An IoT-enabled energy grid

Fast disappearing are the days of utility companies sending workers out in vans to read electric and gas meters mounted to the exterior of your house. Homes today include an array of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) that can communicate demand and load data with the distribution grid. Within the distribution grid, smart devices are able to collect and analyze data to identify anomalies and instabilities. These devices are then able work together to identify measures for correcting the instabilities and avoiding costly brownouts and blackouts.

Additional IoT technology insertions are modernizing business processes across energy operations. For example, after a natural disaster, operators might deploy Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) to survey damage to power lines. As aviation authorities begin to evolve regulations on the use of UAS platforms around the world, autonomous flight operations will begin to allow for rapid fault identification and service restoration.

As EV charging begins to strain the electrical grid, new approaches to distributed energy generation must also be considered. Clean energy solutions, such as solar, allow individual consumers to become energy generators and participate in energy transactions with their peers and the utility. Consider the concept of a microgrid. Microgrids are self-contained energy generation and distribution systems that allow owner-operators to be heavily self-sufficient. Microgrid control systems not only rely on data captured from edge devices such as solar panels and wind turbines, but also require data collected from other internet-based services. The control system may capture real-time energy pricing data from a web service, enabling the system to determine the optimal time to generate, buy, or sell back energy from the utility.

The same control system may incorporate weather forecast feeds to predict how much energy their solar panel installations will generate during a certain period of time. Maturing microgrid models are allowing innovative neighborhood microgrids to emerge such as the LO3 implemented in Brooklyn, New York. The LO3 implements a blockchain-based neighborhood microgrid (https://lo3energy.com/) that allows neighbors to sell excess solar energy directly to each other, connecting each neighbor as an IoT node in a larger IoT system.