Smart Home Services for a Smart Grid

A smart grid is a next-generation intelligent power grid, created by grafting ICT (Information Communication Technology) onto the current grid, which allows power suppliers and consumers to communicate on a two-way basis in real-time and to improve energy efficiency. Current grids are based on a one-way communication structure where power is generated in plants (utilities) and consumed in homes or buildings. However, in a smart grid, energy delivery and consumption is optimized using a real-time power supply and consumption data based on a two-way interactive communication structure. Therefore, as illustrated in Figure 1, significant improvements are expected throughout the value chain from generation to consumption in a smart grid. For example, at the generation stage, even unstable intermittent renewable energy sources like solar energy and wind energy can be connected to the grid and large-scale renewable plants can be established. In addition, consumers would be able to generate electricity by building solar or wind generation systems in their own home or building. At the transmission/substation/distribution stages, information on devices and electricity in the grid would be delivered in real time and reliable fault prediction, efficient outage management and automatic self-repair (self healing) would become possible, ensuring a supply of stable electricity. The most significant change will take place in the consumers’ (home/building) stage, where consumers will now be able to use or sell the electricity generated by distributed generation using an energy storage device. Consumers will also be able to buy electricity when the price 1 is low and sell when the price is high. Consumers will then be able to participate in not only consumption, but also in generation and sales; they will be able to monitor the price of electricity and the information on their energy consumption in real time and change their consumption behavior accordingly. However, in order to induce real participation from the consumer’s side, HAN (Home Area Network) and home energy management systems have to be established first, and the service has to be designed to be user-friendly and based on consumers’ values and needs. In this study, we explored the perception of consumers and the value they experienced when using electricity at home, to identify their unmet needs and suggest a few new services.