Smart Grid System in Wailea (Hawaii)

As power developers are drawing plans for wind farms in unpredictable currents and goals of 70% clean energy must be met state wide by 2030, General Electric (GE) is planning to test its Smart Grid system in Wailea – a resort community on Maui. Currently the state of Hawaii generates 90% of power from fossil fuel imports, with wind power making up the balance. According to Ted Peck, Hawaii’s energy administrator, “the challenge of renewables is that they’re not there when you want them”.

In practical terms – it isn’t always windy when Americans need the most electricity. The challenge is how to productively include the seemingly haphazard output of windmills in to the power grid. The “smart grid” technology being tested by GE in Wailea is a pilot test for a program consisting of smart appliances that turn off during peak power demand as well as upgrade infrastructure computers to be better able to integrate renewables.

General Electric

There are 70 such pilot tests currently in the United States, including Miami, Florida and Boulder, Colorado. Wailea is much smaller, remote, and more easily controlled test environment than other potential sites. In fact, its small size, steady construction growth and relative isolation make it an ideal testing ground for GE. Since General Electric will be able to test using a greater percentage of the total power grid in a shorter time line, they will be able to extract more meaningful data more quickly from their work in Wailea.

Pending the full implementation of Smart Grid technology, which promises in all of its forms to increase efficiency, responsiveness and adaptability of the US power infrastructure, the challenge of consistency in renewable energy remains an issue. On a hot, overcast day with high electrical demand for air conditioning, solar power remains ineffective. If this and other pilots deliver useful results, it may be that other appliances will automatically shut down so that lights & AC could stay on.

This does not solve the problem of power storage. While fossil fuel and nuclear power production could be scaled back to allow renewables like solar and wind to take on a greater role in general, during calm days or cloudy periods their surpluses are lost and production reverts to fossil fuels.

Regardless of storage issues, smart grid technology does promise to greatly decrease foreign dependence on fossil fuels and to allow further integration of wind, solar and other intermittent green sources of power.