Alberta Smart Grid Report

Transcription

1 Alberta Smart Grid Report 2011 APIC Power and Energy Innovation Forum, Edmonton Alberta Fino Tiberi Executive Director, Regulatory Policy Alberta Utilities Commission November 3,

2 Disclaimer The views expressed in this presentation are my own and are not necessarily the views of the Alberta Utilities Commission or the Government of Alberta. 2

3 Introduction Government of Alberta asked AUC to investigate smart grid in Alberta and other jurisdictions Participants welcomed the approach to first understand the Alberta situation and learn from others before proceeding with policy Alberta has a competitive generation market and retail market and no vertically-integrated government-owned monopoly Alberta already has considerable smart grid investments deployed because of the nature of the Alberta market and without special government smart grid legislation 3

4 Common Issues Many governments believe that smart grid must be mandated and taxpayer funds used to support it Cost of service regulation may stand in the way of some smart grid deployment because of inherent incentives Technologies are evolving to become smarter the choice is how much functionality to use not whether to use it Utilities have been investing in smart grid technologies as a matter of good engineering and business practice Utilities have been evaluating smart grid investments using the traditional cost benefit analysis Smart grid technologies in one part of the grid do not need to rely on smart grid technologies in other parts of the grid to be effective 4

5 Alberta Specific Facts High load factors due to industrial and large commercial consumers being the biggest users of electricity Majority of these customers have meters that record usage in 15-minute intervals; they do not need more metering technology to manage their usage Residential and small business represents a low percentage of usage High demand periods do not coincide with high price periods and vice versa Demand response programs, as a result, may not provide as big a benefit as can be found in other jurisdictions Generation, transmission, distribution and retail are not integrated 5

6 Generation Participants already have sufficient incentives to employ smart grid technologies to make their operations as efficient as possible Competitive market structure enables the development of renewable generation without feed-in tariffs; challenge is to integrate it into the operation of the market The Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) has rulemaking powers to accommodate large scale renewable generation using smart grid technologies 6

7 Transmission The AESO is faced with the challenge of having to balance the use of smart grid technologies for reliability with impacting the operation of the energy market The AESO and transmission facilities owners using business cases, cost-benefit analysis and pilot projects to assess technologies Good engineering and business practices driving the use of technologies; not government mandates 7

8 Distribution Technologies implemented based on customer-centric business cases, best utility practice and evolving standards Performance based regulation well suited to address rollout of technologies that will improve productivity Quantifiable societal benefits (such as demand management programs) could be recognized in properly constructed performance-based regulation plans or cost of service regulation but customers always pay. 8

9 Distribution-related Activities ATCO Electric Automated meter reading system installed Distributed automation in selected areas Outage management, work force management and geospatial information systems deployed Development of distribution automation/distribution SCADA standards 9

10 Distribution-related Activities ENMAX Power Corporation Self-healing distribution automation system deployed on selected 3-phase switches Integration of graphical information and outage management systems Comprehensive SCADA system for distribution and transmission 10

11 Distribution-related Activities EPCOR Distribution and Transmission Inc Deployment of graphical information system Installation of distributed automation components on certain feeders and circuits to improve reliability 11

12 Distribution-related Activities FortisAlberta Inc Deployed advanced metering infrastructure to enable automated meter reading throughout its entire service area Installed distributed automation components in targeted areas to improve reliability Invested in geographical information systems 12

13 Distribution-related Activities Cities of Lethbridge and Red Deer Lethbridge upgraded protection relays from electromechanical to digital Red Deer upgraded protection and control of substation using high-speed communication networks and standards Cities deployed dedicated fibre optics for SCADA requirements 13

14 Distribution-related Activities Rural Electrification Associations Implemented AMR systems for most of their service areas Investigating benefits of in-home display devices 14

15 Smart Meters Policy decision is whether to proceed with mandated rollout or rely on natural evolution of the market Minimum meter functionality requirements, including communications protocols will need to be developed regardless Information systems will need to adapt to increase in data produced, processed and exchanged Significant billing and settlement functions are already in place Incremental cost of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) may be less as a result 15

16 Smart Meters (continued) Value proposition of meters more attractive when demand response programs are in place, but this needs multi-period pricing plans which are not prevalent in Alberta and may not be well suited to Alberta Ownership of meter, if not by the utility, could pose operational challenges Operational benefits of smart meter and AMI investments are documented; challenge is to determine and quantify their societal benefits Societal benefits arise from the efficient use of resources that supply electricity; multi-period pricing plans and demand response programs could promote wise energy use 16

17 Retail and Customer Consumers currently can choose home area network technology that could integrate energy management programs and applications Customer education and awareness programs critical to foster acceptance of smart grid technologies promoting greater pricing choices and access to energy information Consumer privacy and security issues must be considered and addressed before any smart meter deployment 17

18 Roles and Responsibilities Smart transmission and distribution technology investments already being undertaken, have passed cost-benefit tests and do not require any policy initiatives by the government Governments must decide whether to allow the grid to evolve naturally, remove disincentives for voluntary deployment of smart grid (cost of service), actively create incentives (taxpayers pay), legislate objectives to be quantified in cost benefits studies, or simply legislate objectives and have the regulator oversee the process Regulators are not partners but must make clear the regulatory requirements for smart grid approval Where possible, market forces should prevail 18

19 Questions 19