariff and maximum demand tariff - Dynamic pricing: time of-use
(TOU) pricing, critical-peak pricing (CPP) and Real Time Pricing-
Automatic Meter Reading(AMR), Plug in Hybrid Electric
Vehicles(PHEV), Vehicle to Grid, Smart Sensors, Home & Building
Automation.
• Intelligent Electronic Devices (IED) and their application for
monitoring & protection, Wide Area Measurement System (WAMS),
Phase Measurement Unit (PMU).
Traditional Energy Meter
Digital Energy Meter-Currently used
Smart Energy Meter
 Introduction to Smart Energy meter
 Energy metering and billing in India uses
electromechanical and few digital energy meters.
 It consumes more time and labour, less flexible
 Traditional billing system is inaccurate.
 Today accuracy in billing is highly recommended.
 Smart energy meter gives real power consumption, accurate
billing, real time monitoring, less time consuming and is cost
effective.
Smart Metering
 Smart Metering
A smart meter is an electricity or gas meter that has metering as
well communication abilities

It measures energy consumption data and permits the data to

be read remotely and displayed on a device within home or
transmitted securely. The meter can also receive information
remotely

Two key functions of smart meters include:

1. To provide data on energy usage to consumers to help control
over-consumption and cost
2. To send data to the utility for peak load requirements, load
factor control and to develop pricing strategies on the basis of
consumption information
 Smart Metering
 Key features of smart meter includes automated data reading
and 2-way communication between utilities and consumers

 In smart grid, smart meters provide consumers with

knowledge on how and when they use energy and how
much they pay for per kW of energy. This results in better
pricing information and more accurate bills. It also helps in
faster outage detection and restoration by utility
 Smart Meter- Block Diagram

Signal Acquisition - electrical parameters required are the

magnitude and frequency of the voltage and the magnitude and
phase displacement of current. Other parameters like power
factor, active/reactive power, THD are computed
Signal Conditioning - attenuation, amplification, filtering, etc.
should be done
 Smart Meter- Block Diagram
ADC - Current and voltage signals obtained from
the sensors are first sampled and then digitized
to be processed by the metering software

Computation - Arithmetic operations on input

signals, Prepare data for communication, time
stamping of data, storage, system updates,
coordinating functions

Communication - The wired options include the

Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN),
power line carrier, cable modems and Ethernet.
The wireless options include ZigBee, infrared,
and GSM/GPRS/CDMA Cellular
 Smart Energy Meter-
Parameters to be monitored
• Units of a month
• Bill of a month
• Real (True) Power
• Load on a line
• Last unit details
 Smart Meters -Features
• Tariff Options, based on time of day and season
• Real time operation
• Fully automated
• Live billing display facility
• Previous units display facility
• Get bill detail in one missed call
• Enhanced Grid monitoring
• Remote connect/Disconnect of users
• Appliance Control and monitoring
• Consumer incentives for reduced consumption
 Advantages
• High accuracy
• Low cost (Meter reading costs)
• Reliable
• Increased Customer satisfaction and Complaints
• Theft and tampering monitoring
• Allows flexible Tariff and hence better load
distribution
 Disadvantages
• Billing system fails if no GSM Network coverage

• Charges may be applicable for network use

 Electricity Tarrif
 The rate at which electrical energy is sold to the consumers is
termed as ‘tariff.’

 Even though tariff is supposed to comprise of the total cost of

producing and supplying electrical energy plus the profit, but it is
not similar for all kinds of consumers (domestic, commercial,
industrial)

 The cost of producing electricity depends on the amount of

electrical energy consumed by the consumer and his load
conditions
 Electricity Tarrif
 Tariff should include:
 An appropriate profit on capital investment on generation
 Recovery of Energy Production Cost
 Recovery of Capital Investment cost on transmission and
distribution systems
 Recovery of Operation and Maintenance Cost for supply of
electrical energy, e.g. metering equipment, billing, etc
 Desirable characteristics of tariff

1. Proper return – Tariff should be fixed in such a way that it

guarantees correct return from all consumers. The total
revenue from each consumer must be equal to the cost of
producing and supplying electrical energy plus profit. This will
allow the utility to guarantee uninterrupted service to the
consumer

2. Fairness – Tariff should be reasonable so that various

categories of consumers will be satisfied with the rate at
which electrical energy is charged. A consumer whose load
condition does not diverge much from ideal must be charged
at a lower rate than the ones whose load conditions vary
significantly from the ideal
 Desirable characteristics of tariff

3. Simplicity – Tariff must be simple to understand, so that a

normal consumer can simply know it

4. Reasonable profit – Tariff must be able to guarantee

reasonable profit.

5. Attractive – Tariff should be attractive so that a large number

of consumers will be encouraged to consume electrical energy
 Electricity Tariff
 One Part Tariff or Simple Tariff
Two Part Tariff
Maximum Demand Tariff
 Electricity Tarrif- One Part Tariff
 Fixed rate per unit of
energy consumed
 The rate per unit of energy
does not depend upon the
quantity of energy used by a
consumer
 The price per unit (1
kWh) of energy is
constant
 Electricity Tarrif- One Part Tariff

Disadvantages:-
• No discrimination between different types of consumers
• Cost per unit delivered is high
• It does not enhance the use of electricity
 Electricity Tarrif- Two Part Tariff
Consumers bill consist of two components: fixed charges
and running charges. It can be expressed as:

Total Cost = [A (kW) + B (kWh)] Rs.

A = charge per kW of max demand (i.e. A is a constant which

when multiplied with max demand (kW) gives the total fixed
costs.)
B = charge per kWh of energy consumed (i.e. B is a constant
which when multiplied with units consumed (kWh), gives total
running charges.)

The fixed charges will depend upon maximum demand of the

consumer and the running charge will depend upon the energy
(units) consumed.
 Electricity Tarif- Two Part Tariff
 Advantages
Simple to understand

 Disadvantages
Even if a consumer does not use any electricity, he has to pay
the fixed charges regularly

There is error of assessment of max demand and hence conflict

between the supplier and the consumer
 Electricity Tarrif- Maximum Demand Tariff

The energy consumed is charged on the basis of

maximum demand
The max demand is calculated by a maximum demand meter
This removes any conflict between the supplier and the
consumer as in the case of two part tariff. It is similar to two-part
tariff
 Dynamic pricing

 A Demand-side management (DSM) technique that can reduce

peak load by charging different prices at different times
according to demand.

 Classification:
Time of-Use pricing (TOU)
Critical-Peak Pricing (CPP)
Real Time Pricing (RTP)
 Dynamic pricing ……
Time of-use pricing(TOU):
Consumers are charged based on the time of the day, season and
rate modifications depending on weather patterns. Prices are set
well in advance of the period

Critical-peak pricing (CPP):

Consumers are charged additionally for usage during peak periods.
Additional incentives are provided to consumers to reduce energy
consumption

Real Time Pricing (RTP):

Energy prices change hourly declared by retailers (Utility or service
providers) depending on wholesale market (Energy markets similar to
stock markets). Normally consumers are notified of RTP prices the day
before or a few hours before delivery time
 Automated Meter Reading (AMR)
• AMR devices let utilities to read meters remotely, removing
the requirement to send a worker to read each meter
separately
• Capability of AMR is limited to reading meter data due to its
one way communication system
• Based on the information received from the meters it does
not let the utilities to take corrective action
• Hence transition to smart grid is not possible with AMR
• AMR is just the collection of consumption data from
consumer’s premises like electric meters and smart meters
remotely using telephony, power-line or satellite
communication techniques and process this data to generate
the bill
 Automated Meter Reading (AMR)
Reading Data receiving
Communication Billing
unit and processing
unit system
unit

• Reading unit – It reads analog meters and converts the reading to

digital. It is then processed to communication unit for transmission

• Communication unit – Data transmission should be in an efficient

manner without loss of data

• Data receiving and processing unit – It receives the transmitted data

from the communication unit and processes it for billing

• Billing system – Final stage of AMR which takes the meter number
and generates the bill for that meter. Analysis on electricity usage for
each meter can also be carried out using this system
 Advantages of AMR

Elimination of manual meter reading

Half-hourly meter reading via a suitable method
Ensures quality of data
Meter reading transferred automatically into a database
Energy management software can use this database to
illustrate energy profile
Assistance in bill validation and re-charges