Get Ready, Grid - First Wave of Volts Being Born

Lovingly hand-assembled one at a time like a Phantom?  Uhhh, no.  The Volt manufacturing process seems to draw more from Tron than from Rolls Royce. Check it great video HERE.

So GM has invested big time in being able to create a large number of Volts fast. Good thing, because GE recently committed to buying 12,000 Volts next year, and sales are just beginning in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, California, Texas, Washington, D.C., and Michigan.

I've always felt that the huge efforts to accelerate the arrival of the Smart Grid at residences was a case of too much spending for too little benefit, and that the prospect of trimming 5-15% off their home electric bill would not be a sufficient motivator for the majority of Americans to change their behaviors

But electric vehicles (EVs) like the Tesla Model S and Nissan Leaf, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) like the Chevy Volt, depending on their rate of adoption, may have me revising that opinion. You see, while they are charging, each of these cars draws the electricity of another entire house (or more). That's enough electricity use to make savings more desirable, and enough additional demand to prompt utilities to closely monitor which neighborhoods are adding EVs the fastest, so as to avoid overloading local transformers through preemptive, targeted upgrades.

Let the good times roll. Oh, and this just in via a sharp-eyed colleague and worth your time: Why Electric Cars will Drive the Smart Grid.

Photo credit: Betsy Weber on Flickr.com

Blazing EV and V2G Trails at the Texas State Fair 2010

You know we try to keep it calm here, but what an incredible experience I just had !!!  Just returned from a week in the Lone Star State speaking in Dallas and Houston, then back to Dallas again, the second time for the Electric Vehicle (EV) Showcase just around the corner from Big Tex. Man, was it worth the flight back to Love Field, and not just for the fried butter and fried beer.

On the first day I got to meet spokes-model (and true product expert) Alicia, then take the Volt (they had three on hand) for a spin on a curvy test track. I loved the way it looked, sounded and handled. A well-informed Chevrolet-rep named Brian gave me plenty of good details before during and after the drive, and I felt that many others like me will feel comfortable welcoming this car, that on most days will consume no gasoline, into their lives.

Now's here's a few details from the Executive Panel on day two to give you a broader look at what's going on behind the scenes to pave the way for this (plug-in hybrid) electric car and others like it. A panel moderated by Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC) chairman Barry Smitherman included leadership from GM, IBM, Texas transmission and distribution utility Oncor, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and construction firm Beck. Here are some highlights of what they discussed:

• EPRI is working three main focus areas at present: 1) understanding consumer attitudes and expectations re: EV's, 2) early preparation of EV charging infrastructure, and 3) ensuring adequate utility infrastructure, particularly distribution transformers
• Texas is one of the initial wave of seven states for Volt deliveries in late 2010, starting in Austin then fanning out from there. In 2011, expect to see Volts available for sale in all 50 states
• Oncor sees two critical EV roll-out success factors: 1) the practice of off-peak (night-time) charging, and 2) early (and I do mean early) notice to utility co's when an individual is considering the purchase of an EV
• IBM is all about the information layer surrounding EVs and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) infrastructure and is looking at it 3 ways: 1) knowing how much energy from renewable sources is available at any time, 2) how utilities can have access to enough right info to know how much they need to spend on infrastructure, and 3) market and business-related IT that helps consumers as much as possible, particularly enabling ease of use, as well as providing national standards running from the charging points to the cars to the utilities themselves
• To help move 18 Gigawatts of clean wind energy, the moderator noted that Texas is spending $5 billion to run high voltage transmission lines hundreds of miles from windy west Texas to its cities
• Here's one I hadn't thought of before ... it's kind of subtle. According to EPRI, range anxiety is eased by the presence of charging stations outside the home and business, whether EV drivers use them or not
• The electricity required to go a full 40 miles in a Volt costs about $1.10
• Finally, the best part from national security security as well as environmental/climate points of view: most Americans drive 20 or fewer miles per day. The great majority drive fewer than 40 miles on work days as well as weekends. When these folks drive Volts, they are going to be using gasoline only rarely. Think about what that means when the number of Volts, Volt 2.0's and other EVs hit the roads in the millions and tens of millions

In keeping with this blog's security focus, are there going to be cyber security issues with these software-centric, wireless-enabled cars running on rapidly assembled IT and OT networks?  You bet, and we'll get to those soon. But for the time being, just wanted to note that it's a privilege to be alive at this moment, watching so many talented, creative, energetic and caring people pull out all the stops to help change our world in ways it sorely needs.

And I'll leave you with this nugget from a sign you pass upon entering the incredible Cowtown Diner in downtown Forth Worth:

     Never ask a man if he's from Texas.
     If he is, he's most likely already told you.
     If he's not, there's no use in embarrassing him

Photo: Volt dashboard power display

Is International Collaboration in the Cards for the Smart Grid?

There are currently Smart Grid conferences, planning committees and pilot deployments happening on every continent except maybe Antarctica. Yet most everything I've read to date concerns work being done in the US. I can tell you, however, that many of the readers of the Smart Grid Security Blog are from Europe and Asia. I can also relate that after moderating a Smart Grid panel at a recent clean tech conference in Boston, I was approached by a gentleman who wanted to ensure I knew about a big RFP coming out soon to build a Smart Grid for the city-state of Singapore. (Here's a link to a conference that just took place there.)

So, with that said, here's a short post on the international angle: le Smart Grid. Warning: if you favor answers, this post is light on them and chock-a-block full of questions. Here's a few starters to get us started:

• Will the fully deployed Smart Grid have borders?
• In North America, will the Smart Grid eventually transcend the current regional topology of Regional Transmission Operators (RTO's) and Independent Systems Operators (ISO's)?
• While the electrons that constitute my emails transit the continent (heck, most of the globe) with ease, the same cannot be said for the electrons currently bringing my monitor to life. Will the Smart Grid change this?
• Is there anything the US can learn from early international efforts in Europe, where Germany was a first mover?

According to this recent article from Smart Grid News, seems like current thinking, in the US anyway, may not be very collaborative ... at least not as far as security is concerned. Here's a recent statement from a Canadian Electricity Association (CEA) VP on how current Smart Grid security legislation and standards make no mention of working as a team with our partners in the Great White North:

[The US has] got to realize that the North American grid is international, it's interconnected, it's integrated. Consultations, cooperation between governmental authorities on both sides of the border is going to be imperative, otherwise you won't be able to ensure system reliability and you'll probably undermine system reliability.

I realize my understanding of these issues is likely simplistic. Yet the ability to quickly "island off" healthy portions of the grid from unhealthy ones is key functionality every region and every nation is shooting for. But islanding should be an emergency response, not the square one status quo inside the US or among close allies.

All Want to be the Cisco of the Smart Grid

By which they mean the dominant provider of essential, ubiquitous and lucrative hardware and software to build out the massive beast called the Smart Grid, the power distribution network analog of the ever expanding Internet. Here's how Investor's Business Daily describes the tussle to become the Smart Grid's 800 pound gorilla:

Leading the way among startups is Silver Spring. It's raised close to $200 million from venture capitalists and other investors and been dubbed by some in the green movement "the Cisco of smart grid." The catch: Cisco also aims to be the Cisco of smart grid. Networking gear leader Cisco Systems has proclaimed smart grid as its next billion-dollar business. But also looking to be the Cisco of smart grids are IBM,General Electric, AT&T and Silver Spring investor Google, among others.

Sounds like it could become the mother of all VHS vs. Betamax wars. Hope the winning vendors and formats  arrive with significant security baked in, else you-know-what will ensue.