Smart Grid System

A smart grid system offers powerful advantages for cities facing a host of challenges related to energy management in the 21st century. As our population grows and our technologies require more electricity, our aging power grid is constantly pushed to do more than it was originally designed to do. By modernizing with a smart grid system that uses data and analytics to manage electricity more efficiently, cities can reduce the strain on the grid while meeting increased energy demands, providing the kind of affordable access to energy that enables higher quality of life.

A smart grid system uses sensors placed throughout the grid to monitor everything from the temperature and capacity of power lines to the health of smart grid infrastructure and the consumption of energy within homes and businesses. Armed with actionable intelligence from a smart grid system, cities can:

• Improve reliability by enabling a smart power grid to heal itself and to route electricity around problem spots within the grid.
• Balance the demand for electricity with proactive power monitoring, distributing energy more efficiently during peak and off-peak times.
• Increase the supply of energy by incorporating alternative generation and storage options.
• Reduce cost by eliminating waste, lowering operational expense, and by making better use of current infrastructure rather than investing in costly new power-generating technology.
• Give consumers the power to participate in energy management, enabling them to use less energy at peak times and to shift high energy consumption activities to off-peak times.
• Improve security of the electrical grid through more intensive monitoring.

How does a smart grid system work?

A smart grid system relies on four layers of infrastructure.

• Advanced smart grid IoT sensors help to assess and report on the stability of the smart grid system, to sense and recover from faults in substations automatically, and to reroute power around problems in the system.
• High-performance networks connect sensors and the data they produce with analytics platforms that receive the data.
• Analytics software transforms raw data into actionable intelligence.
• Interfaces such as dashboards and reports provide utility administrators with the ability to digest information and make more informed decisions.

Connecting the smart grid system

As one of the country’s leading providers of connectivity solutions for governments and enterprises, Spectrum Enterprise provides the network infrastructure that smart cities need to connect smart electricity sensors and collect the data they produce. Spectrum Enterprises has already invested billions of dollars in a two-way, fully interactive digital network that spans 840,000 miles of fiber connections throughout the country, and Spectrum has plans to invest billions more to enhance the network and bring high-speed fiber connectivity to more communities.

To ensure that every smart grid system has the connectivity it requires, Spectrum Enterprise also provides:

• Cellular connectivity through one of the nation’s largest LTE cellular networks.
• Gigabit connections for residences and commercial settings, enabling smart electrical grids to easily communicate with thermostats and appliances within homes and businesses.
• 100 Gbps symmetrical connection speeds for local governments and enterprises.
• WiFi connectivity at more than 350,000 hotspots throughout the country.

Learn more about Spectrum Smart Cities at www.spectrumsmartcities.com.