smart grid to smart consumers (ics 690)

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From Smart Grids to Smart Consumers

Robert Brewerrbrewer@lava.net

Collaborative Software Development Laboratory

Information and Computer SciencesUniversity of HawaiiHonolulu HI 96822

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Pop Quiz! 1) What is your home’s baseline power usage?•probably in hundreds of watts

2) What is your home’s peak power usage?•probably 2-6 kW (depends on size)

3) How much electricity does average HI home use per day?•~13 kWh

4) How much power does an electric oven use?•~4 kW

5) What is Oahu’s peak power consumption?•~1.2 GW

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Fossil Fuels Are A Problem IPCC says climate is changing because of us•1m sea level rise this century•Ocean acidification•Weather more variable (storms, droughts)

Oil will run out this century•91% of HI electricity from fossil fuels•All ground & air transport is fossil fueled

Before it runs out, oil price will skyrocket•Hawaii spends $800K/hr for oil imports now

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(Part Of) The Solution Reduce CO2 emissions from electricity use•Reduce electricity use!•Use electricity more efficiently•Increase renewable energy production•Smooth demand curve

Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative•Pact between HECO, State, and Fed DoE•Generate 40% of energy locally by 2030•Reduce demand by 30% by 2030

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HCEI Website

http://www.hawaiicleanenergyinitiative.org/

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Utility Challenges Integrating renewable energy is hard•Supply & demand must be equal•Wind and solar are variable•Demand is quite variable throughout day

•No good way to store energy

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HELCO Wind Integration

HRD wind farm output

Apollo wind farm output

System frequency

Wind speed

Limited wind farm output

Frequency stabilized

April 2007

Slide from Art Seki of HECO, REIS presentation 9/24/2009

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More Utility Challenges Reducing electricity use is hard•Feedback is slow (monthly bill in kWh)•Fossil fueled electricity is (relatively) cheap

•Price doesn’t reflect true costs-Prime time electricity is more expensive-GHG emissions are not really free

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Daily Demand Curve 1

Electricity demand has an evening peak

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Varying demand requires utility to spin up and down generation throughout the day

Daily Demand Curve 2

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Solution: Smart Grid Broad term used for many goals•Make grid more reliable•Accommodate distributed generation•Support time of day pricing•Make grid more efficient•Resilient in face of attack or disaster•Enable active consumer participation

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Smart Grid Implementations

Strong utility focus•Smart metering (2-way networked meters)

-Allows variable pricing &“demand response”

•Smart appliances to shift load off-peak•Fault isolation via power line monitoring•Pumped hydro for renewable energy storage

•Modeling renewable sources We focus on consumer end•More info about energy usage & impact ($, CO2)

•Enable “smart” energy decisions

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Consumer Options Changing HECO is hard

Homeowners have options•Install solar hot water heater•Upgrade to more efficient appliances•Install PV panels•Change their behavior

Behavior changes will be key•Only option for renters & office dwellers

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The Goal How do we help people become “smarter”?•Design and implement simulations of “highly transparent” energy generation and usage.

•Design and implement consumer-facing information repositories and interfaces

Learn:•What kinds of information do consumers need, at what time and in what way, in order for them to make “smart” energy choices?

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What is a “smart” choice? A “smart” consumer energy choice is a conscious trade-off between the “3 Cs”:

What choice has the least cost?•Run the A/C when energy is cheapest

What choice generates the least carbon?•Run the A/C when the carbon intensity of the grid is lowest

What choice is most convenient?•Start the A/C before I get home

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Implications No grid can ever be “smart” enough to eliminate the need for “smart” consumers.

Technological support for smart consumption is a non-trivial problem, involving:•getting the right information on energy•storage, analysis, presentation, delivery•social, privacy implications

Results will shape smart grid development•What consumers need from utilities•Design of future smart appliances

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Sidebar: Why Hawaii? Each island grid is isolated (for now)•Complicates running grid•Simplifies analysis since everything is local

Abundance of renewable sources•Solar, wind, geothermal, wave, biofuel

Heavy reliance on fossil fuels•Prices are high, volatile, and going up

Connection to ‘āina•Familiarity with limited resources/space

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Research Direction: Residential

Residential energy conservation•Usage in identical homes can differ by 2x•Behavior changes needed to meet HCEI goals

First step is providing feedback•Monthly bills are poor feedback mechanism

•Realtime feedback devices now available-TED 5000 provides web interface and portable display

•Many studies show feedback alone leads to 5-15% energy conservation

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HECO Bill

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TED Display (Before Coffee)

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TED Display (After Coffee)

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Beyond Simple Feedback Bring in environmental data•What is the grid carbon intensity right now?

•What will it be in an hour? A day?•Does this actually motivate conservation?

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Grid Carbon Intensity

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Social Media Share usage data with friends•Is peer pressure effective? Long term?•Do public commitments motivate?•Important privacy implications

Compare usage to “comparable” homes•How to find comparable homes?•If my usage is lower, do I splurge?

Crowdsourced suggestions•Massive dataset could yield suggestions-Replace fridge, adjust thermostat

Link would-be conservers with mentors

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StepGreen Website

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Google PowerMeter

Images from http://www.davidnaylor.co.uk/ andhttp://earth2tech.com/

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Back To Smart Grid Do people really want HECO controlling their appliances? Knowing their habits?

Fine grained consumer control too much hassle

Could use “agent” to mediate•Agent uses sensor data to model consumer behavior

•Consumer sets their prefs in terms of 3 C’s

•Agent talks to utility-Receives requests to reduce usage-Receives variable pricing data-Makes decisions on what to do

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Research Direction: Office Office energy conservation•Occupants have little control•Often occupants don’t see or pay power bill

First step is providing feedback•Building-wide feedback displays available-Hard to see individual impact

•Per-office metering is costly and invasive

•Can per-floor metering provide middle ground?

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Local Collaboration Focus on microenvironments (floors of bldg)•Provide explicit support to reduction process

•Support via community websites Set up community website per floor to share power reduction strategies•Forums•Wiki pages•Public commitments among floor occupants

What impact does website have on power savings?

What kind of community develops?

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Website Mockup

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Current Work WattDepot•Research infrastructure for energy data storage and analysis

OSCAR•Oahu Smart Consumer Analysis & Research

Saunders Hall Energy Competition•Understanding impact of incentives, communication on conservation

Community Outreach•Collaborations with Hawaii organizations

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WattDepot Integrates power data from diverse sources•From utility generation to consumer usage

Implemented as RESTful web service•PUT http://host/wattdepot/sources/saunders/sensordata/2009-07-28T09:00:00.000-10:00

•GET http://host/wattdepot/sources/kahe02/power/2009-12-13T18:00:00.000-10:00

Status•Dynamically fetch meter data•Can chart data via Google Visualization API•In use by ICS 413/613 for projects

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WattDepot Features Can represent aggregations of meters•Floors of a building•All PV generation on campus•All power plants on Oahu

Performs data interpolation when needed•Meter data comes at irregular times•Necessary for aggregation

Provides values calculated from data•Power, energy, carbon

Open source•http://wattdepot.googlecode.com/

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WattDepot Architecture

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WattDepot Sensors

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WattDepot Display Clients

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OSCAR Simulated dataset of Oahu power generation:•Power production by baseline, cycling, peaking plants

•Carbon intensity of each plant Can also simulate future data Simulated data stored in WattDepot Design of consumer-facing interfaces to support “smart” choices (3 Cs)•ICS 413 & 613 class projects will start this

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Saunders Energy Competition

5 floors in Saunders Hall compete•Series of rounds•Scheduled for early 2010

Different incentives and communication media each round•“Ambient” displays show floor power usage•Per-floor websites for collaboration•Winner gets some $ savings returned

Hypotheses•Ambient displays & websites aid conservation

•Incentives help in short term, but not long

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Other HI Energy Orgs 1 Blue Planet Foundation•Goal: end fossil fuel use in HI in a decade

•Founded by Henk Rogers, local tech leader

Produced Hawaii Home Energy Makeover show•Worked on making 2 homes more efficient

•Aired in October Planning energy conversation contest•< 50 homes•Tracking progress via website

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Other HI Energy Orgs 2 Kanu Hawaii•Local non-profit org•Working on sustainability, compassionate community, economic resilience

Kanu website allows members to make commitments on variety of topics

Has grant to study power meters & audits•Determine their effectiveness in HI•Deployed to hundreds of homes

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Other HI Energy Orgs 3 Hawaii Energy Efficiency Program•New home of HECO’s efficiency programs

•Now separate from HECO, managed by SAIC

Planning website where people can compare electricity usage to similar homes•Based on monthly data from HECO

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Deliverables Fall 2009 WattDepot implementation•Retrieving data from Saunders (usage & PV), Philip’s house, OSCAR

•Providing display and simple analyses of data

OSCAR implementation•Generating simulated Oahu data•Dialog with HECO validating simulated data

Saunders Energy Competition•Experimental design•Website prototype

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Questions? Please ask away!

Or email me at rbrewer@lava.net