1. Christian Blais
Vice President - IT
BELCO
Bermuda
Challenges & solutions to
extending the Smart
Grid into Bermuda’s
homes

2. Bermuda
• Settled in 1609, oldest British colony
• 21 square miles of land mass
• 700 miles off the coast of North Carolina
il ff th t f N th C li
• Sub-tropical climate (50’s – 80’s F)
• Insurance, Investments and Tourism
• 65,000 residents
• Highest per capita income
• Highest broadband penetration
Hi h t b db d t ti

3. Bermuda Electric Light Co Ltd.
Co. Ltd
• Founded in 1906
• Investor owned
• 350 employees
l
• 36,000 customers – sole provider
• 160 MW capacity
it
• 12 diesel and 7 gas turbine generators
• North American standard of 120v, 60 cycles
• kWh costs 4-6 times the typical cost in USA
(~40¢)
( 40¢)

4. Metering background
• Traditionally based on 3 different mechanical
meter manufacturers
• Started AMR deployment in 2005
• ~50% of meters replaced with AMR
• Deployment paused in 2007 due to AMI
• Initial drivers:-
- Meter accuracy
- Access
- Reading efficiency

5. Present status of AMI project
• T ti
Testing smart meters with 900MHz RF mesh
t t ith 900MH h
• Pilot integration with Home Energy
Management Systems (HEMS)
• Evaluating telecommunications options
g p
• Upgraded CIS – preparing for MDM
• Enterprise Data Management implementation
• Regulatory discussions on priorities and
funding options

6. Regulatory priorities
• C t
Customer empowerment and energy
t d
efficiency/conservation:
- C
Consumption d
data
- Dynamic rate structures
- Net metering
- Demand response and DSM
- Load curtailment

7. Challenges – mixed returns
Source:
MIT “Future of the Electric Grid”

8. Challenges
• E
Economic t b l
i turbulence
• F.U.D. regarding Smart Meters:
- Health risks from RF emissions
- Breach of privacy
- Enabling surveillance and spying
- S
Security risks
it i k
- Increased consumption readings

9. Other considerations - data

10. Data estimates
Indications f
I di ti from other projects e.g.
th j t
• UK’s smart metering – 44m homes x 2 reads
per d
day = 32 billion annual d
b ll l data events
• At Austin Energy 500,000 smart meters at
15 minute reads = 200TB annually
• 400MB per meter per year
…..Approximately 15TB per year in Bermuda

11. Metering & sub metering
sub-metering
LEVEL I LEVEL II LEVEL III
Appliance Usage Metering Monitor Home Energy
Monitor Management System
(HEMS)
Plug-in to a device or appliance and Connect to utility meter and monitor Connect to meter and appliance to
monitor consumption by kWh or household consumption by kWh or monitor appliance and household
$$$’s e.g. Kill-A-Watt: $$$’s. Also upload information to consumption, automation,
PC or web e.g. The Energy configuration and participate in
Detective (TED): utility pricing events and DR/load
curtailment e.g. T d il
t il t Tendril:

12. Sub-metering
Sub metering & HEMS
• C
Consumption d t b appliance
ti data by li
• A gateway to targeted load curtailment:
- Water heaters
- Pool pumps
- Refrigeration
- A/C ???
• Evolution from HEMS to home automation

13. HEMS – a crowded market
market…

14. Meter communications
• T ti
Testing with RF mesh NAN – b kh l over
ith h backhaul
cellular (3G) networks
• Evaluate impact of:
l f
- Long Term Evolution (LTE)
- WiMax
- Fibre-To-The-Home
Fibre To The Home
- Carrier based versus private?
• Regulatory changes in telecoms industry
l h l d

15. Communications Assumptions
Requirements
Capacity • Normal condition - ~0.20 MB per hour/300 smart meters
• Critical/disaster condition – ~2.50 MB per hour/300 smart meters
Message Latency • < 5 seconds for real-time smart meter operations
Coverage • Island-wide available although meter p
g positioning can be an issue
g
Reliability • > 98% for smart meter operations
Security • Comply with NIST IR 7628 security guidelines

16. Communications options
3G RF Mesh PLC
Network Type Operator managed WAN Utility deployed and Utility deployed and
operated operated
Topology Cellular Star, tree and mesh Power line
Spectrum Licensed Unlicensed Power line
Data Rate 1 Mbps Up to 100+ Kbps Up to 100+ Kbps
Latency < 1 sec 1 – 60 sec < 1 sec
Coverage Island wide although Up to ~50m Up to several Km’s with
some weak areas
k decreasing d t rate
d i data t
Reliability > 99% successful link Product and design Dependent on power line
establishment specific quality
Security Application layer security can ensure end-to-end protection

17. Communications options
3G RF Mesh PLC
Ease of network • carrier maintained • Utility deployed and operated • Utility deployed and operated
install & operation • strong market driving lower
costs
Lifetime • mature technology • Immature technology • dependent on long-term
• still being deployed • Proprietary with no other technology momentum
known use-cases
Capacity & • high capacity with 2+ Mbps • low capacity/data rate • low data rate that degrades
performance data rate today • performance dependent on over distance
• superior latency performance network design
Low interference • licensing of spectrum • Unlicensed spectrum shared • possible interference with
with other networks protects from interference by cordless phones, baby wireless technologies
monitors, upcoming 802.11ah
etc.
etc
Voice & data • can utilize existing network • not available • not available
availability agreements
Strong Intermediate Weak / Not supported

18. Cost comparison e g
e.g.

19. Benefits – customer
Enhanced customer experience enabling:
• Bill-to-date, web presentment, enhanced
move in/move out
move-in/move-out etc.
• Pre-payment, enhanced budget billing etc.
• S
Security notifications
it tifi ti
• Faster restoration and improved prioritization
….however, the financial returns are hard to
quantify….
quantify

20. Benefits - utility
• Data, data, data…..
• Improved customer service
• O t
Outage management
t
• Financial optimization
- Rapid service activation/deactivation
- theft mitigation (MDA)
- flexibility (TOU, Pre-Pay, set & forget)
- real-time cost management/recovery
l ti t t/

21. AMI – evolving capabilities

22. Keys to success
• Customer engagement is critical through education and
understanding of th b
d t di f the benefits. Di
fit Dispel th F U D !
l the F.U.D.!
• Commitment and support from all levels of the
organization as many business units must collaborate
• Data & telecoms architecture - invest the effort in the
up-front analysis to get this right – after the fact will be
p y g g
expensive
• Policy definition. understanding of legal and regulatory
requirements – economies may form around the data
• Process re-engineering. Situational awareness will drive
the evolution from reactive to proactive business
p
processes

23. “It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little
useless information”
…….quipped Oscar Wilde in 1894.
23