This document discusses the benefits of smart grids for customers and career opportunities in smart grid engineering. It provides an overview of ComEd, a utility that serves northern Illinois, and its investments to upgrade its electric grid. A smart grid uses technology to improve grid efficiency, reliability, and integrate renewable energy. It describes the key components of a smart grid including smart meters, distribution automation using devices like reclosers, substation upgrades, and communication networks. Automation allows self-healing of outages and benefits customers with fewer and shorter outages. Smart grids provide opportunities for customer savings through time-based pricing and energy management. Careers exist in utility grid design, communications networks, and consumer applications.

1. Smart Grid – What’s in it for me?
Customer Benefits and
Engineering Career Opportunities
2013 SWE Conference
Carla Frieh - Manager Reliability Analysis
Karon Richardson - Manager
Engineering and Design

2. Get to Know the Exelon Family of Companies
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3. Exelon By The Numbers
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4. ComEd Overview
• ComEd and its nearly 6,000 employees are responsible for maintaining more than 70,000
miles of power lines that make up the electric transmission and distribution systems in
northern Illinois.
• ComEd provides customer operations for more than 3.8 million customers across the
region, or 70 percent of the state’s population. The service territory covers 11,400 mi2
(29,500 km2) in Northern Illinois.
• ComEd is committed to improving electric service reliability for its customers. Since 2001,
ComEd has invested approximately $9 billion to expand, upgrade, and maintain the
reliability of its transmission and delivery systems.
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5. What is a Smart Grid?
A smart grid is an electrical grid that uses information
and communications technology to gather and act on
information to improve the efficiency, reliability,
economics, and sustainability of the production and
distribution of electricity
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Customer Gateway
• Advanced Metering
Infrastructure (AMI)
12341234
PowerCoPowerCo
Customer End-Use
• Advanced Pricing & Billing
• In-home Devices
Grid Modernization
• Distribution Automation
• Smart Substations
• Renewable
Interconnection
Distributed Energy
• Plug-in Hybrid
Electric Vehicles
• Self-generation
What does a Smart Grid do?
Smart Home/Business
•In-premise network composed
of smart devices and
equipment that respond to
the price of energy
•Distributed energy devices to
offset usage or sell back into
grid
Smart Utility
•More efficient data
collection, processing and
back office functions
•Asset utilization strategies
(PM, CM, run-to-failure)
Smart Meters (AMI)
•Time of usage and bi-
directional measuring
•Two-way data flow into/out of
the premise
•Power on/off status, tamper
status and other meter
events
Smart Distribution System
•Real-time reporting of status and
outages
•Automated controls of relays and
reclosers. Efficient field force
management
•Effective interconnection of
distributed energy sources
Leveraging integrated communication systems and information processing is critical

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Upgraded Technology
Smart Grid Electric System Upgrades include the
following programs:
• Distribution automation
• Substation micro-processor relay upgrades
• Smart meters
• Associated cyber secure data communications network

8. Distribution Automation (DA)
A DA network is comprised of:
• Smart “sectionalizing” devices that detect and isolate faults as part of a system
that will automatically re-route around faulted sections to restore customers
• A system to remotely send control signals and retrieve status of various system
parameters (SCADA)
• Computer systems that control, operate, monitor and store the data for the DA
system
Conservation
Voltage Reduction
Circuit Reclosers
Pulse Closing Switches
Radio Systems
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9. Smart Grid Communication System
Looped Fiber Network
SCADA Console
Dispatching Center
FIG
DNP Encapsulated
in LPP Protocol
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10. 9
DA Equipment Basic Operations
Normally
Closed
Normally
Open
Section 1
Section 2
Normally
Closed
Section 4Section 3
Self Healing System – Section 1 Fault:
Open Open Closed
Line A Line B
Car Hits Pole
Station Breaker Opens
Customers on Line A are out of Power
Normal Closed Device opens
Normal Open Device Closes
Customers in Section 2 Have Power

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Smart Grid Automation In Action
Storm analysis on next slide shows lightning strikes moving
through ComEd Service Territory and how AMI meters in Pilot area
are interrupted with power and restored with Feeder Automation
• Yellow Dots (Lightening Strikes)
• Red Dots (Meter’s out of Power)
• Green Dots (Meters restored Power)

12. Smart Substation Upgrades
Smart Substations include:
• Modern micro-processor based devices
• Two-way communications between utility control centers and substations
• Technology to remotely monitor substation transformers including temperature,
liquid levels, fan and oil pump operation, and combustible gas content
Microprocessor Relaying
Asset Health Monitoring
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13. Smart Meter Deployment
The Smart Meter system, including the wireless communication network,
provides an infrastructure to support customer services and smart grid
applications such as:
• Outage management
• Voltage regulation
• Demand response
• Distributed generation
• Customer applications, such as in-home devices and electric vehicles
• Competitive markets
Access
Points /
Collectors
Home Area
Network
World
Wide Web
Intelligent
Meters
IT Systems
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Fewer and shorter outages
• For example: an estimated 700,000 avoided
customer outages per year could save customers
$100M annually
Consumer savings, choice and control – customer sat
• With advanced meters, consumers could save on
energy costs by:
o Better managing energy use
o Using new energy management technologies,
such as smart appliances or home area network
devices
Peak Time Rebate
• With a Smart Meter customers may opt in to a Peak
Time Rebate program
Benefits

15. Engineering Career Opportunities
Innovative designers –utilities, manufacturers, etc.
Communications network – security, data storage and usage
Consumer applications and products
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16. Questions?
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