Our Power Grid Needs a Jolt

Without going into a discussion of how electricity should or should not be generated and the subsequent debates about environmental concerns that would ensue, I would like to share what I learned about our electric Power Grid. I do not have a background in this field. I am a consumer, observer and, like most of you, I have a dog in this hunt.?Plus I have just enough knowledge and very smart friends to help me learn and to write this article.

Texas’ infamous blackouts in February of 2021 are still on my mind. Other states have, and are encountering, annual seasonal challenges managing continual power to homes and businesses during peak use. We can confront the reality that the demand for more generation of electricity to meet an ever increasing demand is not going away and will only exacerbate already realized weaknesses in a complex and arguably aging Power Grid. This article isn't a "what really happened" type of thing. Others can have and can go down that path. No, I wanted to share some information I learned about the condition of the grid from a business and consumer point of view.

Leaving the detail and engineering to scientists and engineers is wise, especially for me. Surprise, I am not an engineer. Yet, these system weaknesses impact what I can do to ensure my home stays warm or cool, and has water and food.?So in other words: conditions to sustain basic needs.

Many of us watched as the Texas Legislature bravely growled and snarled with loud proclamations that something would be done, and heads would roll following the 2021 winter storms which paralyzed the state. Heads rolled, that was true but once the snow melted and people were back wearing shorts, I could swear I heard Charles Durning singing, “Ooooh, I love to dance a little side-step. Now you see me – now you don’t…”

The opinion of many holds that the problem remains unsolved and until Texas has another similar storm (and it will), we will soon forget how this most recent storm impacted our lives and politicians will be largely unaffected in November 2022. As consumers and voters, we do not know that problems have been or are being solved.

Texas Governor Abbott states reforms and priorities directed to the Texas Public Utility Commission on July 6, 2021 and ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) released its Roadmap a week later.?Both are worthy reads if only to understand what has been done and perhaps what work remains to be done.

After over twenty years working in and around public policy, the legislative process and including two legislative sessions working in state government, I am guilty of being a cynic to the grand motivations by elected members and appointees and the actual work being done. Being sometimes cynical about policy matters, I seek out people to help me learn so my uninformed predispositions do not frame my opinions. Here is what I learned about Texas' electric grid from a great teacher.

Stephen E. Williams is CEO of CoolWaters Technology LLC. Stephen is one of the most interesting people I have known. A former US Navy SEAL, President of Marathon Oil Refining Division and work in banking, insurance, on and offshore construction in addition to consulting with NASA plus he is an incredible, and with me, a patient teacher.

When we consider electricity, the conversations seem to be more situated on greener generation of power to be include lower emissions. Those are fair conversations and ideals, reasonable too. The conversations, however, are less about grid design, grid management, innovation or how electricity enters and is managed in a home or business. In other words, we don't seem to have substantive or productive conversations about the continuum of electricity generation to consumption. We're feeding electricity from a more or less modern system of generation into 60 year old homes with old power panels and old circuit breakers while we still want to increase usage for electric vehicles and IoT devices. Stephen and I talked at length about this recently.

Here is what we discussed:

How is increased demand impacting the grid as we know it today?

SW: “Recently California had to deal with massive, self-inflicted, blackouts, depending on who you listen to, they were due to everything from alternative energy (solar) to weather (heat wave). They were not due to equipment failure other than the failure to buy more equipment to support the demand.

"We hear about utilities not able to meet the new demands for energy due to all of our electronics, with a lot of conversation being about electric vehicles (EV) and how do they support them as the number of people with an EV grows.

"We do hear about utilities having to upgrade some of their grid, like substations to more modern equipment, due to Government edict. The reason is that the current equipment has been in place for decades and needs to be upgraded. Decades!! Now it is being replaced by equipment that probably won’t last a decade before it needs replacement or at least an upgrade. CEO’s selling the equipment are happy for the opportunity to provide the equipment now and every few years from now on.”

What are some of the challenges of the industry?

SW: “For many years utilities have enabled customers to prosper as never before by providing inexpensive power to every home via the power grid. Now we are at a crossroads where we need to pioneer even greater benefits of traditional energy as well as alternative energy.

"The electric utilities are in a good place to provide new services and features that will benefit themselves and their customers with new services. These services will help customers with new options related to their power and at the same time provide new opportunities to increase the utility’s revenue streams.

"Amazon a book seller which many said wouldn’t be successful selling books is a success because they added new and different products and services generating alternate revenue streams.

"A power utility is connected physically to all their customers so why aren’t they doing the same thing in a unique way as Amazon? Offering products and services the customer wants at a price the customer is willing to pay? Options like better pricing options, feedback on the power they use, alternate power options, Internet, Telecoms, multi-media, and more.

"The main reason is regulation by state commissions topped off with self-inflicted regulations and requirements imposed on the utility by themselves due to their “understanding” of the regulations. When they are self-imposed, then they are imposed by politicians at the state level that don’t really understand the impact of their policies.”

“Lots of companies don’t succeed over time. What do they fundamentally do wrong? They usually miss the future.” - Larry Page

We can talk about problems and even complain about them but at some point, what prevents true solutions from being developed and put into place rather than bandages?

SW: “When you think of innovation, what comes to mind? The buzz words and acronyms of the day like Smart, EDGE, IoT, Cloud, Green, and AI to name a few. Maybe you think of phrases like “Thinking outside the box” or “A new paradigm”, or “Tomorrow’s technology today” or “If it ain’t broke, break it.” or “The best way to predict the future…is to create it.”, you get the picture. I will probably even use some of them in this interview.

"Too often power companies follow crowd thinking and therefore miss many truly great opportunities. We’ve talked to literally thousands of people who won’t make changes for fear of losing their job or other types of retribution. You would be surprised how many people won’t take a risk or make a change out of fear.

"Ask someone why things are done a certain way and you will often hear “That’s the way we have always done it!”. When asked why someone doesn’t change it, you get the response “We tried this or that and it didn’t work, and we lost money.” So now it’s “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” The great companies need to work and look at all options or be left behind by those that do. When looking at a new product, like our AIS, look at how flexible the product is, look at how you can make it work in areas it may not have been designed to operate, look at how you can partner with other companies to increase applications and revenue streams.

"Today we need all grid types to be fully customizable. We further need these power systems to combine and simplify operations for employees and learning curve usage for customers. The cost to maintain these power systems safely and at reduced cost can be achieved, after all, it is not rocket science. The customers can have better bundling of all services due to smarter deployments of identified synergies.

"This means, in some cases, a telecom or technology company will work with power utilities to better supply the customer with services other than just power. By simply doing the right things for your customers you will in fact make them be your customer longer with your expanded services offering.

"Companies need to think differently about who they see as competitors and instead, where possible, make them part of the ecosystem for customers for a real win-win. Using every company’s strength to empower them and customers with better service and lower cost.”

When we talked about grid demand and innovation, what is the condition of the grid?

SW: “The Grid we have today is a white whale grid that everyone is trying to game in some way that benefits them and not the grid foundations or customers. Everyone is attempting to make money from the grid without putting money into the grid for the proper maintenance and changes to enable the grid to be resilient and self-healing in this environment where everything is changing.

"This means the grid, micro-grid, or other type of delivery will vary and change over time, further meaning all grid types will need greater flexibility and some form of future proofing

"Solar and wind power systems need converters and power conditioning and whether we like it or not this adds more cost to users. When I look around the world these green systems are adding costs to purchasing energy. In some areas this cost is very large, quite literally several times US cost today. Many also underestimate the size of this energy demand. I have no problem with any of these technologies as long as we all understand the holistic picture and what the goals are. We need to use common sense to construct modern competitive energy and broadband systems and have its availability anywhere you are.”

So, the grid itself is exposed by its own systemic challenges, many of those problems are beyond our own abilities to resolve. What could consumers do themselves or in concert with utilities?

SW: “We have identified a few things that could use some innovation. I mentioned, something missing in today’s world of electricity. Too often companies are looking for the next iPhone product, a home run of product and then some, but they don’t realize the iPhone started as many smaller, already existing products and its primary purpose was to be the best cell phone, kind of ironic isn’t it?

"The innovation we are going to start with is like that, smaller, simpler but with a wealth of features. It is “thinking outside the box” but not too far. This innovation was for a another country and its leaders saw the opportunities that came with the innovation (outside the box) and it fit well with what they wanted to do (not to far). They passed some new laws and brought together companies to make it happen. Then a new administration came into power and they shut down the project (they closed the box).

"CoolWaters Technology (CWT) is a small, specialized team known for developing unique, one of a kind, disruptive technologies. Our current disruptive technology is a product targeted for the end of the electric utility service loop, and the telecommunications last mile, into homes and business, the Advanced Infrastructure System (AIS).The AIS is an innovative product that is outside the box but not too far. It is not just an electrical panel like you may be used to, you’ll see why shortly. The AIS is comparable in cost to your current electrical panel and electric meter system with literally hundreds of new features and benefits for electric utilities, telecoms, technology companies, data groups, and their customers, more than any other global product.

"These feature rich technologies add efficiencies, multi-level load monitoring and control, theft prevention, blackout & brownout protection and control, safety, security, high speed communication, internet, multi-media, Smart Home, and much more. One UL approved, unitized, low cost, fully loaded configuration was proven in Mexico.”

How does this differ from the meters utilities put on homes and businesses? Because as we want to talk with utilities and those in the industry, they may point to the smart meters as an already applied solution.

SW: “Current smart meters measure usage at the point of entry into the home. They add some proprietary communications, and few utilities actually use this information to its fullest extent. They measure power as often as every 15 minutes, but utilities don’t do much with the information.

"The AIS, designed by CoolWaters Technology, moves the measuring and all other features from the entry point to the actual electrical panel(s). It measures the power at the circuit breaker level while monitoring power, continuously looking for anomalies. This provides a new level of granularity into how the power is used inside the home. The data obtained is transmitted to the utility as scheduled via a common protocol. Data is converted to information and made available to the user as well.

"Turning off all the power to customers because a utility doesn’t have enough power for everyone is severe. The AIS helps with this problem by giving the utility control of the user’s power at the circuit breaker level either direct to the home or broadcast to many AIS devices. Rather than terminating power at the grid level, load shedding is possible by circuit.

"With the AIS, the circuit breakers can be prioritized for the situation of too much demand or needing to reduce load. Each circuit breaker could have a priority say from 1 to 5 with 1 being the highest priority and 5 being the lowest while reserving 0 to circuit breakers which must retain power and never be interrupted. When the situation arises, the Utility sends out a notice to all the homes and businesses affected that a level x shutdown will be invoked in xx minutes.

"This can save lives. Instead of cutting power to entire grids or entire homes, circuit level control can allow for utilities to retain power to medical devices, heating and cooling systems, basically the systems necessary to keep people alive during extreme temperatures.

"At the time noted, the utility issues a command to shutdown level X and above. Level 0 breakers can never be shut down. They would be reserved for breakers that have medical or other critical equipment attached. If the level picked isn’t enough then they bump it up a level. This would also work on parking lot lights, streetlights, billboards, and others. There are other options that could be done to help minimize the impact of a load reduction like local “Rolling” shutdowns done by the AIS.

"When the utility decides to restore all power, the AIS would do it safely with minimal impact to the grid with its soft power on feature limiting the jolt to the utility, the grid, and the equipment on the grid, including the user’s.”

Making Sense of All of This

Stephen has a gift in how he teaches others and yes, this is complex stuff. He is plain spoken and his life experience would be a well read novel. From his service to our country, his business leadership and his insatiable desire to learn, innovate and teach, I find every conversation we have as me sitting at the feet of one of the greatest minds, albeit a humble one. That said, there is no doubt that for me to understand what the hell happened this past winter, I had questions and they were answered. I'm still not sure I feel better about the future.

Nobody wants to lose power during an emergency. Accounts of power that was disabled for days during the Texas winter storm are not uncommon. Instead of utilities being limited to actions which result in entire grids going dark, shedding load by circuit breaker across a grid may achieve and preserve the continuity in grid capacity when that same capacity is compromised. This partnership between consumer and utility could be what keeps people alive. Yes, the questions are largely technical and business oriented but let's not forget, the answers are framed in the faces of people who rely upon consistent delivery of power into their homes and businesses. That cannot be understated.

CoolWaters Technology's Advanced Infrastructure System (AIS), Stephen mentioned, is revolutionary. I know the circuit breakers on the side of my house are at least 40 years old as is the power panel. If I were to buy an Electric Vehicle to add to the air conditioners, appliances, lights, guitar amp and electronics, could I rely upon a relatively archaic system to keep the power on when I ran the clothes dryer? Is there enough capacity in the home? AIS can address many of these problems on the side of the house not to forget that AIS has the capacity to enable a WiFi mesh environment with other similarly configured homes in a neighborhood or community. We could say goodbye to broadband inaccessibility and more to come on that subject.

The education Stephen provided me about the grid is merely scratching the surface as I have shared it here. The reality we all face is the grid is still not healthier now following the Texas 2021 winter storm. I am writing this wearing shorts and aside from my choice of attire or the 99 degree temperature outside, I am probably like you, why are we talking about that snowstorm? Nobody cares about grids or infrastructure other than what we learn from the news. The point is, this will happen again and there are solutions which can be acquired but they are not yet deployed which could lessen, dare I say eliminate, the impact.

You will care more when another February 2021 happens in Texas, or another state faces large scale utility failures, or in the summer when the load again exceeds supply. Why do you care about what is under the hood or on the side of your home when you do not know how to use that system? It is a good point. That same system could be working far better for you, your neighbors and the entity which provides you electricity. Let's face it, you only care how well your clothes dryer works until you consider putting on a wet shirt.

Solving problems requires asking the right questions to hone in on the sources and circumstances which form a problem. Only then are solutions within reach. When utilities, legislative bodies, and regulators seek to solve problems, the quick win is more cheaper, expedient, and less politically damaging than implementing real solutions. People like Stephen should be heard outside of the echo chambers. Of which, I'm afraid that is not always the common process.

So what is the point to all of this??People like Stephen Williams can innovate and advocate for real transformative and systemic changes to the grid and as consumers we should do our best to learn and ask questions.?He does so because he sees an approaching storm. Even as state regulators have proffered a report and forced leadership and governance changes upon ERCOT and state regulators, can you honestly tell yourself, another February 2021 isn’t going to happen in the future??

I can’t.

To learn more about CoolWaters Technology, check out their website or contact me directly via LinkedIn if you would like to explore a more in depth conversation with Stephen and his team.

CoolWaters Technology is an Engineering Design and Development company that is bringing tomorrow’s technology knowledge and experience to an environment where it can be best utilized, their clients.

CWT's product is Engineering Design and Development expertise in high technology markets. Developing high tech products for customers unable to develop them on their own, providing the engineering expertise to solve the seemingly unsolvable problems involved with these new technologies.

Their team has developed new and innovative products for our companies including the first UL Listed smoke detector for your home, the first commercially viable GPS system, and assisting NASA on the first Apollo Spacecraft.

Michael R. Terry is the Principal of GSLP Texas LLC, a Texas based government affairs and ventures strategy firm?www.gslptexas.com