The New York Times Interview of James E. Rogers, president and chief executive of Duke Energy- How broadband- B.P.L.- improve the quality of the grid?

December 17, 2006
Armchair M.B.A.

How to Untangle the Power Grid, Digitally
By WILLIAM J. HOLSTEIN

IF some new technologies take hold, the grid that carries America’s electricity from one state to another and into the home will soon be much more efficient, says James E. Rogers, president and chief executive of Duke Energy. Here are excerpts from an interview:

Q. How advanced is the grid that carries American electricity right now?

A. It’s a technology we’ve been using for many decades. But as the technology evolves, we’re going to be able to move it from an analog grid to more of a digital grid, almost from a “dumb” grid to a smart one.

Digital will allow us to monitor a lot of points in the system from a central point, which you can’t today. It’s kind of like fine-tuning or focusing in on a spot or a target. That’s better than how the grid operates today. And we lose somewhere between 8 and 9 percent of the electricity we produce on the grid. That’s called line loss. As we develop our capability to operate the grid, it will be a step in the direction of allowing us to try to reduce the amount of line loss. That’s a lot of energy.

Q. How would new technology that enables Internet access over power lines — broadband over the power line, or B.P.L., — improve the quality of the grid?

A. It could increase our ability to detect faults in the system. It could allow us to have greater security at substations because we could detect things with real-time cameras and other security devices even if there were no personnel there. So there is an energy security benefit. There is also the ability to restore service after outages because we can detect problems more clearly. Ultimately, we want the capability to use electricity meters in conjunction with B.P.L. and convert the meter into the gateway for information rather than using it just for billing. The smarter the grid, the smarter the consumer and the more efficiency you’ll have over all. The consumer could control his or her usage.

Q. Could a smarter system monitor energy use in homes to avoid blackouts or brownouts?

A. The ability to remotely control things like air-conditioners and refrigerators would give us the ability to manage that and curtail use, or “shave the peak,” during peak periods and use less energy. That means you don’t have to build as many power plants to serve the peak load. The way I think of it is, the most efficient plant you ever build is the one you don’t build. And the most environmentally friendly plant is the one you don’t build.

Q. How does broadband over the power line give consumers an Internet connection?

A. The signal moves down the copper in the line. The technological challenge has been, how do you get the signal around the transformer, which is the device that converts the electricity to a different voltage. But now it has evolved to the point that you can use radio signals to bypass a transformer. You can get the information back on the wire. Then it goes into the home and then you can access it from any room where you have an electrical outlet.

Q. Would electricity companies be in position to compete against phone and cable companies?

A. We’d have the ability to compete with cable and telecom companies to provide Internet service. But the primary reason we’re doing this is not to compete with them. The more important goal is to use this technology to create a smarter grid.

Q. Many companies, including your own, are beginning to deploy broadband over power line technology in limited areas. Where are you using it?

A. We’re in the process of testing it. We are deploying a technology in Ohio, in the Cincinnati area, that comes from Current Communications. And we’re using another B.P.L. technology in the Carolinas because each has a slightly different capability. That comes from a company called the Ambient Corporation.

Q. When will average consumers throughout the country start feeling the impact of this technology?

A. I think over the next three to five years. It’s evolving around the country at a different pace.

Q. If this worked out as planned, what would this mean for overall American energy consumption?

A. It means we’ll build fewer power plants. That will reduce costs. Secondly, it means our environmental footprint will be smaller. So consumers benefit from a cost standpoint and from an environmental perspective.

Q. What are other implications?

A. One of our greater challenges is providing reliability. Secondly, we need to reduce costs because we’re in a period of rising prices. For the first time in a decade and a half, the cost of electricity is going up in real terms, not just nominal. The third thing is that as we look out into the future, we see more demand for electricity. Plasma televisions, for example, use two and a half times more electricity than a regular TV. Our society is becoming more electrified. We need to find a way to manage the growth in demand for electricity.

Q. Would a smarter grid mean that when storms hit and power is knocked out, service could be restored faster?

A. It could translate into being able to restore service faster. Sometimes you don’t know exactly where the outage is. Once you have a digital system, you can identify it right away. That will help.

William J. Holstein is editor in chief of Directorship magazine.

Source: How to Untangle the Power Grid, Digitally