Vision ＼ Smart Grids

Introduction
On December 5, 2018, Smart Grid Exhibition Hall on the first floor of the Taipower Building was unveiled to display the vision of future power development. We went to the Taipower Building to visit the Smart Grid Exhibition Hall and meet Taipower spokesperson, Tsao-Hua Hsu.

Smart Grid Exhibition Hall is divided into six exhibition areas, namely “Smart User”, “Self-Power Generation”, “Friendly Innovation”, “Smart Dispatch”, “Smart Distribution” and “Development Vision”. As soon as we entered the exhibition hall , Ming-Shu Chen, the director of power distribution, accepted our interview very kindly and let the guided robot Pepper sing and dance to welcome us. It was so amazing! Although the exhibition was not big, everyone was wide-opened and felt like seeing the future world under the detailed explanation of the staff. In our lives, we do not only use smartphones, but also the supply and application of electricity in smart way! The record of our visit in the Smart Grid Exhibition Hall as follows:

Smart Grids
After the power plant generates electricity, it comes from high-voltage electric towers, substations, utility poles, transformers, and finally to each home. In the traditional one-way transmission process, users and electrical equipment cannot return the power demand and status to the power dispatch center immediately. If the instantaneous power consumption increases or the natural disaster occurs, the user may lose power and it is difficult to repair in time. Moreover, the renewable energy is booming in nowadays, and a large number of renewable energy sources with intermittent power generation are connected in parallel with the traditional power grid system. If there is information asymmetry, it is easy to cause difficulties in dispatching because the voltage rises rapidly and exceeds the limit of the regional operating voltage. It is difficult to maintain a balance between power supply and demand. Therefore, we need to establish a modern and new system “Smart Grid” to upgrade the traditional power grid and control center to solve the grid problem to make the use of electricity more efficient and stable.

Explaining the concept of micro-grid

“Smart Grid” is built around the backbone of “Energy Creation”, “Energy Storage”, “Energy Conservation” and “Stable Power Supply”. By establishing a complete information communication system, the power supply and the user can communicate in two directions to follow every degree of electricity. In terms of Energy Creation, Taipower is committed to increasing the grid-connected capacity and proportion of renewable energy. It is also planned to use artificial intelligence and big data to strengthen the prediction of renewable energy generation and analyze the future demand for electricity. Taipower arranges the generator units through the smart allocation to solve the problem of renewable energy supply fluctuation and achieve the balance of supply and demand of the power system. In terms of Energy Storage, when the proportion of renewable energy increases, the energy storage technology can make renewable energy stable and dispatch electricity easily. Now Taipower is carrying out the application of energy storage technology, selecting the place of energy storage equipment and promoting the commercialization of energy storage systems. Taipower also encourages private installation of large-scale energy storage equipment, and improves the utilization of overall energy. At the same time, Taipower promotes Energy Conservation: using smart meters and smart home appliances allows users to understand the electricity bill trials, usage analysis, energy-saving recommendations, etc., to achieve the concept of smart family. After the information is transmitted back to the system, Taipower can also understand the sharp peak period of each place, and promote the demand response to encourage users to reduce electricity consumption during peak hours, so it can shift the electricity usage time from the peak period to achieve the effect of peak load shifting.

Community micro-grid model

Eventually, in order to ensure the stable power supply from smart grid, Taipower sets up a “preventive micro-grid” that maintains power supply in the area and uses the communication technology to create a complete information flow. When power is interrupted, Taipower can remote control of power and rapid change of power supply route to recover power quickly, which means it not only reduces labor costs, but also improves power supply reliability. When the preventive micro-grid is built on the outlying islands or in the rural areas, it can avoid power outages or alleviate the inconvenience caused by power outages. For example, during Typhoon Soudelor came, the road was interrupted near the neighboring area of Fushan Elementary School in Wulai, and there was a power outage for 17 days. Now Taipower has built a preventive micro-grid there. Once there is a typhoon, the microgrid can automatically maintain power for 28 hours, so that Taipower can recover the power as soon as possible.

Watching film about “preventive micro-grid”

In 2025, a power generation structure with renewable energy accounting for 20%, natural gas 50%, and coal burning 30% will come true. Smart grids will be key factor of this goal. We must need advanced equipment, Internet of Things, big data, Information Technology (IT), and renewable energy management system with the concepts of energy creation, energy storage, and energy conservation to make Taiwan have a high quality and high effective smart power network.