| Work Detail |
The grid needs to be modernised to meet booming electricity demand, which is expected to increase further in the coming years. IEC standards are essential to facilitate the transition.
Electricity demand around the world is expected to soar as we switch to electric vehicles, heat pumps for our homes and continue the vast digital transformation of society. Emerging countries are also expected to use an increasing amount of electricity as they industrialise and give their populations ever-greater access to energy. While this massive shift to electricity is expected to significantly reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and help in the fight against climate change, a growing concern is that power grids will not be able to cope with the increased demand.
The alarm voice
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has sounded the alarm with a report it claims is the first of its kind. Published in 2023, it says the world must add or replace 80 million km of transmission lines by 2040 – equivalent to all the electricity grids currently installed on the planet – to meet national climate goals and support energy security. The report identifies a long and growing queue of renewable energy projects waiting for the green light to connect to the grid, noting 1,500 gigawatts (GW) of these projects that are in advanced stages of development. This figure is five times the solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind capacity added worldwide in 2022.
“The recent clean energy progress we have seen in many countries is unprecedented and cause for optimism, but it could be jeopardized if governments and businesses do not come together to ensure the world’s power grids are ready for the new global energy economy that is rapidly emerging,” said Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the IEA. “This report shows what is at stake and what needs to be done. We must invest in grids today or face gridlock tomorrow.”
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is also urging global leaders to take note. A recently published article by Marcus Rebellius, a WEF board member and expert working for one of Europe’s largest manufacturers of electricity and electronics, states that “while clean energy generation is important, digitising and expanding our power grids is also vital for the green transition. Only with smarter, digitalised and expanded power grids will we create a decarbonised, resilient and secure power grid for a net-zero future.”
He warns that increasing the amount of electricity generated to meet rising demand is not the point, but that the key issue is that the grid must be prepared to handle larger amounts of electricity. “Weak grid infrastructure, legacy problems and an ageing system can hamper the green transition, regardless of the latest floating wind turbines or giant solar panels,” he says.
Aiming for solutions
Grids have become the bottlenecks of the energy transition. Rebellius points to several technological solutions that could help solve these bottlenecks, such as digital twins or the use of low-voltage networks. (More information on digital twins and the power grid: Digital Twins and the Smart Grid. For more information on low-voltage networks, read Affordable and Sustainable Electricity for All.)
Other options include massive increases in energy storage capacities and widespread deployment of smart grid technologies worldwide. The CIS Electropaedia defines a smart grid as an electric power system that uses information exchange and control technologies, distributed computing, and associated sensors and actuators, for purposes such as integration of the behavior and actions of grid users and other stakeholders, as well as efficient delivery of sustainable, economical, and secure electricity. Adoption of smart grid technology is considered by many experts in the field to be a cheaper solution for utilities than expanding or rebuilding legacy power grids, which would require massive investments.
Increasing energy storage is a key requirement
In times of high electricity demand, additional electrical capacity must be available immediately or the grid risks shutting down. One way to ensure continued and sufficient access to electricity is to store energy when there is a surplus and feed it into the grid when there is an extra need for electricity. Utilities around the world have been increasing their storage capacity with super-sized lithium-ion batteries—massive packs that can store between 100 and 800 megawatts (MW) of energy. The Moss Landing energy storage facility in California is reportedly the largest in the world, with a total capacity of 750 MW. These massive battery storage facilities are expected to grow as electricity demand soars.
Other reliable energy storage solutions include pumped hydroelectric power plants, which currently account for more than 90% of the worlds high-capacity energy storage. Electricity is used to pump water to reservoirs at higher altitudes during periods of low energy demand. When demand is higher, the water is directed through turbines at lower altitudes and converted back into electricity. Pumped storage makes it possible to control voltage levels and maintain power quality on the grid.
Another option that is being talked about a lot is using electric vehicles as a power source to supply electricity to the grid. According to Frances Cleveland, Head of Cybersecurity and Resilience Guidelines at the IEC SyC Smart Energy Committee, “There are many pilot and research projects around the world that are deploying some form of bi-directional energy flow (charging and discharging), either vehicle-to-grid or vehicle-to-home with EVs, capable of selling power back to the main grid and even supporting microgrid energy management. One of the driving ideas behind these projects is to provide a means of storing energy in the EV from variable renewable resources such as solar and wind for use at other times. This implies that EVs can actually be considered a type of distributed energy resource (DER).”
EVs can charge when renewable energy generation from wind or sun is high or when there is lower demand for electricity, for example when people are sleeping. But when demand is high, or wind or sun generate less power, electricity stored in EV batteries could be put to work.
The state of smart grids
According to the IEA, in a report tracking the progress of smart grids around the world, significant investments in smart grid technology have been made in many countries, although much remains to be done. Several examples are cited, including the EU action plan Digitalising the energy system. The European Commission foresees some €584 billion ($633 billion) of investments in the European electricity grid by 2030, of which €170 billion ($184 billion) will be spent on digitalisation (smart meters, automated grid management, digital technologies for metering and improving field operations). Another important source of information on the deployment of smart grid technology is the Smart Grid Index, developed by a leading Asia-Pacific utility group and used by many experts in the field. According to Peter Jensen, Chairman of IEC TC 13, which develops smart metering standards, “The index provides an excellent overview of the maturity of network operators in different regions of the world. It uses a seven-pillar measure of network modernization,” he describes. (For more information on IEC TC 13, read Peter Jensen’s interview on e-tech.)
IEC standards to the rescue
IEC standards help energy storage systems to interoperate and interconnect with the grid. They also pave the way for smart grid technologies to be used safely and efficiently. IEC TC 4 develops standards for hydro turbines and has published IEC 60193, which specifies requirements for pumped storage.
IEC TC 120 was established to publish standards in the field of grid-integrated electrical energy storage (EES) systems to support grid requirements. The TC is working on a new standard, IEC 62933-5-4, which will specify safety test methods and procedures for energy storage systems based on lithium-ion batteries. IEC TC 69 develops standards for power/electrical energy transfer systems for electrically powered road vehicles drawing current from a rechargeable energy storage system. IEC TC 57 is the IEC committee that prepares the basic standards for the smart grid, in particular the IEC 61850 series. They deal with substation automation, two-way information exchange, global control functions, renewable energy integration and cyber security, to name just a few. IEC TC 13 develops key standards in the field of electrical energy measurement and control, for smart metering equipment and systems that are part of smart grids.
A subcommittee of IEC TC 8 develops standards for the integration of renewable energy systems into the grid. One of the four IEC Conformity Assessment (CA) Systems, IECRE (IEC System for Certification of Standards for Equipment Used in Renewable Energy Applications), is the internationally accepted CA system for all power plants that produce, store or convert solar photovoltaic, wind and various forms of marine energy.
IEC SyC Smart Energy helps coordinate and guide the various efforts of the various IEC technical committees. For example, it is working on a document, IEC 63460, which will describe the architecture and use cases of EVs in grid support roles. The bulk of this standard will concern the identification of realistic EV charging and discharging configurations, as well as communication and control between the various players, grid operators, aggregators, energy managers and EV charging systems. The results of this document are expected to help other IEC technical committees take into account the grid support capabilities of EVs when developing their own standards.
The hope is that enough will be done in time to ensure that the lights stay on as we move towards a fully electric and connected society. One certainty is that IEC standards and conformity assessment will have to play an increasingly important role in ensuring that we achieve this.
Autor: Catherine Bischofberger
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a global, non-profit organisation that brings together 174 countries and coordinates the work of 30,000 experts worldwide. IEC international standards and conformity assessment underpin international trade in electrical and electronic products. They facilitate access to electricity and verify the safety, performance and interoperability of electrical and electronic devices and systems, including, for example, consumer devices such as mobile phones or refrigerators, medical and office equipment, information technology, power generation and much more. |
