Basic concept of a smart grid is to have monitoring capability with data integration, advanced analysis to support system control, enhanced power security and effective communication to meet the power demand and reduce the energy consumption and cost. Implementing the smart grid will require intelligent interaction between the power generating and consuming devices that can be achieved by installing devices capable of processing data and communicating it to various parts in the grid. In short, we can say that the modern efficient data processing and communication technologies require advance digital signal processing techniques used in smart grid. This chapter first provides a comprehensive survey on the applications of signal processing techniques in smart grid. The challenges and limitations of signal processing techniques regarding the smart grid are also presented. Literature review of the recent advances in smart grid is also presented. This chapter also outlines some future research directions related to the field of applications of signal processing techniques in smart grid.
Top1. Introduction
A power grid is an interconnection of different units like substations, transmission lines, generation units, distribution lines and different types of loads. Moreover, the power grid encompasses other units and equipment like power transformers, synchronous machines, induction motors, capacitor banks, power electronic devices, instrument transformers, and other devices. The future smart grid has further contributed to the existing grid by introducing the modern information and communication technology (ICT) with the existing power grid. Therefore, a better understanding of smart grid is required. In this scenario, the modern signal processing techniques are becoming a necessary part of the future grid. These techniques will help the engineers and researchers to efficiently design, implement, and operate the smart grid (Jiang, Z., Li, F., Qiao, W., Sun, H., Wan, H., Wang, J., & Zhang, P. (2009, July)).
The signal processing techniques are used in different applications of the smart grid and are becoming more important for electric power systems design and analysis. The signal processing techniques are essential in the design and development of the smart grid due to the availability of digital measurements which are required for the understanding, diagnosis, development, and correlation of the key solutions to smart grids (Masoum, M. A. S., Moses, P. S., & Deilami, S. (2010, January)). Different measurements which are retrieving from different locations of the future grid can be utilized for analysis of the data. These measurements can be used for the analysis of different issues like voltage control, power quality and reliability, power system and equipment diagnostics, power system control and protection.
The development progress in the future world will mainly rely on its sustainability and cheap transportation of electrical power (Lugmaier, A., Fechner, H., & Pruggler, W. (2008)). It is fact that the energy consumption will increase drastically in the near future to a very high level. Moreover, the society and industry will demand for secure and sustainable energy (Jingjing Lu, Da Xie, Member, IEEE and Qian Ai, Member, IEEE (2009)). The sustainable energy deployment is a critical task for a healthy situation between human being and their environment. This changing situation is driven by more developments in our society, where we mean to say that the more sustainable society is our priority. Additionally, the existence of different modern technologies and the industry deregulation might have an impact on the more sustainable developments in the society (Johnson, 2010).
The society with low carbon existence and the critical storage of energy require an advance power grid that will help in efficient utilization and saving of electrical power. However, the generation of large scale renewable energy and various types of new loads will increase the complexity of the power grid. These issues make the smart power grid an essential part of the future society. The urgency of the smart grid can also be observed from the extensive research in this area (Lee, J., Jung, D. K., Kim, Y., Lee, Y. W., & Kim, Y. M. (2010, April)).
The power quality research is motivated by the need to supply the desired acceptable power level and quality to the user loads where the system operator mainly concern with the voltage level, current and frequency variations in the power system ((Lee, J., Jung, D. K., Kim, Y., Lee, Y. W., & Kim, Y. M. (2010, April))). The incompatibilities caused by voltage, current or frequency variations should be characterized for understanding. These characterizations of variations and the signal processing techniques are required for efficient operation of this system (Paredes, H. K. M., Costabeber, A., & Tenti, P. (2010, June)). The continuous monitoring is also required to investigate the variations, and correlation with equipment performance, using the parametric estimation and identification algorithms. To overcome the future requirements, new methods and techniques should be developed to explore complex relation between the suppliers, consumers and network operators (Li, F., Qiao, W., Sun, H., Wan, H., Wang, J., Xia, Y, & Zhang, P. (2010)).