When Smart Grid Meets Cloud Computing

Kirjoitettu 27.12.2009, kategoria Polttoaineet, Sekalaista, Sähkö, Uutiset.

There may not have been two phrases that garnered much more buzz in 2009 than “smart grid” and “cloud computing.” They have a lot in common too. Both refer to a collection of technologies that few people understand in depth. Both are understood to refer to forward looking, game changing technologies. And both have the potential to change the paradigms of their respective industries. Only one of the technologies (that would be cloud computing) is truly consumer focused at this time and although smart grid aspires to be a consumer focused technology it will likely have to piggy back on the cloud to get there.

The consumer side of smart grid involves meters that collect data on usage frequently and then make that data available to the consumer so that they can either manually or automatically (depending on how smart their appliances are) alter their electric usage during times of peak demand. That altered behavior will theoretically reduce the need for expensive and peaking generation that consumers pay for every day but only runs a few hours a year. As a result the system realizes both environmental and economic benefits. It sounds great but before the consumer can alter their usage patterns they need to get access to the data. That’s where the need for cloud computing architecture enters the scenario.

In the world of smart grid utilities will be storing much more data about customer usage than they do now. Most utilities currently take one reading of an electric meter for an entire month. With smart meters in place utilities will be storing thousands of readings a month for each meter. That means utilities will need lots and lots of databases (data centers actually) and applications to access and analyze that data. Computing power is going to be a big deal but it isn’t nearly the sweet spot for utilities. It should come as no surprise that computing giants like IBM, Google, Oracle and Microsoft are lining up to service utilities as they transfer to smart grid technology. So the data storage issues should be sorted out. Don’t forget about the customer though.

In order for the customer to be involved they need access to the data being captured by the utility and they probably need it in real time for the whole scheme to be effective. Customers will need to know, “How much power am I using RIGHT NOW, not fifteen minutes ago.” If smart grid technology delivers on its promises the utility should know that but getting the data to customers in a user friendly manner will be a trickier proposition. That’s where cloud computing platforms enter the situation again. All this data is stored somewhere (out there) in the cloud and that means the customer should have access to that data anytime they have an internet connection. Google’s Gmail service is a great example of a cloud computing service. All the data sits in a data center somewhere and a person’s local computer or iPhone or Blackberry can access that email via a web browser or other specialized program. All the heavy lifting (catching the mail, filtering spam, storage, indexing for search) happens in the cloud. And so it will need to be with customer meter data. Perhaps people could get meter data updates via email. Why not?

Two very necessary functions that utilities are not so good at involve data access and interfaces. In the world of smart grid customers will need user friendly access to data. That doesn’t mean they will visit the utility website every so often and download a csv or pdf file. User friendly means that customers must have access on the platforms, devices and in the format of their choosing. At the computer? Yes. On the mobile phone? Yes. Automatically? Yes. Via text message? Yes. HTML? Text? Yes. Yes. What will customers do with the data? If you’re the utility it really isn’t any of your business. The customers have a right to the data. And that also means they have a right to choose the interface that serves up the data to them. So once open access has been granted the customer can make the choice of interface.

Utilities may choose to make interface options available to consumers. Both Google and Microsoft have been promoting products (Google Power Meter and Hohm respectively) that can serve as an interface for utility customer meter data. But consumers may want to use other interfaces. An iPhone application to display meter data is far from a far fetched idea. How about sharing meter consumption on the Facebook page or Twitter account? Why not? People share a lot of things that you wouldn’t expect them to these days. There are many, many possibilities. Utilities have a few options here. You can try to think of all the possibilities, code applications to meet the needs then release and support them. An interesting idea but not advisable. Or utilities could offer application programming interfaces (API) that allow developers access to meter data given the permission of the customer. Or utilities could just lock the data into their own system giving customers limited access.

If the utility proponents of smart grid want the idea to take off they better seriously consider the API option. Because if you want a technology to take off you need to get people behind it. People will get behind it if they have options for accessing and using their meter data. Remember, the data belongs to the customer as much as the utility. It’s likely that they (or some enterprising software developer) will find a better use for it than the utility will. If you’re looking for some simple examples of the API option see the Twitter API. It allows developers to write applications that access a Twitter users “updates” with the permission of the user. Now think of frequent meter readings as status “updates” that the customer may want to make available to some application for whatever use suits them. Consider the image below which shows the Twitter “connection” window. It shows what applications have been given access to the Twitter updates of a particular user.

Approved Twitter Applications

Why not have a dashboard like this available to a utility customer? There’s no good reason why the customer shouldn’t have these features. Cost might be raised as a potential issue. Remember that utilities are going to have to give access to this data anyway. Giving limited access may end up costing a lot more in the long run if the technologies of smart grid are not sufficiently utilized to offer the promised benefits. Limited access could have a public relations cost associated with it as well. Imagine consumer advocates saying, “There go the utilities again, promising transparency and access to data as a result of new technologies, then failing to follow through.” Cloud computing, with it’s (theoretically) infinitely expandable architecture helps to make it possible.

Smart grid and cloud computing need to go hand in hand in order for the customer focused aspects of smart grid to be successful. Cloud computing offers great opportunities for both the utilities and customers. The technology vendors are out there. The data centers are out there. The application developers are out there. The utility industry just needs to join the party and meet them halfway.

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