Proposals for Smart Grid

Here is a good news in the last weekend. Earlier what was considered to be an impossible and impractical challenge has received more than 400 proposals. I am talking about Smart Grid project (part of the Grid Vision 2030) through which the United States Department of Energy (DOE) tries to modernize and improve the electric grid through the introduction of microprocessor and microcontroller based control systems.

Frankly, I have been wondering whether the DOE already does not use microprocessors! Processors have been around for more than two decades. The devil may mostly be in the detail. Anyway it's a good news in terms of efficiency, since if we can reduce the power loss due to transmission and distribution, which implies reduction in global warming due to human activities. Losses during transmission and distribution of power accounts for 7.2% of the total power produced. DOE has to be appreciated for its good job of conducting e-forums for Smart Grid. Something aggressive like this needs to be done in developing countries like India which experiences power shortage and huge transmission and distribution losses.