The Smart Grid: Enabling Energy Efficiency and Demand Response (1st edition)

The power system has often been cited as the greatest and most complex machine ever built, yet it is predominantly a mechanical system. Technologies and intelligent systems are now available that can significantly enhance the overall functionality of power distribution and make it ready to meet the needs of the 21st century. This book explains how sensors, communications technologies, computational ability, control, and feedback mechanisms can be effectively combined to create this new, continually adjusting "smart grid" system. It provides an understanding of both IntelliGrid^SM architecture and EnergyPort^SM as well as how to integrate intelligent systems to achieve the goals of reliability, cost containment, energy efficiency in power production and delivery, and end-use energy efficiency.