Ingenieur Vol. 75 ingenieur July 2018-FA | Page 55

With Advanced/Smart Metering Infrastructure
(AMI) and Time-of-Use (ToU) electricity pricing
mechanism deployed at the distribution/consumer
end, consumers can actually tailor and optimise
their own usage/consumption. Consumers can
also engage in demand response application
as part of the demand-side management
(DSM) market through the AMI infrastructure.
Figure 6 illustrates the architecture of the AMI
infrastructure as it might be deployed by a typical
electricity utility company.
Figure 7(a) and Figure 7(b) graphically show
the transformation of the traditional electricity
grid infrastructure/centralised fossil-fuelled
generation to full smart grid realisation. The
transformation is through the integration of large-
scale solar photovoltaic power plants and BESS
and distributed solar photovoltaic generation on
consumers’ rooftops with deployment of AMI for
smart charging of electric vehicles, ToU pricing
and ancillary market services (such as frequency
regulation, peak load shifting and demand
response applications) and enhanced distribution
management automation (DMA). Distribution
management automation will include functions
such as distribution network security assessment,
loss optimisation, fault location-isolation-
restoration and automatic feeder reconfiguration.
Many utilities in US, UK/Europe and Australia
have already deployed regulatory-driven smart
grids in their electricity infrastructure. One of the
challenges of smart grid deployment is that it is
capital intensive. In UK, Italy and Australia, smart
grid cost recovery is through minimum monthly
rental fees, whereas in the US it is bundled into
the electricity tariff.
Malaysia is currently in the process of crafting
the necessary regulations which will address a
smart grid cost recovery mechanism and the roles
and responsibility of the Regulator (Suruhanjaya
Tenaga), the utility (TNB) and the customer. The
other issues with smart grid deployment pertain to
security of data and job threat to meter readers/
disconnectors. Key success factors to smart
grid deployment in the Malaysian electricity
infrastructure are:
• clear regulatory framework;
• funding mechanism (Government grant/
support and/or regulatory pass-through);
• robust technology infrastructure and its
interoperability with pilot project at initial
stage of smart grid journey; and
• effective customer engagement strategies.
INTERNET OF THINGS
Physical objects, such as infrastructure, plants,
machineries, shipments, equipment and devices
across the world are being equipped with network
sensors and actuators that enable them to
monitor their environment, report their status,
receive instructions, and even take actions based
on the information they receive. This is what is
meant by the “Internet of Things” (IoT). It is growing
rapidly and it is disruptive to traditional business
enterprises.
The IoT refers to the use of sensors,
actuators, and data communications technology
built into physical objects that enable those
objects to be tracked, co-ordinated, or controlled
across a data network or the Internet. There are
three steps in IoT applications: capturing data/
information from the object, aggregating that
information across a data network, and acting
on that information – taking immediate action
or collecting data over a period of time to design
process improvements.
According to the MGI Report [Ref. 1], the IoT
has the potential to create an economic impact of
US$2.7 trillion to US$6.2 trillion annually by 2025.
Some of the most promising applications are in
health care, manufacturing, electricity grids, urban
water infrastructure and urban public transport
systems. To capture the potential value of these
applications, enterprises will need to have systems
and capabilities to mine and analyse the Big Data
that remote sensors can provide.
In the article “Better Connected Enterprises”,
Jarrett Potts, BEM The Ingenieur, Vol. 73, January-
March 2018 [Ref.7], it notes that by 2018 there
will be 22 billion IoT devices installed worldwide
and by 2022 one million new devices will come
online every hour. IoT devices and solutions have
the potential to redefine competitive advantages in
every type of business activity and fundamentally
alter how consumers interact with business
enterprises and how these enterprises interact
with their supply chain suppliers and distribution
partners.
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