NSF Award
0944859
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will prove the deployment readiness of Power Tagging's technologies for utilizing the electric grid as a communication medium for smart grid activities. Power Tagging plans to inject intelligence into the grid and into the power itself. This approach provides for efficient, in-band (on-grid) data communications. Rather than requiring significant investments in new networks to manage the grid, the company has developed technology that leverages and augments the existing distribution infrastructure. This approach will allow a rapid adoption of the Smart Grid with far less capital expense. The objectives of this SBIR project include field-testing and refinement of devices and algorithms which have been lab-tested and simulation-proven to enable the on-grid approach. <br/><br/>Using the company's architecture, smart grid capability will be deployed quickly and effectively utilizing existing infrastructure, providing a basis for improved grid stability and efficiency. The communication can enable "grid location aware" balancing of distributed power generation such as wind & solar systems with the aggregated batteries of electric vehicles, reducing the dependence on expensive spinning reserves. The real-time, in-situ ability of the technology to triangulate faults, predict high-loss paths, and detect security breaches will provide a new level of grid reliability.
