New tool calculates smart grid impacts and benefits

In news from our northern neighbours, the US Department of Energy (USDE) has developed a tool to estimate the actual effect of smart grid technologies in terms of reduction of greenhouse gas and other emissions resulting from power production and usage.

USDE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) offers the Emissions Quantification Tool for free to enable utilities and industry to evaluate environmental impacts, as well as providing the operational data to assess investment potential across a range of project types, including smart grid-enabled solar PV generation installations and air-conditioner demand response based on daily and critical peak pricing. The project paramaters are only relevant to the mainland US, but it provides food for thought. The tool calculates the resulting changes to carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, as well as the energy and financial savings that can be achieved by integrating smart grid technologies. 

Once calculations are complete, the tool produces a detailed report with pre- and post-technology adoption comparisons and informs the user of a number of variables, such as how much energy storage would be needed to provide a certain operational benefit.

PNNL developed the tool under the guidance of utility and industry representatives, who helped ensure that it would deliver the high-level results needed for a business case. It has found that emissions impacts vary and that the results are often counterintuitive, with expected results often varying greatly from region to region. The calculations are based on established data sources including information from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, among others.

A paper that outlines the science behind the tool was featured in a paper at the IEEE Power & Engineering Society meeting held in Boston earlier this month. 

Image credit: ©iStockphoto.com/Jeremy Swinborne