EE Times recently produced a special interactive edition called The Day the Lights Went Out in Japan. The publication puts the current Japanese earthquake/tsunami crisis in historical perspective while delving into the nature of a modern society that is run on electricity, using a grid that is out of date.
“The subcontext of this story is our reliance on electric power, and, more significantly, the engineering of reliability and redundancy in power supplies, power grids, nuclear reactors and production and distribution networks.”
While the dire situation at the Fukushima reactors has taken center stage in the news, taking that much generating capacity off the grid has resulted in rolling blackouts throughout Kanto, Tohoku and surrounding areas. Beyond the direct effect to homes and businesses, the loss of available electricity caused a reduction in train service, required hospitals to transfer thousands of patients, and slowed the movement of cargo. Once again, the call for adopting new smart grid technology is being heard throughout the developed world.
Rolling Blackouts in Misa Japan after Earthquake and Tsunami
Smart grids can’t prevent the damage caused by natural catastrophes, but they can go a long way in mitigating the effects of crippled infrastructure and speeding the recovery of service. New monitoring, visualization and control systems are being designed for just this purpose. For example, installing security cameras in automated substations allows remote operators within control centers to access equipment damage while simultaneously monitoring input from Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs).
Control Room Video Wall
From the standpoint of embedded computing, a combination of multicore CPUs, video processing cards, GPU Computing technology and the development of enhanced computational algorithms are increasing operational awareness within such control centers serving the energy industry.
“Thirty years from now, the grid will look like the internet,” said Brad Roberts, president of the Electricity Storage Association. “Twenty years ago we had 3,500 generators, today there are 200,000, and in 20 years there could be tens of millions, including solar panels on homes and businesses.”
Trenton is at the forefront of designing customer-driven, long-life embedded computing platforms ideal for use in implementing smart grid technology. We design and manufacture our board-level products right here in the United States. Call us today at 770-287-3100 with your system requirements.
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