Mexico. According to Schneider Electric, the blackout that this week affected 1.7 million customers in the Yucatan Peninsula is a sign of the imminent need to upgrade the national electricity infrastructure towards a complete smart grid (what in the industry is known as smart grid) that provides a cleaner, more reliable and scalable service.
New energy resources, such as renewables, and innovation in generation capacities have added greater complexity to electricity grids around the world, which are constantly evolving to meet the variability of current demand. The consulting firm Northeast Group points out that the Mexican smart grid infrastructure market is valued at more than 10 billion dollars, occupying the second position in Latin America, only behind Brazil.
In this context, the global industry has joined the trend of smart grids, which allow to build interconnected business models, in which users interact with the network to obtain four great benefits:
1. Data analytics: The innovation of a smart grid begins when you use the Internet of Things (IoT). This technology brings more value at all levels of the electricity grid as it increases collaboration between actors – local and international – and contributes to the entire system working more efficiently through data analysis. It is estimated that in some parts of the country electricity losses are up to 20%, mainly caused by non-technical losses.
2. Reliability and prevention: the incorporation of smart meters, automation tools and remote monitoring and management solutions allows for more intuitive electrical networks. These systems record grid trends and evaluate their activity to improve reliability, as well as evaluate how processes can be optimized to reduce energy expenditure. These characteristics allow to overcome overloads or energy deficits.
3. Flexibility: A key benefit of IoT infrastructure is its flexibility, a critical element for projections for the coming years. The current period of transformation and innovation that Mexico is experiencing demands the rapid implementation of new technologies and the evolution of the way in which network systems interact to be scalable and interoperable.
4. Cybersecurity: the cyber attacks that were experienced recently at a global level are a sign that no country or industry is exempt from these risks. Interconnected technologies in the power sector inherently increase the risk of cyber threats, so a smart grid will provide greater protection and data integrity, in addition to more advanced authentication protocols and authorizations.
The adoption of a smart grid is the solution to systems exposed to operations that depend on multiple variables, facilitating the adaptation to market dynamics and the incorporation of new services that meet new demands of industrial, commercial and residential users.
