Powering the Smart-Grid Revolution
The emerging initiative of the “Internet of Things” (IoT) in the home, whereby network-enabled devices of all sorts can intercommunicate to enhance and improve the user’s lifestyle, has driven the need for a robust backbone HAN that can support all networked devices and for a standard that can govern interoperability. G.hn is the most capable and standard-compliant technology for providing this backbone network, allowing high-speed, high-quality communication across any wire in the home network—power line, coax, copper pairs—to link the multitude of IoT devices. To put it another way, G.hn technology that supports the home IoT creates a smart “home grid,” per se, that facilitates highly intelligent control of energy use in the home by any networked device.
In the future the power grid will have to take its abilities to the next level: the current initiatives of fast outage resolution, intelligent two-way links to the meter and remote management of energy used by major home systems must all evolve. Included will be the ability for advanced AI systems in utilities to assess the state of distribution lines and systems and proactively determine where an outage has a high likelihood of occurring while also taking steps to predict, preempt and ultimately prevent such outages. G.hn’s PLC networking over the utility distribution grid is an excellent means of providing robust communications links to substations, line-monitoring systems and smart meters.
By extending the smart grid into the home through G.hn-enabled smart meters—in other words, the home grid—the smart appliances, energy management systems, security and automation systems, and all other household IoT devices can be reached. Homeowners are then better able to manage their energy consumption while enjoying advanced communications links to several systems in the home, even when they’re away. Moreover, these G.hn-powered intelligent links enable utilities to offer advanced services such as energy management to their customers as a value-added option, which simultaneously helps reduce consumer costs and lower power demand during peak periods.
HomeGrid Forum is committed to smart-grid applications for G.hn in all areas and has a Clean Tech/Smart Grid/Smart Energy workgroup that’s focused on these kinds of applications. HomeGrid relies on its members’ extensive field experience in the development of smart grids, with several members holding leadership positions on a global scale.
G.hn is the best wireline networking technology available for any wire anywhere. Plus, it’s the best wireline option for utilities and service providers. G.hn smart-grid devices can interface with a utility’s smart-grid access network via a smart meter or energy services interface (ESI) to support secure, end-to-end smart-grid services between a service provider and devices in a user’s home.
G.hn in an AMI deployment enables a plug-and-play, self-constructed network in which all nodes act as automatic signal repeaters, creating a complete, self-healing mesh network and improving uptime and communication between various smart meters.
G.hn in a home-networking deployment is the ideal solution for data-rich, real-time and bandwidth-intensive applications such as high-definition IPTV, voice over IP (VoIP), gaming, multiroom DVR, and beyond to distribute more content to more screens in more rooms in the home. HomeGrid Forum believes that G.hn will make smart-grid networks significantly more cost-effective.
With G.hn’s ability to use any wire, whether copper or fiber, in the home as a possible smart grid or connection, and its ability to be the backbone for IoT services over ZigBee or other wireless means, every device in the home can have its energy consumption monitored and managed; G.hn that securely interconnects any wired device into a smart “home grid” network provides data accessibility, security and energy efficiency. Having a single technology that works over any wire type and meets all smart-grid needs enables silicon vendors to concentrate on mass production of their chipsets, bringing about economies of scale due to higher overall volumes, which of course drives lower prices and faster acceptance of technology in addition to moving innovation forward.
HomeGrid Forum is constantly working to ensure that G.hn supports current and future smart-grid needs, including remote management, outage avoidance and real-time, two-way communication between a utility or service provider and any meter or access point on its network, in order to reduce service calls and improve customer satisfaction. As our name indicates, HomeGrid Forum has a clear vision of the way the market is developing and how we can lead it toward a fully interconnected and highly energy-efficient smart grid both inside and outside the home, with a wired G.hn backbone acting as the superhighway between all wired devices in said home as well as between the home and multiple utilities.
