Smart Grid Technologies Cut Emissions and Costs in Ohio
Oct. 15, 2015
U.S. Department of Energy
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Turning lights off in empty rooms, air-drying clothes, and unplugging devices when they're not in use are three of the many well-known steps residential customers can take to conserve electricity. With its Smart Grid Demonstration Program project, named gridSMART®, American Electric Power (AEP) Ohio demonstrated technologies that improve system efficiencies and benefit the customer at the same time. The project, which began in 2010 and will end in 2014, also provided insights into how smart grid technologies can increase the reliability of electricity delivery and decrease emissions. The service area selected for the project comprised approximately 150 square miles of urban, suburban, and rural neighborhoods, and included customers in Columbus, Ohio. Within the demonstration area, AEP Ohio deployed 100,000 residential smart meters and 10,000 commercial and industrial smart meters. Additionally, the utility applied distribution automation circuit reconfiguration (DACR) and volt VAR optimization (VVO) to
58 13-kV circuits from 10 distribution stations, and 12 34.5-kV circuits from six distribution stations within the demonstration area. The result was a secure and interoperable smart grid infrastructure.
