Skip to main content

Our National Grid is Obsolete.


The advent of smart power grids marks a revolutionary step towards a sustainable energy future, particularly in integrating green energy sources by households into the national grid. 

Globally, traditional power grids are being either replaced or modified to accommodate renewable energy, enabling greater efficiency, reliability, and environmental benefits.

With the increasing adoption of solar panels, wind turbines, and other green energy systems by individual households, the integration of these decentralized energy sources into a unified smart grid is becoming inevitable. Smart grids not only empower consumers to actively participate in the energy market but also enhance grid stability and promote energy independence.

By leveraging advanced technologies such as real-time data analytics, demand-response systems, and distributed energy resource management, smart power grids are paving the way for a resilient, consumer friendly and sustainable energy infrastructure.

It’s a huge challenge for our government, for policy makers and for all stake holders to update our national grid according to the latest grid requirements. We must take this matter very serious otherwise we will be in great trouble soon.

Let's have a short comparison of conventional and smart grid

Conventional Power Grid:

1.       One-way Communication Only:

i.  Energy flows from the Generation Point to the consumer in one direction only.

ii. Limited or no feedback from consumers to the utility about electricity usage in real-time.

 

2.       Manual Monitoring and Control:

i.   Monitoring and control of the grid are often manual.

ii.  Fault detection and recovery can be slow, leading to longer outages.

 

3.       Centralized Power Generation:

i.  Electricity is generated at large, centralized power plants (e.g., coal, nuclear, hydroelectric).

ii.   Limited integration of renewable energy sources.

 

4.       Predictive Maintenance: 

MUsually scheduled or reactive after a fault occurs.

 

5.       Basic Metering:

i.    Traditional meters measure total energy consumption over a billing period.

ii.   No detailed usage data is available to consumers or utilities.

 

Smart Power Grid:

1.       Two-way Communication:

i.     Electricity and data flow both ways between the utility and consumers.

ii.    Real-time data on energy usage is collected and analyzed.

 

2.       Automated Monitoring and Control:

i.  Advanced sensors and automated systems monitor and control the grid.

ii.  Quick fault detection and automatic re-routing of power to prevent outages.

 

3.       Decentralized Power Generation:

i.    Integration of various distributed energy resources.

ii.  Support for small-scale power generation and storage systems at the consumer level.

 

4.       Predictive and Condition-based Maintenance:

  i.  Advanced analytics predict equipment failures before they occur.

  ii. Maintenance is based on the actual condition of the equipment.

 

5.       Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI):

        i. Smart meters provide detailed, real-time data on energy consumption.

      ii.  Enables dynamic pricing, energy efficiency programs, and better demand response.


It is hoped that our policy makers will pay 

due attention to this serious matter.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Energy Crisis and Private Power

  The last three decades witnessed severe energy crisis in Pakistan and the government has persistently failed to bridge the gap between supply and demand of electric power.  The policy makers, for unknown reasons didn’t pay any attention to green energy such as Hydel, Solar power and Wind energy. The other reason might be the lack of political will of the ruling elites to put serious efforts on projects for ensuring sustainable and continuous power supply.  It is very unfortunate to know that our political elites suffer from a chronic disease, "Poor  decision making".  They normally, opt for ad hoc solutions to any crisis, no matter how costly they are. On the contrary, it is believed that Pakistan is democratic country and political elite comes in power through popular vote.  But they frame policy against the need of population.  Electricity tariff has been a hot topic for debate as energy crisis continues persistently till date. Due to mushroom growth in population resulti
Post a Comment
Read more

BECOME A WRITER....

  If I ask you to start thinking then what will your answer be?  I guess that your answer will be, "Nope..........We are not thinkers.”  But if I ask you another simple question,  “Do you read?”.  Your response, should, certainly be positive.  This is  because you read even if you don’t want to.  How? While travelling for instance, you read bill boards, advertisements, traffic sign boards and many other stuff that hit your sight.  Hence You are a reader and  you should be a thinker too. It is simply impossible to read something without thinking.  So all of us, being able to read, are thinkers in one way or the other.  But don’t worry. I am not talking about great thinkers of times like Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras or Burton Russell because all of them are the sages of ages. In fact, all of us think in one way or the other but we normally don't think to write what we think.  Principally we should, at least, be able to write in our mother tongue if not in a foreign language or
Post a Comment
Read more

Knowledge Versus Wisdom

  What is Wisdom?   Wisdom is  the ability or result of an ability to think and act utilizing knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense, and insight .  It is associated with attributes such as  unbiased   judgment ,  compassion , critical thinking, resolving disputes impartially and  virtues  such as  ethics , counseling, clarity of thinking and good decision making. Knowledge , on the other hand usually, refers to information or awareness that someone has about a subject, whether from education or experience.  It may also comprise of facts and figures gathered regarding any field of interest either in a systematic way or random way for instance a public survey. If you’re talking about sense, insight, or judgment (things that concern how we process or act on knowledge or experience), the word to reach for is wisdom . But, on the contrary, if you’re dealing strictly with information, understanding, or awareness, the word you’re looking for is knowledge.   Normally wisd
Post a Comment
Read more