By Livia Rosu, Marketing Chair at HomeGrid Forum
As consumers begin to focus more on renewable and clean energy, the smart technology industry is now turning its attention to developing the power grid.
G.hn technology, supported and promoted by the HomeGrid Forum, has the ability to uphold these changes. G.hn technology has highly flexible PHY and MAC which allows it to be used in an extensive portfolio of applications, including IPTV, Wi-Fi backhaul and Smart Grids over any media (powerline, coax, phoneline, plastic optical fibre, and also wireless, including Wi-Fi and visible light communications).
But how can G.hn technology support the smart grid?
By utilising this technology, the G.hn backbone can reach, monitor and centralise smart appliances, energy management systems, security, automation systems and any other IoT devices. As a result, homeowners are better equipped to manage their energy consumption whilst enjoying advanced communication links to several systems in the home and remotely.
G.hn powered links enable utilities to offer significantly advanced services such as energy management, which helps reduce consumer costs and lower power demand during peak periods.
The G.hn backbone is also capable of supporting advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI), allowing assessment of distribution lines and systems and proactively determining if any outages are likely to occur. The technology can also predict and prevent these power outages. This allows utility companies to much more efficiently use power grids, ensuring a smoother and more reliable experience for the end-user and reducing energy wastage.
Using G.hn powered devices in a Smart Grid deployment, the electric utility enables a plug-and-play, self-constructed network in which all nodes act as automatic signal repeaters, creating a complete, self-healing mesh network and real time communication between smart meters and the central office. G.hn can pair with Wi-Fi, ZigBee and any wireless technologies that may be used as links to the smart meters from neighborhood network controllers or concentrators.
Power grids are already beginning to develop, become more efficient and reduce environmental damage. However, this can be maximized by ensuring a communication system is in place and this can be strengthened by the G.hn backbone.
The industry is evolving towards a future of the power grid that can take its abilities to the next level. In this future, we will see fast outage resolution and intelligent two-way communication links between smart meters and the electric utility central office, which will allow for reliable and effective clean energy developments. In order to achieve this, remote management of energy used by major home systems must all evolve to allow the development of a truly Smart Grid.
I invite you to discover more benefits by reading this case study of devolo’s G.hn solution used for the German Smart Grid Rollout.