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Enable smarter, cleaner power through technology innovation
Markus StaebleinGeneral Manager, Smart GridTexas Instruments
Kripa VenkatIndustrial Systems & Solutions Manager, Smart GridTexas Instruments
Enable smarter, cleaner power through technology innovation 2 June 2014
Advanced electronic technologies allow the intelligent power grid to embrace renewable forms of energy generation, bringing greater efficiency and a greener world.
Grid parity will soon be upon us, bringing power from renewable sources that costs the same or less than power from fossil fuels and other traditional sources. We will achieve these low renewable energy costs through a continued investment in solar and wind turbine technology development and manufacturing, but also by investing in an intelligent power network, the so-called smart grid. As a leading supplier of analog and embedded processing technologies, Texas Instruments (TI) is closely involved in developing the smart grid, providing integrated circuit solutions that enable power equipment manufacturers to introduce greater measurement, control and communication in their products. The result will be an intelligent, efficient network that supports more extensive generation of energy from renewable sources, with a safer and more efficient energy grid for generations to come.
After years of work on solar- and wind-collecting
technologies, we are now approaching the break-
even point where using renewable energy systems
will be competitive in cost with generating power
from fossil fuels. We have long anticipated that
alternate sources of energy will provide reliable
power and avoid contributing to atmospheric
changes through carbon release. Soon these
renewable sources will also become economically
advantageous, and it makes sound business sense
to invest in power generation from sunlight and wind
instead of coal, oil and natural gas.
Calculating the relative costs of different forms of
power generation is complex. Costs vary among
countries, regions within large countries, and even
individual utility companies. As a result, we won’t
see an overnight changeover to what is being
widely referred to as grid parity, when the cost of
power delivered from renewable sources is equal
to or lower than that from traditional sources.
Rather, a gradual transition will occur during the
next decade or more. Government subsidies will
aid in the transition, but cost-reducing advances
in technology and manufacturing are already
overtaking subsidies as the primary growth driver.
Today, in fact, some wind farms that employ
the latest multi-megawatt turbines have already
achieved grid parity—that is, when the wind is
blowing. Solar panels will take longer, though
they promise to introduce an even more radical
change in energy-gathering than windmills. While
wind farms usually require large investments in
infrastructure to operate efficiently, solar generation
can be used effectively at almost any scale, from
a handful of panels on the rooftop of an individual
dwelling, to a field of panels covering acres. Both
forms of energy gathering, but especially solar, will
significantly change the topology of the power grid
by introducing more widely distributed sources of
power generation. As grid parity is achieved, it will
accelerate this trend dramatically.
Enable smarter, cleaner power through technology innovation 3 June 2014
The smart grid enables decentralized power generation
Today, the momentum carrying us toward grid parity
is strong, but issues remain before the promise
can become a reality. One set of challenges we
face today is around how to keep driving down
the cost of sun- and wind-collected energy. This
will require continued investments to develop
new technologies and manufacturing techniques.
Today’s improvements focus on materials used in
panels to increase sunlight conversion to electricity;
increasing the scale and efficiency of wind turbines;
and sophisticated algorithms to help solar and wind
farms gather the maximum energy from continuously
changing environmental conditions. Energy storage
improvements are also crucial to help even out the
supply of power when the wind dies down or the
sun doesn’t shine. Despite the issues remaining,
numerous developments in these and other areas
have already brought down costs significantly and will
continue to do so in the years ahead.
Another set of challenges toward achieving grid
parity lies in adding intelligence to the larger
utility structure to make it operate more reliably
and efficiently. Referred to as the smart grid,
the intelligent power network aims to include
measurement, communication and control at every
stage, from the power generating station to the end
appliance. Everything in the grid -- every generator,
substation, relay, transformer, meter, machine,
transmission line— and all that is attached to it can
potentially be measured and observed to ensure
that power is delivered effectively where it is needed
and used without waste.
In addition to cost savings and reliable delivery, the
smart grid will provide an essential infrastructure for
the distributed generation of power from renewable
sources. In the future, a utility grid must be capable
of managing the bidirectional flow of electricity
to customers who sometimes consume power,
and at other times generate their own. Therefore,
the grid must be able to manage demand versus
creation in real time, relying on the varied types
of decentralized power generation and new
capabilities of energy storage.
The increased electricity generation from renewable
sources also means utilities will have to rely
on power lines that transport energy over long
distances and distribute across regions. This is
because the sun shines brightest and the wind
blows consistently in places that are often far from
cities and industrial districts.
Figure 1 shows the topology of the future smart
grid. Along with the top-down flow of electricity from
traditional large generating plants, there is now input
from large solar and wind farms, and bidirectional
flow from producer-customers of various sizes.
Only an intelligent grid can integrate such
widespread electricity generation from renewable
sources, along with outputs from traditional large
generating stations, and supply power effectively
to all connected customers. The economies of
scale required to achieve grid parity can only come
about through the extensive application of solar
Enable smarter, cleaner power through technology innovation 4 June 2014
panels and wind turbines in decentralized energy
generation, as represented in the figure, which can
happen only through the smart grid.
It is difficult to not overstate the significance of smart
grids in the years ahead. By some estimates, the
world wastes as much as 40 percent of the power it
generates. Intelligent, efficient grids can avoid much
of that waste, saving us money and cutting deeply
into the greenhouse gas emissions that threaten
to destroy the earth’s climate equilibrium. With a
gradual changeover to renewable forms of energy
production, made possible in large part by investing
in smart grids and enabling grid parity, we can reduce
waste and environmental damage even more.
Intelligent electronics for the decentralized smart grid
The intelligence that makes the power grid “smart”
comes from advanced electronic technologies
that sense, monitor, measure, and provide
communication and control. These technologies
serve as the foundation for a range of equipment
used in the grid infrastructure, including protection
relays, power quality monitors, circuit breakers
and substation automation systems. Beyond the
infrastructure are inverters for solar and wind power,
smart meters at consumer sites, and a potentially
limitless number of switches, sensors and other
monitoring units that feed environmental information
into the power grid.
The specific requirements for these applications
vary widely, according to equipment usage,
industry and proprietary standards, and regulations
of different countries. As a result, designing circuits
that bring intelligence to these functions can be
demanding, forcing designers to look for integrated
circuit (IC) solutions that provide flexibility while
keeping costs down.
Centralgenerating station
~800MW or more Extra high voltagetransmission line
Subtransmission
Medium-sized power plants150MW
Factories
Distribution grid
City network~5MW substations
Secondary distribution460V – 220V
Farm
Rural network
City power plants150MW
Industrial customer~2MW
Solar farm
Wind farm
Offshorewind farm
Figure 1. The future smart grid with decentralized generation of energy from renewable sources.
Enable smarter, cleaner power through technology innovation 5 June 2014
Despite the variation found among smart grid
applications, the underlying electronic technology,
especially in grid infrastructure equipment, can be
generalized as shown in Figure 2.
In the measurement block on the left of the figure,
inputs come from external sensors in the form of
analog signals such as voltage or current levels.
Analog components condition the inputs and
convert them into digital signals that are fed into the
analytics and control block. Here a microcontroller
(MCU), microprocessor (MPU) or digital signal
processor (DSP) analyzes the digital signal data to
determine, say, usage of electricity, quality of service
or a potentially dangerous condition. The processor
then orders an action by, for example, a circuit
breaker or relay, if such an action is necessary.
Then the processor notifies control nodes in other
equipments and possibly a central control computer
via specialized modules in the communication
block, through which it also receives messages
from the other units. These blocks all require low-
voltage power to operate, which is supplied through
separate power management and isolation circuitry.
Since these functions will appear in many
applications following different standards, integrated
circuit solutions must include options to allow
equipment designers to select the capabilities they
need. A high level of analog and digital system-
on-chip (SoC) integration can help keep costs low
and support multiple channels, though in some
cases design requirements may dictate the use of
separate ICs for functions such as op amps and
analog-to-digital converters (ADCs).
On-chip communication solutions such as Industrial
Ethernet and Industrial Fieldbus can also provide
both economy and flexibility. The processor complex
at the heart of a solution should be completely
programmable and scalable, supporting multiple
CommunicationsAnalytics/
ControlMeasurement
IsolationAmplifier
CTCurrent
Transformer
PTPower
Transformer
AnalogInputs
OperationAmplifier ADC Processor Complex
A/D
A/D
LCD
Wireless Transceiver
Wireless Transceiver
Ethernet PHY Ethernet Port
DifferentialLine Drive
ParallelPort
Isolation Wired InterfaceTransceiver
DSPSample
RateConversion
FFT
Ethernet
Serial Interface
Parallel Interface
Wireless Interface
Display
CPUProtocolStack
ControlMonitor
Power Management
1.2V 1.8V 3.3V 5.0V
Smart grid control system functional blocks
Figure 2. TI’s product portfolio provides solutions for all IED blocks
Enable smarter, cleaner power through technology innovation 6 June 2014
protocols with the same hardware to help reduce
system cost and complexity and eliminate the need
for custom-designed logic. Software frameworks
can speed and simplify development along with
tools, reference designs and other support.
Providing solutions for smart grid design
Recognizing the importance of the smart grid and
decentralized power generation, TI is working
to solve energy problems through innovative
technologies, and ongoing research and
development. As a leading semiconductor provider
for intelligence in the power network, TI has a
dedicated smart grid team that develops solutions
and participates in international industry standards
committees and alliances to understand and drive
collaboration to solve future challenges.
TI is driving development in a number of areas,
including smart meters, automated substations and
solar inverters. These types of systems illustrate the
use of electronic intelligence to produce power, to
measure power consumption instantaneously for
more efficient usage, and to automatically regulate
the production of power from different sources and
supply it safely to customers.
TI technology is making grid parity a reality by
enabling the conversion from traditional one-
directional grids into bidirectional smart grids. Using
its long-term experience in power inverters, the
company enables fast development of renewable
generating systems to help achieve grid parity.
Its solar inverter and micro-inverter solutions
are cost-effective and provide high efficiency by
enabling more power output, reducing detrimental
heat dissipation and increasing system longevity.
The company’s solutions allow systems to extract
greater power through advanced conversion and
maximum power point tracking (MPPT).
TI technology is also at work in smart energy
meters, or e-meters, which are rapidly changing
the knowledge of electrical consumption patterns.
Smart meters use low-power RF or power line
communication (PLC) technologies to report
customer energy consumption data to utilities.
The meters can deliver useful energy consumption
information into the home or office through an on-
site display or a gateway, allowing consumers to
adapt their energy behavior and lower utility bills.
To aid system developers, TI’s three-phase and
one-phase metering SoCs and a fully integrated
Smart Meter Board combines all of the technology
required for measurement, communication and
control. A smart grid data concentrator aggregates
data supplied by local meters and other grid
devices before sending it to utilities. It also supports
multiple communication standards and various
communication interfaces on a single board.
In the power network infrastructure, TI is driving
substation automation with new protection relays,
circuit breakers, and monitoring systems to
control and manage the grid, along with backhaul
communication to utility control centers. A broad,
scalable portfolio of complementary analog and
embedded processing components, covering the
full range of functions shown in Figure 2, provides
flexibility and ease of development for designers
of substation equipments. The company’s readily
available hardware, software, tools, expertise and
reference designs enable customers to easily solve
complex measurement, control and communication
problems. TI can support multiple worldwide grid
deployments, while simultaneously leading field
tests with local utilities and manufacturers to ensure
the reliability of the grid and interoperability with
various standards.
Enable smarter, cleaner power through technology innovation 7 June 2014
A vision for clean, reliable energy
As the world looks ahead to a growing population with greater energy needs, we must do all we can to conserve and efficiently use power. We must strive to add renewable resources that can generate energy without releasing greenhouse gases or impacting the environment. Smart grids with decentralized energy production from solar panels and wind farms, enabled by advanced electronic technology, can help us reach these ends.
As a leading supplier of analog and processing IC solutions to the power industry, TI plays an important role in developing technology in the changeover to more intelligent, efficient power networks. The company’s flexible, high-performance solutions for applications such as solar inverters, smart meters and automated substation equipment are crucial to developing the smart grid with distributed power generation. TI technology advancements help introduce the intelligent measurement, communication and control that is rapidly transforming worldwide energy grids to provide cleaner, more reliable energy in the future.
For more information, visit www.ti.com/corp-ino-ind-mc-lp
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