On Aug. 2, smart grid industry leaders announced the creation of a new alliance that seeks to accelerate the adoption, and validate the business benefits of, end-to-end voltage conservation for utilities through the convergence of Distribution Automation (DA) and Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI).

The charter members of the Smart Grid Voltage Conservation Alliance (SGVCA), a working group, include Elster Solutions, which will take a leadership role; as well as Entergy, ABB, and Survalent. Quanta Technologies will assist the alliance in validating the business justification.

Reducing voltage by as little as 4 percent to 6 percent can result in a 3 percent to 5 percent increase in energy conservation. However, most utilities are currently unable to effectively manage voltage variations because they are blindsided by events that occur in the distribution area network, from the substation down to the customer endpoint.

According to a recent white paper prepared by the Sierra Energy Group for Elster, because utilities lack visibility into the voltage levels of their household and small business customers, they must operate the system conservatively—which usually results in unnecessarily high voltage levels for some or even most customers during some periods of time during the day.

 Leveraging the convergence of DA and AMI could save gigawatts of electricity, reduce transformer overload, facilitate power quality monitoring, and identify maintenance issues before they cause failures.

The reduction in voltage is transparent to the consumer: Power quality is maintained, voltage stays in the recommended range, and household appliances operate as designed.

The important benefit to customers is that — without any change in behavior — they actually consume less energy, resulting in lower electricity bills. The energy reduction translates into less power generation and fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

The SGVCA will focus initially on an end-to-end voltage conservation program. After the completion of an initial field study at Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, L.L.C., the findings will be expanded to drive commercial application for all utilities.

"Conservation and efficiency through voltage monitoring and management have very practical implications that will benefit consumers and utilities alike," said Elster President and CEO Mark Munday. "Elster has developed a commercial application for voltage conservation that is already deployed today with our EnergyAxis AMI system and can be implemented at any utility. We look forward to leading the SGVCA and working with strong partners like ABB, Survalent, and Quanta to drive this initiative."

"We are proud to work with Elster and the other members of the SGVCA to showcase the benefits of voltage monitoring and conservation," said Jon Rennie, vice president and general manager of Distribution Components for ABB. "ABB technology is already playing a critical role in the convergence of DA and AMI, enabling utilities to realize the true benefits of the Smart Grid. By furthering the development of voltage conservation, this initiative will empower utilities with energy and cost-saving applications."