Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
8.5 Linking Smart Grid and Climate Change
Thebreadthofdifferentprioritiesamongsocietalactorssupportiveofsmartgridinnovation
allows the potential for synergistic alignment of interests including climate change
mitigation, climate change adaptation, and other societal objectives. This broad spectrum
of priorities also highlights the risk of climate priorities being neglected in smart grid
development. The question of how distributed smart grid developments in specific contexts
can be synergistic with climate change objectives depends on which key actors have the
most influence on smart grid development and how smart grid architecture is structured.
Specific strategies to ensure climate priorities are integrated into smart grid deployment
must be tailored to fit region-specific contexts. Coal-heavy systems such as those in the
U.S. Midwest, Poland, or the Canadian province of Alberta present different challenges
and opportunities for smart grid than hydro-dominated systems such as those in Norway,
the Canadian province of Quebec, or the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Restructured electricity
markets, traditionally regulated systems, and government-owned power companies each
present different business opportunities and logics for smart grid development. And local
or national political constraints or resource endowments may favor particular sets of
smart grid configurations. The context of innovation for electricity systems is critically
important; leverage points which could link smart grid and climate change in one set of
circumstances could have the opposite effect in another and unintentionally subvert climate
objectives.
Accepting the importance of local and regional contexts, our analysis of the connections
between smart grid and climate change have encouraged us to develop six principles that
we think could be applied to smart grid priorities in any context to encourage smart grid
development that is synergistic with climate change objectives (Stephens et al.
2013
).
(1) At the planning stage, we recommend that all smart grid investments be formally
assessed for potential contributions to climate change mitigation and adaptation
in both the short and long term. This accounting for the climate implications of
electricity system investments couldbeagovernment requirement integrated into
financing and regulation to guide a long-term trajectory of smart grid rollout that
places explicit value on both climate change mitigation and adaptation.
(2) Smart grid initiatives that contribute to energy efficiency and electricity
conservation should be prioritized because controlling demand is often the
cheapest and most effective way to reduce both GHG emissions and costs.
(3) Smart grid initiatives that facilitate the incorporation of low-carbon generation
should be prioritized.
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