Steve Harlan's blog

As the world moves to smart grid technology, let’s take a broad look with the help of Utilities Unbundled at what some countries are doing to implement smart grid technology in their part of the world. At Premier Power Maintenance, we realize that as part of a global society, the advances in power distribution technology in one part of the world have an effect on all of us.

In the previous post, we looked at one example where smart grid technology is being implemented—on the campus of Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). So what will the future look like as more and more industries and businesses convert to the smart grid? What does the future look like for Premier Power Maintenance customers as smart grid technology becomes the norm for the United States?

At Premier Power Maintenance, we know that smart grid technology is the wave of the future, one that is just now taking off. One innovative Midwest college is not idly sitting around waiting for this future to arrive, but is instead taking it into its own hands. Meet the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT).

What do you do in the event of a catastrophic failure? This question has no doubt been bantered around the boardrooms of many companies lately. The ongoing crisis with Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has caused much worldwide speculation on safety and how to handle a crisis.

We’ve seen in previous blogs how smart grid technology is the up and coming technology that America is working to implement. One of the challenges to switching to this technology is updating the machinery and components, such as our transformers; transformers are an integral part of running on a smart grid system.

As the United States moves toward switching to a smart grid system for power distribution, one of the technological holdups in the process is the state of the current transformers. Transformers are the hub for energy collection and distribution. In order for a smart grid system to function properly, we’ll need updated transformers.

After having explored whether we need to update our aging power grid system in the United States, we will now consider what a smart grid system looks like. While a strict definition of what delineates a smart grid is still in flux, characteristically, a smart grid uses digital technology to eliminate waste and improve power quality and reliability.

Are we ready to embrace the technological future that is stretching out before us? As technology continues to grow and evolve in America, so too does the discussion over smart grid technology. Ready or not, the time is rapidly approaching when America won’t have a choice but to adopt the new technology over the old.

We’ve previously discussed how a slow economy and the economic challenges it brings often causes companies to cut their funds for electrical preventive maintenance. These maintenance funds are then rerouted to other areas of the business. It’s a risky practice because of the potential for equipment malfunctions to occur. The more time that elapses without preventive maintenance standards in place, the more risk is incurred.

As we’ve seen over the last few years, a slow economy causes problems in most segments of society. Personally, many of us have to cut back our expenses at home, which leads to painful decisions about what gets to stay and what needs to go. In the business arena, we’ve seen cuts across the board in the housing market, in the construction business, in the travel industry, in manufacturing—just about everywhere. Well, the power engineering field hasn’t been exempt from challenges either.