“Now you’ve got bidirectional flow from renewable energy, from energy storage and from the proliferation of electric vehicles,” said Fred Ellermeier, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Smart Integrated Infrastructure for Black & Veatch.
Ellermeier said increasing connectivity will be the driver that continues to push the smart city evolution.
“Connectivity between systems will be critical in harmonizing how electric vehicles, distributed generation, energy storage and conventional generation all work together to match energy supply to demand and provide needed system resiliency,” Ellermeier noted.
“As electricity production increases, there can be surpluses, so new kinds of time-of-use or real-time pricing structures will be developed. This will foster a behavior shift.”
Rick Azer, Vice President of Black & Veatch’s Growth Accelerator
Energy Storage Gaining
Rick Azer, Vice President for Black & Veatch’s Growth Accelerator, says a major trend he sees is utilities turning to large-scale stationary battery energy storage to minimize or replace the need for peaker power plants. Currently, utilities must operate peaker plants that can quickly ramp up to boost electric generation for renewables when the wind stops blowing or the sun isn’t shining.
These changes are prompting the need for more integrated infrastructure that has intelligence built in, and for data analytics that can help optimize current and future operations.
Black & Veatch’s smart analytics platform, ASSET360TM, detects trends in near real time and allows utilities to make actionable decisions based on what is happening internally within their systems. The cloud-based platform is monitored securely while analyzing the vast amounts of data. This platform has been serving the electric utility industry for more than 20 years. It has been recently expanded to provide analytics for advanced demand response capabilities and distributed energy production/storage, as well as for smart city planning.
“Battery experts are now saying that the cost of lithium ion systems has dropped to the point where it would be less expensive to build a large battery facility than it would to build a peaker plant in today’s prices. When I look at smart cities, I see them as places that are safer, cleaner, healthier and more economically viable.”
Rick Azer
Electric Utilities Prepare for New Roles
Goals for Smart City Programs
Increase efficiency.
Boost resiliency.
Maximize performance of interconnected systems.
Higher quality of life in communities.
Key Targets for Energy Storage
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Subject Matter Experts
Fred Ellermeier: EllermeierFJ@bv.com
Rick Azer: AzerRE@bv.com
