July 9th, 2010: BCBR Special Edition Power Tagging Article
Smart-Grid Technology
By Lyla D. Hamilton
In 2009, shortly after Power Tagging Technologies Inc. emerged from stealth mode, CEO John LoPorto presented the company’s smart-grid solution at an industry conference.
Before he could return to his seat, a utility company executive intercepted him. Draping an arm around LoPorto’s shoulder, he drawled, “You boys gonna need some money? Let me buy you a drink.” Since then, Dominion Resources of Richmond, Va., among the nation’s largest producers and transporters of energy, has invested $3 million in the fledgling company.
The smart grid promises efficiency, automation, monitoring, dispersed energy production and two-way flow of real-time information. Its projected costs are formidable. The Massachusetts-based Brattle Group estimated that U.S. utilities alone will spend about $1.5 trillion on infrastructure between 2008 and 2030. Microsoft Corp.’s 2010 Worldwide Utility Industry Survey found that half of utilities have not even begun smart-grid implementations. Costs and return on investment are the main barriers to action.
“We want to get out in front of these companies before they invest in unnecessary fiber-optic cable and cellular towers,” LoPorto said. “We have faster, better solutions, and the capital investment is orders of magnitude lower.”
The key to lower cost is using wires already in place rather than a separate communication channel, a feat that a Power Tagging white paper describes as the Holy Grail of electrical grid architects since the middle of the 20th century.
The new technology incorporates Power Tagging Modules, small digital signal processing systems attached to the grid, plus power amplifiers and coupling subsystems. Tagging gives a unit of energy an encrypted digital fingerprint.
Until the inception of this technology, LoPorto said, “Utility companies couldn’t tell one unit of energy from another.” They can now identify the power a particular device consumes, produces or conducts. It’s possible, for example, to determine whether the energy comes from coal, solar or wind. That supports auditing of cap-and-trade programs and renewable energy credits.
A centralized database manages the identifiers of each module, monitors the schematic location of the devices and manages data for smart-grid applications.
Power Tagging’s target markets include utilities, defense contractors and the automotive industry.
Late next year, Dominion will start installing 2.4 million meters using Power Tagging’s iPod-size modules. Applications include grid mapping, fault isolation, security and integration of electric vehicles.
“Electric companies can only map the grid literally by following the wires,” LoPorto explained. That’s impractical when wires are underground. Global positioning coordinates are imprecise, he added. Locations shown in design schematics are often inaccurate. A device equipped with a Power Tagging module can report its location and status.
With the new technology, utilities can better manage overloads and detect and resolve outages. Devices monitor, report and respond to circumstances such as disconnection or unauthorized activity. On a muggy August afternoon, a utility could identify specific overloaded circuits.
“Instead of shutting off all air-conditioners in the state, the utility can respond on a more granular level,” LoPorto explained.
Utilities can also handle outages more efficiently.
“The utility will know the power is out even before you notice that your clock is flashing,” LoPorto said. Today, when subscribers report outages, utilities dispatch personnel to the four corners of a problem area and then triangulate to identify the specific issue. With the new technology, tagged devices can pinpoint the location of the failure and even identify the faulty equipment. The utility then knows exactly where to send a vehicle carrying the appropriate replacement device.
Other applications include demand-side management capabilities for energy, notable among them real-time information to energy users about the price and sources of power they consume.
Some smart-grid models use wireless communications, which raises security and privacy issues. “A 14-year-old with a laptop can intercept wireless communications,” LoPorto claimed.
The Power Tagging system transmits only the encrypted signatures of digital fingerprints. “Customer data isn’t on the wire,” LoPorto said. “It’s encrypted and in a database at the utility.”
According to LoPorto, Power Tagging technology will accelerate adoption of electric vehicles by eliminating the need for a network of charging kiosks analogous to gas stations. Every electrical outlet can be a charging station, he said. With Power Tagging technology embedded in silicon as a Vehicle Identification Module, electric-powered vehicles identify themselves when plugged into an outlet. They report the amount of electricity consumed. The utility bills the subscriber.
Not a subscriber? Not a problem. Power Tagging offers reconciliation services like those in the cellular phone industry. Utilities can collect even when drivers charge their batteries at locations outside the system to which they subscribe.
Today’s electric vehicles can travel just 100 to 200 miles before exhausting their batteries, which deters many potential buyers.