Wobblers
Euthermic
- Location
- Minkowski Space
There are some people on Cyclechat who are more interested in picking an argument than in ferreting out the points of common understanding. I knew you were not one of those; I would have been mortified if you had thought I was one such; and I think we have just demonstrated how seeming initial disagreements often disguise a much larger measure of agreement once the parameters of the debate are better understood. Multiple Big Hugs all round; the next time we're on a Friday together I'm buying you a drink; and the essay I still need to write is why Smart Meters, while not necessary for a basic Smart Grid, are necessary for the fully developed Smart Grid that our society needs if we are to avoid making climate change even worse than it's already going to be.
I have to confess that I took a cynical view of your post - which says nothing at all complimentary about me. The next FNR it'll be me buying the drinks, as recompense. (I suspect some discourse on conquering the world with solar power and a global HVDC grid may be involved...)
You suggest two scenarios in your smart meter essay that I hadn't considered. I imagine that appliances will need to have some electronics to be able to listetn to the smart grid. The protocol used to communicate between grid and appliance will have to be simple (given that they will be sold into many different countries), and secure. That suggests that best place for the more complex communications that your changing weather secnario needs are best placed in the smart meter. It might be possible to put it on one of the substation equipment racks - your other sceanrio of the 200 electric cars on the 150 car capacity supply needs that, but I suspect that smart meters are the most logical place.