1

Energy-efficient Distribution in Smart Grid

Xu Wei , Zhou Yu-hui , Zhu Jie-lin

by using robust two-way communications, advanced sensors,

Abstract--With the increasing complex operating environment and distributed computers to improve the efficiency, reliability
of the electric power system and the ongoing electric power and safety of power delivery and use. Some of the benefits of
system reform, the traditional power grid needs to be further such a modernized electricity network include the possibility
improved to achieve the transition to the smart grid. At the same
to reduce power consumption at consumer side during peak
time, the global energy and environmental problems became
public concern, and the energy-efficient distribution of the power hours; facilitating grid connection of distributed generation
grid can effectively raise the energy efficiency. In the smart grid, power; grid energy storage for distributed generation load
the energy-efficient distribution will be more accurate and balancing; and improved reliability against many different
efficient, and also show a richer content. Based on the above- component failure scenarios. The increased efficiency and
mentioned issues elaborated in the paper, according to the reliability of the Smart grid is expected to save consumers
Chinese current situations, a power grid energy-efficient
money and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
distribution model is put forward, and the prospect of the smart
grid energy-efficient distribution is depicted on such basis. The basic concept of Smart Grid is to add monitoring,
analysis, control, and communication capabilities to the
Index Terms--distributed generation, smart grid, Energy- national electrical delivery system to maximize the throughput
efficient Distribution, Sequencing of Generator. of the system while reducing the energy consumption. The
Smart Grid will allow utilities to move electricity around the
I. INTRODUCTION system as efficiency and economically as possible. It will also

W ITH the deepening of the market-oriented reforms and allow the homeowner and business to use electricity as
the development of a digital economy, the world's economically as possible. You will have the choice and
resources and environmental problems have been a flexibility to manage your electrical use while minimizing
widespread concern and the environmental regulatory your costs.
requirements are increasingly stringent. The coordination and Smart Grid builds on many of the technologies already
exchanges between the power grid and the power market and used by electric utilities but adds communication and control
users are closer, the quality level of power emery is gradually capabilities that will optimize the operation of the entire
increased, the quantity of renewable energy and other electrical grid. Smart Grid is also positioned to take advantage
distributed power generation resources is growing and the of new technologies, such as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles,
climate changes are on the horizon. The traditional power grid various forms of distributed generation, solar energy, smart
has been difficult to support so many development metering, lighting management systems, distribution
requirements, so the vision about the development of the smart automation, and many more.
grid has been proposed to achieve the upgrading of the
traditional power grid. III. FUNCTIONS OF SMART GRID
Apart from particular technologies, a proposal can be
II. CONCEPT OF SMART GRID understood in terms of what it is being required to do. The
The electric industry is poised to make the transformation governments and utilities funding development of grid
from a centralized, producer-controlled network to one that is modernization have defined the functions required for smart
less centralized and more consumer-interactive. The move to a grids. According to the United States Department of Energy's
smarter grid promises to change the industry’s entire business (DOE) Modern Grid Initiative report, a modern smart grid
model and its relationship with all stakeholders, involving and must:
affecting utilities, regulators, energy service providers, ● Be able to heal itself: Using real-time information from
technology and automation vendors and all consumers of embedded sensors and automated controls to anticipate, detect,
electric power. and respond to system problems, a smart grid can
The term “smart grid” represents a vision for a digital automatically avoid or mitigate power outages, power quality
upgrade of distribution and long distance transmission grids problems, and service disruptions.
● Motivate consumers to actively participate in operations
of the grid: A smart grid incorporates consumer equipment
Xu Wei is with Beijing Jiaotong University, School of Electrical
Engineering, Beijing 100044, China (e-mail: [email protected]) and behavior in grid design, operation, and communication.
Zhou Yu-hui is with Beijing Jiaotong University, School of Electrical This enables consumers to better control “smart appliances”
Engineering, Beijing 100044, China (e-mail: [email protected]) and “intelligent equipment” in homes and businesses,
Zhu Jie-lin is with Beijing Jiaotong University, School of Electrical
Engineering, Beijing 100044, China (e-mail: [email protected]) interconnecting energy management systems in “smart
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buildings” and enabling consumers to better manage energy

use and reduce energy costs. Advanced communications
capabilities equip customers to exploit real-time electricity
pricing, incentive-based load reduction signals, or emergency
load reduction signals. The real-time, two-way
communications available in a smart grid will enable
consumers to be compensated for their efforts to save energy
and to sell energy back to the grid through net-metering.
● Resist attack: Technologies better identify and respond to
manmade or natural disruptions. Real-time information
enables grid operators to isolate affected areas and redirect
power flows around damaged facilities.
● Provide higher quality power that will save money
Fig. 1. Energy-efficient of smart grid
wasted: New power quality standards will balance load
sensitivity with delivered power quality at a reasonable price.
IV. ENERGY-EFFICIENT DISTRIBUTION OF THE GRID IN CHINA
The smart grid will supply varying grades of power quality at
different pricing levels. At present, the contradictions between China's rapid
● Accommodate all generation and storage options: As economic growth and low energy efficiency are prominent. As
smart grids continue to support traditional power loads they a major component of industrial energy consumption, Chinese
also seamlessly interconnect fuel cells, renewables, micro thermal power units have a high proportion, and the coal
turbines, and other distributed generation technologies at local consumption and sulfur dioxide emissions account for more
and regional levels. Integration of small-scale, localized, or than half of the national gross amount. At the same time, the
on-site power generation allows residential, commercial, and coal consumption of thermal power units per kilowatt-hour
industrial customers to self-generate and sell excess power to power supply on average is about 60g higher than the
the grid with minimal technical or regulatory barriers. This international advanced level and there is large potential for
also improves reliability and power quality, reduces electricity energy saving and emission reduction. In the thermal power
costs, and offers more customer choice. units, the proportion of small thermal power units with high
● Enable electricity markets to flourish: The smart grid will energy consumption and heavy pollution is high, and the
enable more market participation through increased installed capacity of single 10MW and lower small thermal
transmission paths, aggregated demand response initiatives power units accounts for nearly 30% of the installed capacity
and the placement of energy resources including storage of thermal power units.
within a more reliable distribution system that is closer to the Reforming the existing power generation & distribution
consumer. By reducing congestion, the smart grid expands mechanism and carrying out energy-saving power generation
markets; it brings together more buyers and sellers. Consumer & distribution are of great significance for reducing energy
response to price increases felt through real time pricing will consumption and pollutant emissions and promoting healthy
mitigate demand, driving lower-cost solutions and spurring and fast development of the national economy. According to
new technology development. the actual situations of the electric power systems, the use of
● Run more efficiently: A smart grid can optimize capital renewable energy and clean power generation resources are of
assets while minimizing operations and maintenance costs. priority, then the other energy resources are used to reduce
Optimized power flows reduce waste and maximize use of environmental pollution, so that the entire electric power
lowest-cost generation resources. Harmonizing local system can run in the energy-saving and environmentally-
distribution with interregional energy flows and transmission friendly mode.
traffic improves use of existing grid assets and reduces grid A. Sequencing of Generator
congestion and bottlenecks, which can ultimately produce
The key issue to implement the energy-saving power
consumer savings.
generation dispatching is to change the distribution mode. The
These seven characteristics describe a vision for the smart
primary issue to change the distribution mode is to sequence
grid that is generally more resilient and distributed, more
the units reasonably. The sequence table of power generation
intelligent, more controllable and better protected than today’s
sequencing is the major basis for energy-saving power
grid.
generation & distribution. The provincial governments ask the
Figure 1 shows the energy-efficient which is brought by
Development and Reform Commissions of the provincial level
smart grid.
to organized and prepared sequence tables of all provinces
(autonomous regions and municipalities). The tables will be
adjusted in time in accordance with the unit production and
actual operation situations.
The sequences of various types of generating units are
determined according to the following order:
1) Wind energy, solar energy, ocean energy, hydraulic
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power and other renewable energy generating units with generation, solar energy and other sustainable energy power
adjustment ability; generation. Although the power purchase prices of some new
2) Hydraulic power, biomass energy, geothermal energy energy generating units are relatively high, especially the
and other renewable energy generating units with adjustment developments of those sustainable generating units that can
ability and refuse generating units meeting the environmental not take part in the competition still need to be encouraged. At
protection requirements; the same time, the thermal power generation is still the basis
3) Nuclear power generating units; for China's power supply. For a long time, the thermal power
4) The generating units with coal-fired heat combined with generation in our country has always been accounted for about
power and the generating units running in the form of “setting three fourths of the country's total power generation capacity,
electric power by heat” with the comprehensive utilization of so minimizing the coal consumption in the whole process of
excess heat, excess gas, excess pressure, coal stone, middlings coal-fired power generation is the basis of the energy-efficient
and coal-bed methane and other resources; distribution.
5) Natural gas and coal gasification; There will be some differences between the power
6) Other coal-fired generating units, including the heat generation capacity priorly planned and the actual power grid
combined with electric power generating units without heat operations, so dispatchers need to refer the power generation
load; plans, and arrange the actual power generation plans for the
7) Fuel generating units. units in accordance with the goal of the smallest energy
Coal consumption for power generation is also known as consumption in power generation according to the sequencing
the standard coal consumption, and is the rate of coal of the power plants in the next distribution period and the
consumption that all kinds of coal with different calorific ultra-short-term load forecast, by considering the limit value
values are uniformly converted into a “standard coal” with the and creep speed of the units, and on the basis of meeting safe
calorific value of 29308 kJ/kg. And it is mainly used for the and stable operation of the system.
thermal economy comparison among various power plants In the real-time distribution, if the purchase of electric
burning different kinds of coal. We can calculate the standard quantity need be increased on the basis of the prior pre-
coal consumption for power generation in each power plant, distribution plan, for instance the ultra-short-term load
and carry out energy-efficient distribution scientifically and forecast is higher than the value of the prior load forecast, the
rationally according to them. real-time distribution is the top-up distribution; otherwise, if
The same type of thermal power generating units are sorted the current electric quantity purchased need be reduced, the
in accordance with the level of energy consumption from low real-time distribution is the edge-down distribution. According
to high and the energy conservation is of priority. If the level to the sequence table, in the top-up distribution, the top-rank
of coal consumption for power generation is F and the coal unit is found to be topped up, and in the edge-down
consumption of the coal-fired unit with the largest single-unit distribution, the bottom-rank unit is found to be edged down.
installed capacity at the rated output within the power grid is The electric power system is a non-linear system, and a
Fmin, the coal consumption factor K1 of the unit is defined as: similar linear model can be obtained if the first-order Taylor
F expansion is done at a running point. The real-time balanced
K 1 = min (1) power generation & distribution is regulated on the basis of
F
According to the formula (1), in terms of different units, the curve results of the prior power generation plan, so the
Fmin is fixed. The larger K1, the smaller coal consumption for following linear incremental transaction model is used:
power supply of the units, and the higher priority of power min f (ΔP) = ∑ C (ΔP )
i i (3)
generation, vice versa i∈N G

When the energy consumption is the same, the sequencing s.t. ∑ ΔP = ΔPnet (4)
is sorted according to the level of pollutant discharge from low i∈N G

to high. If the discharge amount of pollutants of a unit is S, the

discharge factor K2 of the unit is defined as:
*
ΔL = S ΔP (5)
F ΔG = AΔL (6)
K2 = (2)
S ΔL
min
≤ ΔL ≤ ΔL
max
(7 )
According to the formula (2), when the coal consumption F
for power generation of a unit is the same, the larger K2, the
ΔG
min
≤ ΔG ≤ ΔG
max
(8)
lower discharge level of the unit, and the higher priority of ΔP
min
≤ ΔP ≤ ΔP
max
(9)
power generation, vice versa.
Where: P is the active adjustment vector of the unit; NG is
B. Energy-efficient Distribution Model the set of nodes of the unit; Ci is the energy consumption level
In the grid energy-efficient distribution based on the of the unit in a unit of power generation, and its specific
conservation and emission reduction, the generating units need numerical value is determined by the Development and
can be classified into two types: competition and non- Reform Commission; Pnet is the total adjusted volume of the
competitive, and it should give priority to develop the nuclear power of the entire grid; L and G are the changes in the
power, hydroelectric power, wind power, biomass power active power tide of the lines and cross-sections respectively;
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S* is the sensitivity matrix; A is the associated matrix of

cross-section line; △Lmin and △Lmax are the constraints of the
power changes in the lines; △ Gmin and △ Gmax are the
constraints of the power changes in the cross-sections; and △
Pmin and △Pmax are the constraints of the output limits of the
unit (including the constraint of creep speed). In the model,
the constraints (Formula (4) to (9)) are linear expressions and
only the objective function (Formula (3)) is complicated and
can be expressed by sub-section horizontal line, and at this
time the model is a sub-section linear planning model.
As long as the incremental constraints in Formula (4) to (9)
are calculated before the startup, they need not be re-
calculated in the iteration. Its calculation formula is:
ΔPnet = F + X − ∑ Poi (10)
i∈N p

ΔPmin = Pmin − P0 (11)

ΔPmax = Pmax − P0 (12)
ΔLmin = − Lmin − P0 (13)
Fig. 2. Flow chart of optimal sequence method
ΔLmax = Lmax − P0 (14)
C. Example
ΔGmin = −Gneg − P0 (15) Select the grid in a local region as the research object, and
ΔGmax = G pos − P0 (16) the status of all kinds of power plants in the region is as shown
Where: F is the value of the load of the ultra-short-term in Table 1. Taking the values of the load from 17:00 to 18:30
load forecasting; X is the value of the regional exchange four time sections in one day as the example, the prior load
programs; Np is the set of the current power generation forecasting and the real-time load are shown in Table 2. The
planning units; P0 is the prior power generation plan; L0 and power generation plans of all power plants in accordance with
G0 are the tides of lines and cross-sections in the initial state the prior load forecasting results are shown in Table 3. In
respectively; Lmax and Lmin are the thermal arrest restraint accordance with the above-mentioned adjusted energy-
vectors of the lines respectively. efficient distribution model, the power generation plans of all
The optimal sequence method is from the equal incremental power plants are shown in Table 4. Through contrast with
principle in the economical dispatching, and has been widely Table 3 and Table 4, it is not difficult to find that the power
used due to its rapid computation and robustness. Taking into generating units using clean energy as power are adjusted
account of different creep speeds of various units, the small firstly in the energy-efficient distribution, and then the coal-
unit conditioning step δ is introduced into the optimal fired power plants are adjusted in the order from small to large
sequence method, and different steps are used for different in accordance with the situations, so as to achieve the
units. If the imbalance power of the system is Pnet, the small distribution goal of the lowest total power consumption and
step conditioned for the unit every time is δi, and δi is the meet the environmental protection requirements.
creep speed of the unit i, when Pnet > 0, δi > 0. The specific
TABLE I
algorithm process is shown in Figure 2. SITUATION OF GENERATORS SOMEWHERE

Types Low High δi Climbing Coal

Output Output (MW) Rate Consumption
(MW) (MW) (MW) (g/MW)
Solar 0 0.2 0.05 0.1 0
Wind 0.2 1 0.1 0.5 0
Straw 5 25 2 12 0
Hydraulic 20 150 4 56 0
(run-off)
Hydraulic 50 550 5 155 0
(season)
Coal-1 50 270 5 90 680
Coal-2 100 660 10 210 620
Coal-3 200 1200 20 390 580

TABLE
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SITUATION OF LOAD detection without the need to go on site. End-users are able to
(MW)
know exactly their energy charges at any time and can adjust
Time Load Forecast Real-time Load △
their consumption habits in the peak time.
(Day-Ahead)
Therefore, the distribution of the smart grid has the
17：00 2095 2290 195 properties, such as high accuracy, high efficiency and easy
17：30 2150 2350 200 operations. Different from the energy-efficient distribution of
18：00 2215 2386 171 the traditional grid, the smart grid should not only consider the
18：30 2280 2420 140 energy consumption and the discharge level of the generating
TABLE
units, but also added into the distribution model the grid loss,
GENERATION SCHEDULE OF DAY-AHEAD distance, cost efficiency and other advantages, and a more
(MW) comprehensive distribution solution is prepared through the
17：00 17：30 18：00 18：30 analysis and calculation of all kinds of smart equipment in the
Solar 0.147 0.151 0.155 0.160 power grid.
Wind 0.733 0.753 0.776 0.798 In addition, the distributed generation (DG) will play a vital
Straw 18.337 18.819 19.338 19.957 role in the smart grid, and it is foreseeable that it will
Hydraulic 110.024 112.912 116.326 119.740 inevitably become a trend by use of DG technology for real-
(run-off) time adjustment in the future smart grid energy-efficient
Hydraulic 403.421 414.012 426.528 439.045 distribution. The distributed generation and its roles in the
(season) energy-efficient distribution are detailed below.
Coal-1 198.043 203.242 209.387 215.531 The distributed generation usually refers to the small-scale
Coal-2 484.105 496.814 511.834 526.854 modular and distributed, high-performance and reliable power
Coal-3 880.190 903.298 930.607 957.916 generation unit in which power is a few kilowatts to hundreds
of megawatts and is laid in the vicinity of the users. It can
TABLE fully develop and use all usable existing decentralized energy
GENERATION SCHEDULE BY ENERGY-EFFICIENT DISTRIBUTION
(MW) sources (including renewable energy sources), and increase
17：00 17：30 18：00 18：30 utilization efficiency of energy sources. The technical types,
Solar 0.200 0.200 0.200 0.200 typical capacity, and renewable capacity of the distributed
Wind 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 generation and the interface with the power grid are shown in
25.000 25.000 25.000 25.000
Table 5.
Straw
Hydraulic 150.000 150.000 150.000 150.000
TABLE
(run-off) SUMMARY OF DISTRIBUTED GENERATION
Hydraulic 550.000 550.000 550.000 543.499
(season) Types Capacity Regenerative Interface to Grid
Coal-1 198.043 203.242 209.387 215.531 Solar 1W to yes D/A
Coal-2 484.105 496.814 511.834 526.854 1000kW
Coal-3 881.652 923.744 938.579 957.916 Wind 100W to yes Asynchronous
10MW generator
V. ENERGY-EFFICIENT DISTRIBUTION IN SMART GRID Geothermal 1000kW to yes Synchronous
The smart grid is not the display of a pile of advanced 10MW generator
technologies, nor a solution to the specifics. The smart grid is CHP 100MW to no Synchronous
based on advanced computer, electronic equipment and high- 1000MW generator
level components, and through the introduction of the Gas turbine 1MW to no Synchronous
communications, automatic control and other information 1000MW generator
technologies, the modification of the power grid is realized to Micro-turbine 10kW to no A/A
meet the fundamental objectives of the power grid more 10MW
economical, reliable, safe and environment friendly. Fuel Cell 10kW to no D/A
The key property of the smart grid is its use of a two-way 100MW
power distribution network that is able to know what happens
at any time to replace the passive simulative power Different from the power generation by the grid, these
distribution network. The most profitable segment in the smart distributed power generation equipments that can be seen as a
grid is the smart meter which lies at a corner in your home virtual load are directly controlled by users to start and stop.
quietly and calculates your daily consumption of electricity. Even if there is access to a power distribution system, they
The smart meter can measure the quantity of electricity and may yet not participate in the automatic generation control,
can also be used as an Internet router, by which the power and even the reverse power relays are installed at the
authority can remotely monitor the use of electricity and can distribution network side and no power is injected into the
access to the malfunction information merely by remote power grid under normal conditions. The characteristics of
them firstly are safety, high efficiency, economy and
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environmental protection and they are ideal facilities for [1] S. Massoud Amin and B.F. Wollenberg, "Toward a smart grid: power
delivery for the 21st century," IEEE Power and Energy Magazine, Vol.
power supply security and emergency handling; secondly, 3, No. 5 Sept.-Oct. 2005, pp. 34-41.
little investment and quick recovery are also a major reason [2] Thomas F. Garrity, "Getting Smart," IEEE Power and Energy Magazine,
for rapid development of them in the market environment. Vol. 6, No. 2 Mar.-Apr. 2008, pp. 38-45.
[3] D. Pudjianto, C. Ramsay, and G. Strbac, "Virtual power plant and
Figure 3 compares the distributed generation system with
system integration of distributed energy resources," Renewable Power
the traditional power supply system. Generation, March 2007.
[4] XIE Kai, LIU Yong-qi, ZHU Zhi-zhong, and YU Er-keng, " The Vision
of Future Smart Grid," Electric Power, vol. 41, No.6, pp. 19-22, Jun.
2008.
[5] WANG Ming-ju, " Self-Healing Grid and Distributed Energy Resource,"
Power System Technology, vol. 31, No.6, Mar. 2007.
[6] DING Ming, BAO Min, and WU Hong-bin, " Economic Dispatching on
Distributed Energy Supply System," Journal of Electric Power Science
and Technology, vol. 23, No.1, pp. 13-17, Mar. 2008.

Papers Presented at Conferences:

[7] D. Divan and H. Johal, "A Smarter Grid for Improving System
Reliability and Asset Utilization," Power Electronics and Motion
Control Conference, August, 2006.
[8] Richard E. Brown, "Impact of Smart Grid on Distribution System
Design," presented at Power and Energy Society General Meeting-
Conversion and Delivery of Electrical Energy in the 21st Century, July
Fig. 3. Distributed generation and traditional power supply system 2008.

It can be seen that the introduction of the distributed Reports:

generation technology will be a very good supplement in the [9] The U.S. Department of Energy, "The Smart Grid: An Introduction,"
Oct. 2008.
energy-efficient distribution of the smart grid. When the prior [10] The National Energy Technology Laboratory, "A Vision For The
load forecast is different from the actual load, the reasonable Modern Grid," March 2007.
use of distributed generation and the timely increase or
decrease in the capacity of the grid not only realize real-time VIII. BIOGRAPHIES
distribution, but also increase the utilization efficiency of Xu Wei is studying power market and energy efficiency for his Master
energy resources and meet the environmental requirements. Degree in Beijing Jiaotong University, School of Electrical Engineering.
Xu Wei was born in Beijing, on April 6, 1986.
He graduated from Beijing University of
VI. CONCLUSIONS Aeronautics and Astronautics. His major is
The core of the smart grid is to achieve rapid response to Electrical Engineering. The dissertation about power
market which was written by him had received an
the operation of the power grid and to improve the award of outstanding thesis in School of Automation
compatibility of the distributed energy resources, so as to Science and Electrical Engineering BUAA.
enhance the economical efficiency, reliability and security of
the whole system.
The energy-efficient distribution is an important technical
means to implement the energy saving and emission reduction
at the side of power generation, thus minimizing energy
consumption during energy production and supply. Under the
premise of the current shortage of global resources and the
enormous pressure of environmental protection, it is the
general trend to continuously push forward the energy-saving
power system and emission reduction, within which the
energy-efficient distribution will play a crucial role.
As the smart grid has a high degree of digitization and
includes a variety of equipment, control systems, application
systems and so on, the energy-efficient distribution in the
smart grid can be more precisely achieved. If more factors are
added in the distribution model, the utilization efficiency of
energy resources can be enhanced to a greater extent. At the
same time, the widespread applications of the distributed
power generation technology will enable the energy-efficient
distribution in the smart grid to reach a higher level.

VII. REFERENCES
Periodicals: