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Chelan PUD could make its grid 'smarter' [The Wenatchee World, Wash. :: ](Wenatchee World, The (WA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Aug. 22--WENATCHEE -- Technology that the Chelan County PUD is studying to better track the energy usage of its 500 biggest power users may one day lead to greater energy savings and cost reductions that could help keep rates low for everyone. Commissioners learned Monday that changes in software and equipment could transform the utility's increasingly automated power grid into a smart grid -- a power system that can track and react to changes in power usage in real time. A smart-grid system could allow the PUD to use a computer from its office to observe and record its customers' power-usage habits during the day, as it's happening. For a power-hungry company, like any of the county's fruit packers or supermarkets, that type of precise information shows them ways to adjust their habits to reduce their energy costs, said John Stoll, the PUD's managing director of customer service. The utility's top 500 power users represent only 1 percent of the county's total retail electric meters, but they consume 40 percent of the locally sold, non-contracted power, he said. "Our larger customers are very interested in smart grid, even with our low rates," Stoll said. The technology could benefit the utility by: Providing a lot more power-usage data needed to make decisions about how big to build its system to handle growth and where to build. This would contribute to a more reliable power system that requires fewer repairs or costly upgrades, officials say. Reduce or eliminate the need for meter readers in the field. Improve the accuracy of monthly billing. Refine the surplus power the PUD has available at a given time to sell on the regional wholesale market at higher prices. This extra revenue, together with cost controls and wise spending, helps keep local rates low. The PUD will spend next year studying the costs of fitting these big customers with "two-way" digital smart meters and making adjustments necessary to its other equipment to make the smart grid work. They won't know how much it'll cost until then, Stoll said. If officials decide to move forward with smart grid, the utility could begin buying some of this needed equipment in 2016. If the project is successful, smart-grid-type services could be expanded to residential customers, Stoll said. Smart grid has been hailed for the myriad possibilities it creates for utilities and utility customers to better control and monitor their energy they use. It could make possible everything from tracking energy use on a home laptop to using a smart phone to control home appliances or allowing customers to prepay for the power they intend to use and add to it, as necessary. But, as with smart phones, only a few of the thousands of applications available are all that most users really need. That's why PUD officials say they want to be conservative and only build into the grid the smart features that are needed. "The approach has to be pragmatic and prudent," Stoll said. "We don't want to get ahead of our customers." Reach Christine Pratt at 509-665-1173 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @CPrattWW. ___ (c)2014 The Wenatchee World (Wenatchee, Wash.) Visit The Wenatchee World (Wenatchee, Wash.) at www.wenatcheeworld.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |