Scotty! We Need More Power!

By Alan

I was asked the other day what "The Smart Grid" was, and what it was going to do, and I had to pause a bit, because the term means different things to different people. Predictions about what it will mean are even more difficult, if not impossible. In fact, in order to know more about what's going to happen in the future, we need to understand what's there now. So, we'll do this in two parts. What we have, and what we'll be getting.

First, let's explain a little bit about the Electricity Grid in the United States.

Demand and Supply?

Unlike nearly all other products, electricity must be instantly generated as soon as it is consumed. Notice the order of importance there. Production has to keep up with consumers, not the other way around. Nearly everything else that we produce and consume is opposite: Someone creates the product, and develops inventory, and the consumer buys what's available. In the current electrical market, consumers just consume, and everything else is geared towards keeping up with that demand. Blackouts, brownouts, and sudden soaring prices are all directly related to unexpected difference between demand and supply.

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