How easy would it be for people to hack Boulder's smart grid?

Here in Boulder, people are already asking a lot of questions about smart grids and whether they’re a good idea. But here in the home of the first functioning smart grid in the world, it has primarily been a financial question so far.

Folks at a recent hacker conference say it would be easy to hack a smart grid and cause trouble — like shutting power down to individual users or whole cities. That should get the attention of the 24,000 homes in Boulder that are using smart meters. Technology Review says that the rush to get smart grids up and running might be ill-advised:

…to receive the stimulus money, utilities will have to install new devices across their entire customer base quickly. Security experts say that this could lead to problems down the road–as-yet-unknown vulnerabilities in hardware and software could open up new ways for attackers to manipulate equipment and take control of the energy supply.

Smart-grid deployments involve installing smart meters in homes and businesses across a utility’s coverage area. These meters can communicate with the utility and with other networked devices–usually via a wireless network of some type. Some ways to hijack this type of equipment have already been revealed. Last year, Mike Davis, a senior security consultant at IOActive, created a piece of software that could spread automatically between smart grid hardware in different homes. The software would then be capable of shutting equipment down.

Sounds like the smart grid is going to have to be really smart.

The costs of Xcel Energy's SmartGridCity project in Boulder are far higher than originally projected.

But two years later, the smart grid doesn’t look as shiny as it once did. For one thing, costs have skyrocketed. At first, Xcel thought that it would cost the company about $15.3 million to actually build the grid, not including the cost of running and maintaining it. By May 2009, Xcel realized it was going to be far more, perhaps $27.9 million. Now, Xcel is guessing that total capital expenditures — we’re talking digging ditches for fiber cable and installing smart meters in people’s homes — will cost $42.1 million.

To recoup $11 million of the extra costs, Xcel upped everyone’s electricity rate on Jan. 1. (This means that your grandma in Grand Junction is paying for Boulder’s smart grid.) That, in turn, got the attention of the Colorado Public Utility Commission, the three-person board that regulates big energy providers like Xcel. It turns out that there’s very little oversight of the smart grid. In other words, no one’s looking out to see if Xcel is making smart decisions.

Now, the commission has ordered Xcel to file a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, which is bureaucratic-speak for a document that will allow the commission to regulate the grid, and theoretically, make sure that Xcel doesn’t charge your Grand Junction grandma too much for their fancy project in Boulder.

Read more about Xcel’s SmartGridCity at the Daily Camera’s Web site.

The first iPhone owner in Boulder | photo by Ryan Oelke

Boulder seems pretty satisfied with being eco-conscious and a bit brand-oriented (for a while, too: Nalgene, North Face, whatever — a lot of us have been guilty of it), so an Apple smart grid utility seems like a smart way to go.

But the “Smart Home Energy Management Dashboard System,” could turn “every power outlet in your home or office into a conduit for audio, video and data,” with something called HomePlug Powerline Networking, according to Patently Apple.

The Apple Smart Home system also would control the amount of power that flows to a device, so you could turn down your electronics, or turn them off altogether when not in use.

But don’t rush out to the store yet — it’s just a patent at the moment.

But have you wondered what that really means for you? Like, when will you finally be able to tap into the power of the grid? (And, will it make you smarter?)

Well Xcel finally announced Thursday that their customer Web portal is up and running. Meaning, you can check your home energy use online. And if you’re one of the folks with a smart meter (and 24,000 of the houses in Boulder have one of these thingamabobs) then you can see your electricity use updated every 15 minutes.

From the Camera:

The site, at xcelenergy.com, is a major component of the SmartGrid technology being piloted in Boulder.

By answering a short survey about their home, and using data provided by smart meters or monthly utility bills, the program will also allow all Xcel customers to estimate their energy cost and carbon footprint. Advanced features can display billing information and historic energy-use patterns, so customers can see when they tend to use more energy.

Boulder City Councilman Ken Wilson said the ability to monitor power use inside homes is a giant leap for understanding how and when energy is consumed.

“That’s one of the things we’ve been waiting for,” Wilson said. “What I’ll do is start looking at (the Web site) every day to see what stays on late at night that I could maybe turn off, or just try things like turning off a computer.”

Read the full story in the Camera, or check out your energy use at xcelenergy.com and click on “my account site trial.”

Xcel Energy's Valmont power station east of Boulder | DailyCamera.com

Xcel Energy wants to launch a pilot program in Boulder that would charge people more to turn on their lights or dry their clothes during the hours when demand for electricity is greatest.

The idea would be to get people to burn less watts between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and perhaps, overall. Boulder was chosen for the pilot because of its smart grid infrastructure, which would allow folks to program those dishwashers and cellphone chargers to come on in the middle of the night instead of right after work.

From the Daily Camera:

If the Colorado Public Utilities Commission approves the request, the pilot program would enlist about 2,000 customers and run from June 2010 through December 2011.

The idea is to encourage people to burn less wattage from 2 to 8 p.m. when demand peaks, which in turn would reduce the need for “peaking” power stations — such as the natural gas-powered unit at Xcel’s Valmont power plant east of Boulder — that are revved up to cover the spike, especially in the summertime when air conditioners are humming.

Renewable energy advocates also say that shifting electricity use — like turning on a clothes drier or plugging in an electric car — to late-night or early-morning hours can help make more efficient use of energy from the wind. Unlike fossil fuels, which can be burned when they’re needed, winds continue to blow overnight even when the demand is low. Plugging in overnight would take advantage of wind energy that might otherwise be lost.

Read the full story at DailyCamera.com, or learn about the three pricing choices that will be offered during the pilot:

Time of use: Under this plan, customers are always charged more for electricity used at peak times, between 2 and 8 p.m., and less for using electricity at other times. Peak rates would be higher in the summer — when air conditioners put a greater load on the grid — and lower in the winter.

Critical peak pricing: Customers who choose this would have a similar payment scheme as “time of use” customers, but their peak-demand prices would be slightly lower in both seasons. This plan also adds an additional price for “critical peak” days, those 15 or so days during the year when demand is highest on the grid. Customers who sign up for this pricing plan agree to pay a much higher rate during critical peak times, but they will also be informed of critical days beforehand, by e-mail or phone, so that they can adjust their electricity use.

Peak time rebate: This final option would allow the customer to be billed as they are now most of the time. During critical peak days, however, these customers would be rewarded with a credit on their bill if they reduce their electricity use below normal.

A smart grid project in Fayetteville, N.C., that’s been up and running for a month has reduced electricity use by a whopping 20 percent.

This huge feat should give Boulderites inspiration and a taste of what may be possible when Xcel Energy’s Web-based portal for its own smart grid technology is up and running, allowing most folks in town to log on and check how much energy their air conditioners, clothes dryers and fridges are really sucking from the grid.

From the New York Times’ Green Inc. blog:

Those numbers are based on the first month of the project, a joint effort between Consert and I.B.M. that installed energy management systems for 100 residential and business customers of the Fayetteville Public Works Commission, the local utility.

Consert attached controllers on hot water heaters, air conditioners and pool pumps and then let customers go online and set targets for their monthly electricity bill. Smart meters and a wireless communications system provide real-time electricity consumption data to allow the utility to cycle appliances on and off to achieve the savings and help it manage peak demand.

The customer sets up a profile detailing when they wake up in the morning, go to work, return home and what temperature they’d like in their home.

“The consumer can say ‘I want my utility bill to be not to be greater than $200 a month,’ and then we’ll look at their past bill history to see if that’s achievable and ask what they want to do to achieve their goals,” said Jack Roberts, Consert’s chief executive. The company’s software takes into account the customer’s billing history, local weather conditions and other factors to manage the home’s appliances. Mr. Roberts said Consert can control up to 256 devices but expects most savings will come from appliances such as air conditioners and water heaters.

“One of the things that was a bit of a surprise to us was how much pool pumps and hot water heaters contributed to peak demand,” said Mr. Roberts, who noted that one household had reduced electricity use by 50 percent. “On an August afternoon you’re less likely to notice that your pool pump is off for three hours than that your air conditioner is off for 10 minutes,” he said.

Read the full post on Green Inc., or learn more about Xcel’s smart grid project.

Read more posts about Xcel on BigGreenBoulder:

Xcel Energy finishes building Boulder’s smart grid

Xcel tries to raise rates to pay for fatty snacks, gets fatty Utilities Commission smackdown

Utility exec: Too many plug-ins will blow up the grid

A Web portal created by the company GridPoint will be accessible later this year for Xcel Energy customers in Boulder.

Xcel Energy has finished building all the infrastructure and launching all the software necessary to give Boulder the first functioning smart grid in the world.

From today’s Denver Post:

How smart is Xcel Energy’s $100 million SmartGridCity that will ultimately enable Boulder residents to keep track of their energy use day to day?

It’s so smart that it knew there was a power outage in one neighborhood 34 minutes before the first resident called the utility.

It’s so smart that the number of customer-voltage complaints — about either surges or drops — went from 70 in 2007 to zero so far this year.

It’s so smart that it identified a transformer that was overloaded and needed to be replaced — before it got fried.

In the past, the utility knew to replace transformers when they blew and lights went out.

“It is a completely new way of managing our system,” said Randy Huston, who oversees Xcel’s SmartGridCity.

Read the full story at DenverPost.com, or learn more about Boulder’s smart grid after the jump.

In the next few months, Xcel Energy plans to launch a Web-based customer interface created by the company GridPoint. The new internet portal will let Boulderites see their real-time energy consumption — and production if they own solar panels or wind turbines — and make choices about how and when to use electricity.

For example, Xcel customers in Boulder could program their wash machines to run in the middle of the night when there is less demand on the grid or program their air conditioners to turn off for a few hours in the middle of the day when they’re at work in teh summer.

This new GridPoint Web interface was debuted last summer at the University of Colorado’s chancellor’s house. Read more about the Web tools at DailyCamera.com.

Read more posts about Xcel Energy on BigGreenBoulder:

Solar-assisted coal plant coming to Colorado

Xcel Energy queued up for more Powder River coal

Xcel Energy shows off its plug-in hybrid Ford Escape at an event highlighting Boulder's smart grid.

Having too many plug-in hybrid cars actually plugged in could blow up the grid — or at least knock out a few localized transformers.

That’s the message from one utility executive, anyway, speaking at the 2009 Plug In conference in California. But even if it’s true, Boulder’s transformation to the nation’s first smart-grid city will likely keep the local grid intact.

Here’s the story as reported in Scientific American:

“We have a lot of challenges before us to help make this market a reality,” said Ed Kjaer, director of Southern California Edison’s electric transportation advancement program.Chief among those challenges is how thousands of power-hungry vehicles would tax distribution transformers at the local level. Such transformers have historically handled electricity load for about 10 average-size homes each.

Adding a plug-in car to the grid is equal to about a third of a house, Kjaer said. And because early adopters are likely to spring up in geographic concentrations, that could mean overloaded transformers at the distribution level or plug-in cars potentially causing power outages.

“The worst imaginable situation you could have is your neighbor yelling at you because you blacked out the neighborhood,” Kjaer said.

Boulder, Colo., is a prime candidate to be a ”geographic concentration” full of early adopters (residents took to the non-plug-in Priuses like ducks to water). But even if every single Boulderite went out and bought the new Chevy Volt when it hits showrooms late next year, Boulder’s grid should not, theoretically, explode.

Read more about how Boulder’s grid will handle an influx of plug-ins after the jump, or read Scientific American’s story “Will Electric Cars Wreck the Grid?” here.

In the spring of 2008, Xcel Energy announced that they were going to make Boulder the country’s first “smart grid city.” When the smart grid is up and running, that means that owners of electric cars will be able to program cars to only charge from the grid at certain times — perhaps overnight when loads are otherwise low (all those TVs, clothes driers and Guitar Hero games being turned off).

And overnight, chances are good that more electricity from wind — and less from fossil fuels — will be on the grid, meanng the batteries would be charged with cleaner electrons.

Plug-ins like the Chevy Volt — which GM execs now claim will get 230 mpg — however, can only take electricity off the grid, not feed it back in. But when plug-in cars are able to give electricty back, a concept called vehicle-to-grid technology, then the smart grid will not only keep electric vehicles from overloading the grid or destroying transformers when energy demand is high, but it will also allow the cars to become storage devices for wind and solar energies. The car’s batteries can charge up, for example, when the wind is blowing or the sun is shining, and then feed that electricity back to the grid when it’s needed, allowing utilities like Xcel to lessen their dependence on fossil fuels.

The smart grid, though, isn’t fully up and running yet. But Xcel is looking for Boulder households to be part of a smart-grid pilot project. Read more about participating in the study here. Read more about what the smart grid will mean for Boulder at the Daily Camera’s Web site, or below.

Boulder picked by Xcel for first smart grid

Company pledges $100 million in improvements to city system

By Ryan Morgan, Daily Camera
Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Xcel Energy will spend as much as $100 million in the next two years to upgrade its system to make Boulder the nation’s first “Smart Grid” city, the company announced Wednesday.

The new technology could allow customers to see real-time data reflecting their energy use. Backers say the upgraded system could even let people use their hybrid-electric cars to power their houses during outages, or to avoid drawing on the power grid during peak-demand hours.

The move drew praise from environmental and elected leaders across the state.

Richard Kelly, the company’s CEO, said the first improvements could be online as soon as August. The first upgrades will mostly be behind the scenes, he said — but they’ll greatly increase Xcel’s ability to track power outages and prevent them from happening in the first place.

“In the first phase, they’re going to get better customer service,” he said. “We’ll be able to tell where outages are much more quickly, and we’ll be able to tell where the loads are.”

Kelly said Xcel officials settled onBoulder because of its size — the utility wanted a city with a population of about 100,000 — and because people who live in Boulder seem likely to take advantage of what the new system will offer.

“We were looking for a place where you’ve got technologically oriented people who are more likely to participate,” he said.

Waiting for the wind

Boulder City Councilman Ken Wilson, who’s an electrical engineer, called the news “huge.”

“I think it’s very exciting,” he said. “I look forward to working with Xcel and implementing this — I think it’s an exciting time to be on City Council and an exciting time to be in Boulder.”

Jonathan Koehn, Boulder’s environmental affairs manager, said the move will make it much easier for Boulder to meet its goal of reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases. The city has committed to cutting its emissions to 7 percent below 1990 levels, or about 24 percent from today’s emissions.

If the first phase of Xcel’s upgrades meets the upper end of savings estimates, he said, it could help the city meet 25 percent of its emission-reduction goals nearly overnight.

And that’s before some of the most powerful tools get deployed, he said.

For example, energy customers might soon be able to install devices that tell them exactly how much electricity they’re using, and how much demand the grid is currently sustaining.

A customer looking at the display might decide to wait until demand on the grid is lower to do laundry, thereby helping to prevent backup power plants — which produce more pollution — from getting turned on.

The new system could also allow users to charge their hybrid-electric cars late at night, when demand is low, and then use their cars’ battery systems as a backup for the entire house during an outage, Koehn said.

A wind-power customer might also be able to use the system to avoid turning on the dishwasher until the wind turbines are turning.

‘Comprehensive snapshot’

Customers might also be able to tell Xcel their monthly energy budget, and get constant feedback on whether they’re on target, Koehn said.

They might even be able to turn over the control of certain appliances, such as air conditioning, to the system, so those appliances will not be turned on during times of peak demand, he said.

“If you have a choice on when perhaps to do loads of laundry or do things that do draw power, it allows you to get a really comprehensive snapshot of how you’re using your energy in your home and the impact that’s having,” he said.

Upgrades could also steer the city clear of roadblocks that could hinder the adoption of solar power as more consumers buy large solar systems and try to sell their surplus power back into the grid. As it’s now configured, the grid would have trouble accommodating too many of those systems.

The upgrades will change that, Koehn said.

“It really creates a platform for additional renewable-energy opportunities,” he said.

Amy Keegan, a spokeswoman for Environment Colorado, praised the announcement Wednesday because it will help consumers figure out exactly how they use their energy.

“Creating a smart grid allows consumers to make smart decisions and be more involved,” she said.

But the largest city in the country may be taking notice. More after the jump.

The New York Daily News reports that utility company Con Edison has proposed smart grid-like technologies for New York City. The News’ headline: “Con Ed proposes new technology to monitor flow, avoid blackouts – for $385M.” The tone of NYC smart grid talk isn’t quite the same as it is here in Boulder. The story says that other utilities in the state have also put forth similar plans.

Of course, you don’t see NYU’s president living in a smart-grid house.

For more on vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, check out this ClimateWire explainer:

The idea is to allow electric vehicles not only to draw power from the grid, but to send electricity back into it, as well. It effectively would use the cars’ batteries as a big storage system to help buffer the constantly fluctuating balance of electricity in the system — ups and downs that are expected to become steeper and more unpredictable as the share of renewable energy rises.