SIEMENS

Smart grids are a hot topic in the U.S. What’s your vision of this area?

Arvizu: Of course no one knows for sure what a smart grid will look like, but I would expect it to be flexible, interactive, less vulnerable than present systems, information-rich, and just plain more sophisticated. Today we see electricity mainly coming from a network of big cables that have central power stations at various intersections. It provides a base load, on top of which varying demand is met. The future of the electric grid looks different, though. The grid will probably not be centralized any longer. It will meet real time needs better, and it will transport energy more efficiently than the present-day grid.

Can you flesh this out a bit?

Arvizu: Today more than 60 % of the energy content in our supply gets lost in in- efficient conversion to electricity at the power plant or on its way to provide a service to the consumer. Clearly, this has to be done much more efficiently — for example, transmission efficiency can be improved over long distances by using a high-voltage direct-current transmission system. The grid of the future will also be able to integrate much more energy produced by solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources. And since these sources will be more widely distributed throughout the country, energy will have to be bundled and distributed more intelligently and the grid will need to accommodate varying generation coupled with varying loads. Finally, tomorrow’s grid needs to be protected from physical and cyber attacks.

What advantages does the smart grid offer for consumers and energy producers?

Arvizu: Mostly it gives you one thing — the opportunity to make wise decisions about your energy use and ultimately save energy and save money! The smart network will allow consumers to monitor their electricity use, make choices about appliances and their use, and manage their overall energy needs based on this information. This will also allow energy providers to know how much energy their costumers actually use. That in turn may help them develop more accurate predictions of energy demand and meet it accordingly.

How far has the smart grid advanced so far?

Arvizu: Worldwide, there are a number of pilot projects. One particularly exciting example is in Boulder, Colorado and is called Smart Grid City. We are involved in this project, which happens to be near our laboratory. One important element of the project is the installation by Xcel Energy, the sponsoring utility, of a broadband interconnection infrastructure that allows information to flow both ways between the consumer and the electricity utility. 45,000 two-way meters are being installed. Additionally, a limited number of the participating households will be able to see online how they consume electricity throughout the house. And in one test, some homes will have Web-addressable appliances that allow their power use information to be transmitted to the Internet, where the total energy use in one’s house could be calculated. This opens up the prospect of eventually doing away with the physical meter and measuring use only on the Internet.

How does the U.S. compare with other countries regarding smart grid implementation?

Arvizu: When it comes to deployment of renewable energy technologies, the U.S. lags behind other industrial countries. Other countries have been driven primarily by heavy government subsidies for solar and wind energy. That’s what Germany has done. This has forced some countries, such as Denmark and Germany, to successfully deal with some of the interconnection challenges that renewable energy sources represent. Still, when it comes to the smart grid, we have an even playing field; everybody is facing the same challenges.

How has a new administration in the White House changed your work?

Arvizu: It is still a bit premature to say, as President Obama has not been in office that long and is just now putting his team in place in the various agencies. But over the past months, senior officials visiting our lab all appear to have a very clear priority in terms of solving our energy challenges — and they are very aggressive about it. Carbon emissions are planned to be reduced by 80 % from 1990 levels by the year 2050, alternative energy sources will be developed more, the energy infrastructure has to be modernized, and household appliances and homes have to be more energy-efficient. Also, in the current stimulus package more than $38 billion is dedicated to energy projects.

You often point out that energy in the U.S. has to become cheaper and be competitive with fuel in India and China. Today safety regulations, labor costs, and commodity prices keep energy prices high. How can they be reduced? Alternative energy in the U.S. continues to be more expensive than conventional energy.

Arvizu: That has to change. When we speak of alternative energy, we mean wind, solar, hydropower, etc. These sources have to become the rule, not the exception. And they have to survive economically on their own, without any subsidies. I believe this can be achieved through technological innovation and market incentives such as emissions trading for CO₂. We also have to price the externalities of fuel extraction, conversion, use, and emissions — e.g. environmental damage — into the prices consumers pay so that fuel sources can be compared on the same basis.

What are the innovations that you see coming in the alternative energy sector?

Arvizu: A lot of what we see in laboratories today will soon be on the market — and some innovations that were in the laboratory yesterday are reaching the market today. For example, I recently visited a company named RF Micro Devices in North Carolina. Together, we will develop commercial photovoltaic cells that have a very high potential efficiency of over 40 % — that will make it one of the most efficient products of its kind in the world. These efficiencies have been demonstrated in the lab and now it’s time to see if they can be produced commercially. In contrast, there is a company named HelioVolt in Texas, which we helped to develop thin-film solar cells. They are not as efficient as those photovoltaic cells produced by RF Micro Devices, but extremely inexpensive. Both examples represent exciting next-generation technologies that may replace crystalline silicon solar cells — and these are just two of many exciting things going on in the lab.

What challenges will the massive integration of solar and wind power plants into the modern power grid cause?

Arvizu: The main problem is that wind and solar power are in variable, rather than constant, supply. Additionally, these plants are often far from urban centers. So one of the things that we have to do is to intelligently interweave various energy sources that produce the equivalent of a base load, which today is still being met by coal and nuclear power plants. Also, we should learn to use power when it is available. For example, we could use electric cars, refrigerators, hot water boilers and industrial machinery in a way that takes advantage of a cheap surplus of energy when it is available.

What solutions do you see for the storage of electricity?

Arvizu: Batteries will gain more prominence in the future to meet fluctuating energy production and demand. Battery-powered cars could make excellent storage devices. One could even envision a scenario where one charges one’s car during the night when energy is cheap and uses it or feeds it back into the grid during the day. Hydropower is certainly the most straightforward storage solution, but that is not an option everywhere.

In one of its studies NREL claimed that on federal lands enough resources are available from wind, solar, geothermal, and small hydro sources to meet all U.S. annual consumption needs. That ‘s impressive — but it’s not a serious proposal, is it?

Arvizu: Well, one can talk of various potentials. Theoretical potential is what could be achieved with alternative energy resources if finances, politics, and technology were not an issue. These are limitations to the potential that realistically can be achieved. In one study we made some realistic assumptions and asked if it’s feasible to produce 20 % of electricity in the U.S. from wind by 2030. Our conclusion is that this is not a crazy idea. The necessary technology already exists. The current remaining hurdles are politics, financing and transmission.

A consortium of companies, banks, and European states recently announced it intends to build a giant solar energy plant in northern Africa to transmit electricity to Europe. Is something like this conceivable for the U.S.?

Arvizu: Sure. In the Southwest there’s plenty of sun and the desert is huge. At this scale and with appropriate transmission, solar energy becomes profitable.