How does Smart Grid fit into the cloud (computing)?
The cloud computing concept cuts across verticals. And another one which goes along in utilities is Smart Grid. What do they have in common? Cloud computing being consumer focused at this time and even though smart grid aspires to be a consumer focused technology it is likely to get onto the cloud to get into mainstream.
Today, there is no visibility on the chain of power generation to determine how and where it's being used and whether its delivery is as efficient as possible. Like today's data center for computing purposes there is no equivalent in Utilities to effectively manage power. The data level / technical implementation include real-time alerts and other notifications based on the urgency of the event and require attention immediately, whereas bulk transactions can be process at higher time intervals. With the shift to cloud computing as an upcoming change in the industry, part of this shift attributes to the opening of cloud platforms. This means managing demand better, participation by consumers, which means better analysis and management of power demand; giving consumers higher control such as being able to generate their own energy, being able to sell the extra energy by sending it back to the grid. Optimizing assets and operating efficiently that can control the players of the grid to save un-used electricity meaning more distribution of power generated. One of the main features for the grid is self-healing that can be achieved on the cloud. If anything goes wrong at one place, network should be able to route through other sources. Moreover, making the grid hacker-proof as much as possible and ensuring innovation through new products, markets and services. The idea is how much can the cloud be leveraged than only using web services. However, cloud computing not only provides more computing resources based on demand but also provisions new services and capabilities as needed by individual customers. Implementation of smart grid will mean utilities needing to store much more data about customer usage, meter information, readings etc. than now.
Not forgetting the customer, getting them involved, provide them access to the data that is being captured by the utility, that too real time is essential for the entire solution to be effective. If it's for a "Smart" cloud it would dynamically manage the capacity as it relates to power, just the same way when user demand changes. This capability provides both the customer and the utility with benefits. These issues all point to the greater need to understand how we're using our valuable resource. I believe that the future strength is the ability to maintain the level of growth which depends on successful adoption of Grid.
