What is the SmartGrid?

Simply put, the SmartGrid employs digital communication across the power distribution network with the goal of improving its performance in a number of ways:

• Enable energy conservation, reduce the demand for electricity particularly during peak demand where overuse can lead to power disruption
• Environmentally friendly: reduce environmental impacts thorough improvements in efficiency and by enabling the integration of a larger percentage of intermittent resources than could otherwise be reliably supported.
• More efficient use of power generating assets
• Greater security: withstands natural disasters, physical and cyber attacks without suffering massive blackouts or exorbitant recovery costs

PowerWatch: The next step in SmartGrid technology

To replace under above heading: Empowering the consumer with a real-time picture of their energy consumption is a critical next step in the evolution of the SmartGrid. By providing a real-time picture of the cost of their energy use, the consumer can become an active participant in conserving energy in the SmartGrid environment. PowerWatch provides this critical information in a simple to use, yet powerful conservation tool.

As numerous academic research studies and pilot projects have proven: conservation absolutely requires that consumers change their power consumption behavior. Behavioral change is only possible when consumers understand the costs of their energy use in an immediate and simple way.

Empowering the Consumer

The essence of the PowerWatch system is to empower the consumer to take control of their energy use and develop a conservation behavior. This results in lower costs to the consumer and reduced peak demand for the power utility - key goals of the SmartGrid.

PowerWatch empowers the consumer by providing real-time visual feedback about power use. This continuous feedback allows the consumer to immediately determine how switching on/off lights and appliances impact their power use and how much that will impact cost.

With the PowerWatch In-home Display (IHD), consumers are able to gain an intuitive understanding of how and where energy is being consumed in their home and then make changes that will reduce electricity use. As a result, PowerWatch users typically see a 10-20% decrease in their electrical consumption and costs!

The PowerWatch IHD:

• Realtime user-friendly 7" colour touchscreen display
• Ability to access realtime power consumption and cost data from any web enabled device
• Virtualy unlimited retention of consumption data
• Works either with or without a smart meter

See Instant Feedback with the PowerWatch Realtime Display

Read the White Paper: Beyond the SmartGrid and learn how PowerWatch's proven technology is being used to make the SmartGrid user-friendly so that it benefits both the consumer and the utility providers.