Promises and Pitfalls of Smart Grid - Smart Grid (R) Evolution: Electric Power Struggles - page 29

In terms of climate adaptation, smart grid allows for enhanced system planning and
the resilience provided by continuous system-wide monitoring. Microgrids also provide
the ability to enable local islanding to protect electricity reliability during disruptions on
the main grid. Together, these technical improvements can help system operators better
adapt to extreme and variable weather events. Building a grid that is more resilient to
climate-fueled disruptions is a critically important promise. Chapter 8 explores in more
detail the potential of smart grid to contribute to both climate mitigation and climate
adaptation.
Electrification of Transportation
One of the grand promises of smart grid is its promise to enable the electrification
of the transport sector. In the United States, transportation contributes ~30 percent of
greenhouse gas emissions, 22 percent of methane (CH 4 ) emissions, and 46 percent of
nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions (EPA 2013c ). The electrification of transport promises to
significantly decarbonize the energy sector (Tran et al. 2012 ), and could also encourage
indirect improvements in environmental quality as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles
(PHEVs) displace light trucks, SUVs, and vans (Peterson, Whitacre, and Apt 2011 ) .
Transport sector electrification could also enhance energy security, because most of the
energy consumed for transportation comes from oil. A smart grid allowing for greater
penetration of electric vehicles could potentially reduce these emissions by coordinating
charging and electric system operations.
There are, of course, numerous scenarios regarding the promised benefits of integrating
plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) into the electricity system. For example, models
integrating plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the electricity system of New
York ISO and PJM led to declines in both CO 2 and N 2 O emissions, but the contribution to
SO 2 emissions was mixed (Peterson et al. 2011 ) . This research demonstrated that although
electrification of transport may not directly contribute to reduced air pollution, electric
vehicle charging can contribute to emissions reductions because it is done during times of
minimum system load. A smart meter and smart-charging program can reduce costs and
environmental impact by timing PEV charging. Other efforts to model Grid-to-Vehicles
or Vehicles-to-Grid programs highlight the role PEVs could play in grid management and
electricity storage. Some believe that using electric vehicles for energy storage could also
be an important innovation, as this would help the grid to integrate more varied renewables
and expand consumers' access to low-cost electricity. Whether and how this ultimately will
benefit consumers remains to be seen.