The Internet of Things has already disrupted many aspects of our daily lives. In the home, appliances are becoming connected devices that not only allow us to control lighting and online shopping, but even provide safety features when we go out. In industry, smart factories are changing the way products are made. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) not only makes manufacturers more agile, but also enables them to respond more quickly and cost-effectively to changing customer needs.
At the heart of these developments is information. The Internet of Things allows machines to exchange information directly and connect networks to share it. However, it would be a big mistake to assume that this new technology exists only in the home or the factory.
Transmission network
There is another revolution going on in the energy industry. The way society generates and delivers energy is changing, led by new technologies, and the growing awareness of environmental requirements.
The power received by traditional transmission networks is generated from large facilities. Conventional power plants, whether coal, gas or nuclear, benefit from economies of scale. These huge power plants feed energy into the transmission network. Such energy is sometimes transmitted over long distances using high-voltage cables, transported to various locations, and then converted by regional substations into voltage specifications that can be used by homes and factories. This kind of infrastructure is huge, spread over hundreds of miles of ground cables, and the maintenance burden is extremely heavy. Yet until recently, it was the most efficient way to power an entire country.
This valuable infrastructure, combined with the impact on the environment, has prompted many to look into alternative energy sources. Some governments invest in renewable energy: hydropower or wind power. But this will not solve the problem of transmission and distribution. There is still a demand for long cables.
Generate electricity for transmission
However, modern science and technology has enabled the development of many new energy sources. Small power plants have been developed as an efficient alternative to the centralized structure of the traditional power grid. These plants, called distributed power resources (DER), rarely exceed 10 megawatts (megawatts) in size and use a variety of renewable energy sources to generate electricity. In addition to the familiar wind turbines and solar panels, it also includes biomass and even geothermal energy as power sources.
Because these alternative energy sources are often used to supplement the traditional power grid, they are often connected to the existing grid. However, this also creates a lot of potential problems. Some alternative energy sources are unreliable. If there is no wind, the wind turbine cannot generate electricity. If there is no sunlight, solar cells cannot function. This also makes the relationship between supply and demand very complex. In addition, when regional power plants generate sufficient energy, the excess can be sent back to the traditional grid. However, the infrastructure itself is not designed for two-way transmission of power, and the introduction of regional power generation can cause hardware damage. Distributed power resources must be regulated to ensure their quality, and the power delivered to the grid must be properly managed.
Enter the smart grid
The technology behind the Internet of Things makes this ideal possible. Smart grids use data to control decentralized power generation networks, combining the output of traditional large power plants with the capacity of local homes/businesses/communities.
Smart technology not only allows home refrigerators to communicate with stores via the Internet, but also allows DER to communicate with other parties on the grid. In this way, the system can automatically manage the relationship between regional consumer demand and grid output. In addition to controlling the output power of the DER, it can also coordinate and synchronize the power supplied by the grid. In a traditional centralized grid, consumers are completely passive, consuming electricity and then paying for it. Smart grids allow consumers to be truly active participants, balancing their needs with their own generation capacity to properly plan for local generation. When demand exceeds local generating capacity, consumers can supplement it with electricity from the grid. At other times, surplus electricity generated locally can be sold back to the grid, thereby reducing electricity costs for consumers.
Another benefit of balancing regional and centralized generation is the ability to reduce infrastructure. If a community or enterprise can use distributed generation to supplement its own power needs, the grid will not need to carry the same amount of power as before. As a result, the size of the grid can be reduced, reducing maintenance requirements and reducing environmental impact.
In terms of smart factories and connected homes, the security of data transmission has become a key element in building a smart grid. In terms of the connectors needed, such components must not only cope with high data transfer rates, but also withstand the harsh conditions that energy infrastructure can encounter. To provide connectivity in this demanding environment, products must be designed to operate beyond the limits of “normal” data connector specifications.