There is no U.S. power grid as such, at least not in the sense of a consolidated system of nation-wide distribution of electricity. Instead, more than 3200 local and regional electrical utilities produce the more than $400 billion of electricity consumed annually in this country, all pursuant to a long-standing model dominated by local and state regulations. But this state of affairs is changing and changing dramatically.
In October of 2012, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) began enforcing Order 1000, the most sweeping set of electrical energy reforms in U.S. history. Order 1000 requires that every electrical utility:
- Cooperate in production of electrical transmission plans for its respective region;
- Coordinate with neighboring regions to maximize mutual efficiency and cost-effectiveness; and
- Create regional plans for allocating the cost of new interregional transmission facilities.
Order 1000 is specifically intended to facilitate development of a “smart grid,” defined by many as application of the data-communication resources of the Internet to the generation and distribution of electrical energy. Under Order 1000, more than $100 billion in new infrastructure investment is anticipated within the next 10 years, kicked off by an $11 billion investment funded by the 2009 stimulus package.
In theory, smart-grid communication will allow:
- The monitoring of real-time data on the generation
- Transmission and consumption of electricity nationwide.
In practice, however, much of this work will be performed at the local substation level by upgrading existing SCADA remote terminal units (RTU) from serial-based to Internet protocol-based data-communication systems.
Combines the functions of control,To that end, Advantech has introduced the new ECU-1911 open-development, all-in-one RTU. The ECU-1911 is described as “all-in-one” because it:
- Communications and computing into a single,
- Compact package that can be mounted on a DIN-rail or wall mounted.
- The unit earns the designation “open-development platform,” thanks to its combination of Microsoft’s Windows CE5.0 development kit and DAQNavi SDK.
DAQNavi SDK consists of DAQ libraries, which are examples and documents designed to assist programmers in developing data-acquisition applications and to aid engineers in their focus on domain application development and testing of hardware configurations. DAQNavi supports both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows operating systems, as well as Linux, together with the most common development languages, including Visual C/C++, Borland C Builder, Visual Basic.NET, Visual C#, Delphi, Java, VB and LabVIEW (Express VI and Polymorphic VI). It also supports Advantech PCI Express, PCI, PC/104 and USB DAQ devices.
Advantech’s ECU-1911 RTU simplifies remote automation of smart substations by combining all required I/Os into a single, rugged unit. It features the low power consumption of an Intel XScale PXA-270 520-MHz RISC processor and the versatility of isolated I/Os, including 8-channel 16-bit input, 32-channel digital input and 32-channel digital relay output, plus three 485 isolated ports, one 232 port, two Ethernet ports and a USB port.
Automation of substations has the potential to greatly reduce operating and capital expenses, while enabling compliance with the new Order 1000 federal regulatory scheme, and Advantech’s new ECU-1911 RTU is purposely designed to assist in achieving those goals.