Ingenieur Vol. 75 ingenieur July 2018-FA | Page 58

‟
INGENIEUR
... the most impactful disruptive technology for Malaysia’s future
electricity infrastructure is the anticipated substantial proliferation
of renewable and distributed photovoltaic generation (greatly
characterised by its high variability and uncertainty) into the energy
mix portfolio of the generating systems.
that will need to be reliable, maintenance-free,
and interoperable. Some of the best-positioned
companies may be suppliers of big data and
analytical software that can help to extract
meaning from the enormous amount of data
flows that the Internet of Things will produce for
the power systems. With sensors, networks and
computer systems controlling these critical power
systems, the consequences of cyber-attacks could
be staggering. It will take a great deal of thought
and planning, as well as collaboration with private
sector vendors to create proper safeguards and
keep them up to date as these technological
advances continue.
In terms of data security and personal
privacy/autonomy, both business enterprises
and Government policy makers will have to come
together to craft the necessary regulations to
protect the consumers and society at large. Only
when these issues are addressed in parallel with
adoption of these technologies can widespread
adoption of IoT be successful.
In terms of public policy, the Government
will need to establish clear understandings of
the privacy risks that accompany the Internet
of Things. The ability to put sensors virtually
anywhere – to observe the traffic on a residential
street or to monitor a home’s electricity use – will
undoubtedly raise serious concerns about how all
that information will be used.
CONCLUSION
This article discusses at length the issues and
challenges of the four identified disruptive
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technologies that can significantly impact electricity
grid infrastructure development planning and
system operation for utility of the future.
From the author’s viewpoint, the most impactful
disruptive technology for Malaysia’s future electricity
infrastructure is the anticipated substantial
proliferation of renewable and distributed
photovoltaic generation (greatly characterised by
its high variability and uncertainty) into the energy
mix portfolio of the generating systems. This in
turn will greatly affect national electricity/energy
security in terms of demand-generation balance,
both for real-time system operation and short-
term/medium-term operational planning resource
dispatch. If it lacks rigorous power system security
assessment strategic studies, there is increased
probability of partial or full system collapse of the
infrastructure, as System Inertia is expected to
decrease in tandem with increase in the levels of
solar photovoltaic/distributed renewable energy
generation. System Inertia is very fundamental in
the order of importance from real-time operation
for rate-of-change-of-frequency (RoCoF) and
frequency response when there is imbalance
between generation and demand. Thus, the
challenging issue of managing System Inertia and
RoCoF is of utmost importance in order to secure
Malaysia’s future electricity power system grid
against increased probability of system collapse.
Our national electricity utility company (TNB),
being one of the world-class utility companies, will
need to reimagine its future business enterprise
strategies in light of the issues and challenges
as discussed and highlighted here. And, it should
be used as the guiding framework for reimagining
TNB as utility of the future.