Long Island Smart Energy Corridor

We all need electricity. That need is only increasing with more flat screen TVs, smart phones, tablets, and other must have gadgets. Today, the average Long Island household uses 20% more electricity than as recently as the late 1990s.

To meet our energy needs and reliability expectations, our electric grid must keep up. That’s why the Public Service Enterprise Group Long Island (PSEGLI) formally known as Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), Farmingdale State College, and Stony Brook University are working together on a better path for Long Island’s energy future. Our Smart Energy Corridor Project will study how new technology can improve service, save energy, control costs, and support new jobs.

This “Smart Grid” project, along the Route 110 business corridor, is supported by a $12.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy and matching funding from the State University of New York Research Foundation and PSEGLI. The Route 110 corridor was approved by the DOE as it is a major economic hub for Long Island with a highly developed, compact area that has a large number of commercial, industrial, and residential customers. In terms of its electric usage as well as demographic profile, it is typical of other hubs in New York State and elsewhere, particularly in the areas surrounding New York City. Approval for funding from the DOE was partly based on the ability to apply what we learn from the Smart Energy Corridor Project to other regions.

Our Community

The Smart Energy Corridor Project is a collaborative research effort to learn how Smart Grid technology can benefit our community. Key features include:

• RELIABILITY: A Smart Grid uses two-way communication to provide more and better data in real time to increase reliability and efficiency.
  • RESULT: An improved electric system with lower costs and fewer power outages.
• ENERGY UNDERSTANDING: By using newly available data and ways to interact with energy consumers, we will help encourage better energy decisions that lead to more efficient and cost-effective energy use.
  • RESULT: Savings for electric customers and reduced environmental impact.
• PUBLIC EDUCATION: Both schools will conduct public awareness and educational initiatives to help Long Islanders understand the benefits of Smart Grid technologies.
  • RESULT: An informed and empowered society.
• TECHNOLOGY: Cutting-edge technology will be demonstrated in real-world simulations on the campus of Farmingdale State College. This includes new power sources, Smart Meters, customer-friendly energy management tools, and support for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
  • RESULT: Consumer-friendly ways to help manage energy costs.
• JOB CREATION: Farmingdale will conduct training for Smart Grid technologies and clean energy jobs. Stony Brook will use its economic development resources on the opportunities emerging from the project, to create new businesses and new jobs.
  • RESULT: A boost to Long Island’s economy.
• CYBER SECURITY: A computer on the other side of the world can be one of the most daunting threats facing our energy infrastructure. Stony Brook will develop procedures and technical controls to prevent, deter, and increase resilience to cyber-attacks.
  • RESULT: Protection of our communities.

Public Service Enterprise Group Long Island

PSEGLI leads and coordinates the Smart Energy Corridor Project and reports project results and impact to the Department of Energy. Our efforts also include:

• Installing “Smart” equipment in three substations along the corridor to provide automatic switching to reduce outages and to monitor and control the performance of circuits
• Installation of smart meters at approximately 2,300 customer locations to detect outages and provide energy information to customers
• Provide a new Time of Use pricing plan, customer web tools, and mobile app to encourage consumption behavior change

PSEGLI will study how automation and communication technologies from the substation to the home or business can be used to reduce the number and duration of outages and increase reliability and how these technologies can help consumers manage their energy usage and cost.

Farmingdale State College

Farmingdale State College will create the first “Smart Energy Campus” which could serve as a model for other educational environments. Farmingdale will:

• Exhibit to the community full-scale operating models demonstrating Smart Grid technologies in both commercial and residential settings
• Create occupational training for the emerging jobs in the Smart Grid and renewable energy industries
• Retrofit an existing facility to demonstrate the integration of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (“PHEV”) as a potential source of stored energy within a local network. They will use this facility to train Smart Grid and green jobs of the future, e.g., to support smart meter and renewable installations and maintenance by electricians and technicians.
• Demonstrate the potential benefits of managing electricity consumption and costs through smart metering in a commercial setting
• Demonstrate customer-side tools to control a portion of its campus
• Install a campus-wide energy management system to automate monitoring and control energy usage
• Install distributed renewable generation to demonstrate integration into a local AMI-enabled network to reduce overall energy requirements and shave the peak while supporting local reliability. Alternative generation will include:
  • Small scale wind turbines
  • Photovoltaics
  • Fuel cells
  • Residential battery storage
  • Solar charging of electric vehicles

Stony Brook University

Stony Brook will leverage its research capabilities to:

• Develop tools to help consumers visually understand their energy consumption and more easily change their energy consumption behavior
• Conduct public education ranging from town hall meetings to accredited courses on Smart Grid technologies
• Utilize its business incubation programs to develop and commercialize Smart Grid related products to create additional jobs and economic development in the area
• Create a test suite that will support emerging Smart Grid cyber security standards and compatibility with the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) emerging Smart Grid framework for standards and protocols
• Utilize the test suite to identify security weaknesses in Smart Grid hardware, software, and systems, and to develop technical controls, policies and procedures to prevent or foil cyber-attacks
• Explore mechanisms to use data made available by the Smart Energy Corridor Project and Smart Grid technologies for the benefit of customers, utilities and society in the future
• Enhance load forecasting, optimization of distributed renewable generation, improved and dynamic phase balancing, and advanced voltage control using information supply by the Smart Grid

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