LTE wireless technology supports new technologies, grid security, and improved efficiency to meet many challenges faced by utilities. As utilities continue to adopt grid modernization, the reliability and security introduced by LTE wireless technology will extend from power distribution to the last mile of power transmission infrastructure.

Chief Solution Manager of MANA BD CTO Team

Chief Solution Manager of MANA BD CTO Team

Chief Solution Manager of MANA BD CTO Team

Many environmentally conscious and cost-conscious consumers invest in solar panels at home. Before, we just consumed energy. Now it is possible for us to send energy back to the grid and track it in near real time.

It's nice to see your electricity consumption statistics confirm that your rooftop solar is worth it. You are proud of being a producer and consumer-a producer and a consumer at the same time! However, you may have countless questions: What caused the surge in my consumption that caused me to pay for grid electricity instead of earning points? Who else can see the data shared by my smart meter and rooftop solar? Will I be protected when my grid loses power?

Utilities providers also have questions: How do we ensure that the solar energy produced by consumers will not flood my grid? How can I quickly expand to new communities? When we open the grid to rooftop solar systems, how can we stop bad actors from invading the rest of the grid?

This blog post is about the last mile in the grid. This is where electricity enters the consumer realm; this is also where safety and security become critical. We will discuss how LTE monitors grid components in more real time when high-power lines enter the vicinity, and how consumer power generation affects and supports the grid. We will also explore how LTE provides grid security, enabling utility companies to share wireless access between consumers and operating domains.

Figure 1: The last mile is the requirements of producers and consumers for the safety and reliability of the power grid.

Through the first three blog posts in this series, we have a better understanding of how to use private LTE networks to bring ubiquitous connectivity and reliability to multiple aspects of the power grid. LTE wireless network is a popular new tool for power grid modernization. They achieve a delay equivalent to fiber optics, but the expansion cost in the expansion process is only a small part of it.

In the blog post, we also tracked how electricity generated by fossil fuels, natural gas, wind energy, and distributed energy sources is balanced in substations. They are connected to power distribution substations through short-latency connections-gateways that power businesses, industries, and homes. There is a public wireless network on the entire power grid, which can provide integrated access to the operational performance of utilities and employee communications.

With the rise of distributed energy sources such as rooftop solar systems and the growth of sustainable power consumption, it is becoming more and more important for utility companies to continuously update information about changes in consumer demand in the power grid. Traditionally one-way (the grid supplies power to the home) is now two-way (solar and electric vehicles return part of the electricity to the grid while still consuming power from the grid). The new reality of "production consumers" or production consumers requires real-time feedback to ensure that the balance between total power generation and demand is successful.

With real-time information on the last mile, the substation can isolate fossil fuel power sources when sustainable energy production is high, and switch fossil fuel power sources on cloudy or static days, and when solar or wind power generation is low.

Figure 2: Three-phase power transmitted through different lines uses sensors and communication nodes to ensure your safety. (source)

The power of 4/11/33kV and above is fed into the community after the voltage is reduced in the distribution substation and neighboring towers. Figure 2 shows an example of a utility pole near your home. In order to protect communities from power line drops or failures, utility companies must monitor the performance of power lines in real time. High-power devices such as car chargers and washing machines use electricity from three-phase currents (requires the three wires in Figure 2). Low-power equipment, including our refrigerators, requires only a single phase to operate.

Some aspects that require real-time monitoring include:

The real-time feedback of the last mile LTE wireless enables utility companies to ensure grid security and to be more proactive in preventing potential failures in neighboring grids in advance through the following methods:

Figure 3: The power grid must compete for wireless resources on the public network.

The last mile is also where consumer traffic from smartphones and fixed wireless networks competes with grid connections. Since the demand for Internet access is greatest here, the critical equipment that runs the grid on the same network is neither reliable nor expensive. Figure 3 shows how grid traffic must compete with FWA (fixed wireless) and MBB (smart phone) traffic. A dedicated private LTE network for the power grid is one way to solve this problem.

In addition, with the rapid migration of the population to the suburbs, utility companies are racing to expand the existing power infrastructure for the last few miles. The activation time of the Internet connection of the new grid equipment on the suburban power grid is the fastest using wireless, and the licensed LTE wireless is the most reliable.

The device price point of LTE chipsets continues to decline. This means that smart meters and consumer devices placed in the last 100 meters between the pole and the consumer can be served by the same licensed LTE network as the rest of the grid. With guaranteed performance, the licensed LTE network will replace the existing best-effort mesh network.

Figure 4: On an LTE private network, key traffic can be prioritized and independent of producer and consumer traffic.

The introduction of dedicated wireless in the last mile can also ensure that grid-specific priorities and preemption rights are built into the flow to solve critical issues at different levels. Figure 4 shows how grid devices (green lines) have unrestricted access on private LTE networks, while blue lines are grid devices competing with consumer smartphone traffic on public LTE or unlicensed wireless networks. The performance and SLA required for reliable grid operation are within the control of the grid supplier. Consistent performance becomes independent of producers and consumers.

Figure 5: From an end-to-end perspective, 3GPP-based LTE attaches great importance to security.

The LTE wireless network service equipment on the electric network needs to consider the security from the equipment to the public utility headend. The SIM card on the power grid equipment is securely connected to the eNB wireless base station. The security protocol connects the eNB to the core network (EPC), which is the gateway to the Internet/frontend. 

In order to address the concerns of most public utility companies about the security of critical power grid wireless networks, LTE has three security pillars:

For the mission-critical network of utilities, we must also consider the concept of micro-segmentation. Mission-critical and safety-critical workloads should not share resources with workloads with low importance ratings. Micro-segmentation is a key defense measure to isolate many attack vectors in a multi-tenant cloud environment.

Micro-segmentation and isolation mechanisms can prevent the last mile of consumers from becoming an entry point for greater grid security risks. The default security that comes with SIM-based authentication and access will also be extended to other consumer-oriented power devices, such as solar inverters, charging stations, and power storage solutions-all of which feed power back to the grid.

The security and protection used on the last mile delivery grid is a high-security extension to the transmission and distribution network, allowing for faster response and repair. With mission-critical safety, fast and effective stay ahead of bad actors, smart meters and substations will receive the same protection as the rest of the grid.

So, let us return to the urgent question raised by public utility companies today: In the world of prosumers, how do we maintain the subtle two-way dialogue between production and consumption? How can we quickly and cost-effectively expand our infrastructure to serve new customers and better serve our existing customers? When we open the grid to producers and consumers, how do we ensure the safety of mission-critical grids?

My consumers in the industry, and our solar panels are just one aspect of the complex transformation of the power company’s operating landscape. As we have seen, LTE wireless technology supports new technologies and improves efficiency to meet many challenges faced by utilities. As utilities continue to adopt grid modernization, the reliability and security introduced by LTE wireless will extend from power distribution to power transmission infrastructure.

Read the entire series of blog posts where we unravel the state of the digital grid and show how private networks enable utility companies to achieve their goals.

For example, what are you reading? Please sign up to receive email updates on your favorite topics.

In the Ericsson blog, we provide insights to make complex ideas about technology, innovation, and business simple.

Tel: +1 972 583 0000 (general inquiries) Tel: +1 866 374 2272 (human resources consulting) Tel: +1 833 374 7253 (internal sales in the United States)

Modern Slavery Statement| Privacy| Legal| Cookies| © Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson 1994-2021

You seem to be using an old web browser. To experience www.ericsson.com in the best way, please upgrade to another browser such as Edge Chromium, Google Chrome or Firefox.