Power infrastructure damage is a reality in the face of severe weather and natural disasters. Improving resilience and faster responses to outages has become a national imperative. The rollout of smart grids—which will rely heavily on electrical workers and integrators—is intended to help utilities anticipate or detect damage, isolate it and speed response. Increasingly, utilities must accommodate power from a variety of sources. This is especially important worldwide as infrastructures age and weather becomes more unpredictable. 

The smart or “self-healing” grid—a system of reliable backbone power and intelligent local networks—is being tested and installed to offer control and communication for troubleshooting, or to provide preparation for unforeseen events.

A few features of the self-healing grid include a secure two-way flow of information, accommodation for alternative energy sources and the ability to isolate damaged power lines or other infrastructure to minimize the disturbance. 

There is a global effort underway that will rely on lineworkers for infrastructure build-out and low-voltage integrators for the controls and management, said Massoud Amin, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Minnesota. Amin is often referred to as the “father of smart grids,” having led the development of research and development for North American utilities after 9/11. He recently conducted research focused on global transition dynamics to enhance resilience, agility, security and efficiency of complex dynamic systems including critical infrastructures.

The electrical grid of the future may be made of a constellation of microgrids for regional management, powered by a stronger backbone of power, Amin said, all of which is controlled by a network of computers. And when damage occurs, corrective actions could, in some cases, be made within minutes.

Solving today’s challenges

One common problem with the grid of yesterday—and today—is that damage in one area can lead to issues in another. If a grid is self-healing, rapid activation of circuit breakers, even automatically, could isolate the damage and prevent problems on other lines in the system. 

In the coming years, the current grid will struggle to keep up with the need to incorporate more renewable sources of electricity, such as wind and solar. Utilities and government entities are making efforts to improve the power grid’s capabilities and reliability. 

The recently enacted U.S. Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is providing funds for such projects based on power and grid reliability and resiliency. Organizations such as Quanta Technology, Raleigh, N.C., are providing services that include analysis and grid planning to meet the need for greater electrical load and deployment of sensors and software management.

The goal is ambitious: large-scale critical infrastructures for energy, communication, water supply and oil and gas that can self-­regulate and self-stabilize with the help of some human oversight.

Amin began focusing on such self-healing properties when working with the U.S. Department of Defense in the 1990s on stabilizing damaged fighter planes. The idea was building a plane that could continue flying even when damaged. 

In a similar way, the overlay of computer sensors, communication and control technologies can provide such capacity to power grids.

Keeping the lights on 

Much of the self-healing grid build-out has been undertaken by utility companies, while electrical contractors will have a large role when projects launch. 

The electrical infrastructure itself is what Amin called an engineering marvel of the 20th century. Now it needs to evolve. More than a decade ago, the evolution began with a mandate for improved energy systems, known as the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. The act dictated improved energy security and renewable energy production. 

Now, to transform the current infrastructure into a self-healing smart grid, two simultaneous efforts are underway: building a stronger, smarter high-voltage backbone, and regional microgrids that are mostly self-sufficient power systems. The stronger backbone will accommodate power from solar, wind, geothermal, nuclear generators and other sources—often from faraway places—to create an upgraded continental grid.

Currently, there are about 450,000 miles of high-voltage lines between Canada and the United States. 

“We need to increase that by about 9% in the next 10–20 years to make the system more reliable and to integrate less carbon-emitting sources,” Amin said. 

It will be an expensive endeavor. For a smarter grid, Amin estimates, the price tag ranges from $340 billion to $480 billion. This includes the secure sensing and communication backbone with enhanced security, resilience and stability over a 20-year period. That breaks down to between $20 billion and $25 billion per year for the stronger and smarter grid. 

“This might sound a long, costly investment, but it is one worth making,” Amin said. “Right off the bat, the benefits are around $70 billion a year from two areas.” 

One cost savings is in reduced outages. Currently, U.S. outage costs per year are between $80 billion and $188 billion, but the new self-healing grid will reduce that rate by about $49 billion per year, Amin explained. In addition, it would increase the system efficiency by 4%, which is another $20.4 billion per year (the two sets of saving equal about $70 billion). In addition, according to Amin, it would reduce carbon emission by 12%–18% by 2030.

Stronger backbone and more local microgrids

High- and low-voltage contractors will be needed for this development. New and more resilient power lines are one part of the effort, while low-voltage experts and integrators provide the sensor-based data management for self-healing.

“We need both,” Amin said, to ensure more distributed microgrids, a stronger backbone and more transmission. “Do we need big wire or do we need small wires? We actually need both.”

The low-voltage sensor-level upgrades have been underway for years, with smart meters at each customer site that can manage dynamic pricing, track energy consumption, identify problems with highly granular locations and help the system adjust to, address or even prevent problems. 

Sensor data and software help utilities ensure that in an emergency, hospitals or other critical service sites stay online. Austin, Texas, and parts of New York City are already exploring these smart distribution systems and running pilots.

For the most part, utilities and local governments are taking a decentralized approach with independence, but with flexibility that fosters shared intelligence of the local system and optimization of energy use.

Thus far, energy company Dominion Energy has installed approximately 2.1 million smart meters in homes and businesses. Related software will give customers more information and tools to better manage their energy use and bills. 

The company predicts that smart meters and other grid transformation investments will also help integrate new technologies such as private solar and electric vehicle charging stations into the grid. Investments in intelligent grid devices, smart meters and automated control systems will enable a “self-healing” grid, which will speed the restoration process by quickly identifying and isolating outages, Dominion indicated during the 2019 launch.

New York-based energy company Con Edison has its own project in place capturing energy from multiple resources, with a control center using real-time monitoring to manage shifting energy needs.

The smart meters the company has installed gather usage information and help the system anticipate power surges. Con Edison reports that the system saves money for customers by rewarding them for cutting back usage during peak periods. It also can electronically report the location of an outage for immediate response.

Utilities are embarking on a gradual, step-by-step upgrade of local systems toward a smarter, more resilient, self-healing grid.

“The undeniable part of this is the importance of the grid, whether it’s at a high-voltage or low-voltage side—the whole system—this becomes more and more important for our lives and for our whole civilization,” Amin said.