Urban grid monitoring renewables integration

Integration of distributed resources such as solar installations or electric vehicle integration and storage, the very resources that are critical to the vision of the Smart Grid, can be problematic in urban areas where existing secondary area networks are designed for only oneway power flow. Due to the nature of these networks, generation input other than input from a utility source can render the existing protective schemes inadequate and be unsafe for the grid. This paper describes the recent Department of Energy grant awarded to NSTAR Electric to perform a study to pilot an approach to urban grid monitoring to optimize proactive maintenance and to facilitate the integration of renewables.