User Manual

SPONSOR PERSPECTIVE
Putting the World in Power
The expectations for how our grid should work—and what it should be capable of—are higher than
they’ve ever been. Meanwhile, the whole system is playing catch-up. Throughout the 20th century, other
innovations evolved rapidly. Yet by 2000, the grid was a relic. It was not only aging, with assets going on
a century old, it also was still largely analog in an increasingly digital society. The grid was still carrying
out its mission—carrying currents across vast distances and, with few exceptions, generating continuous
power—but pent-up disruption was coming. Two powerful trends, in fact, changed everything.
First, there were climate change and a higher frequency of severe weather. Second, there was the formation
of the internet of things. With it was the potential to transition to a digital grid. With that was the potential
to answer the above resiliency challenge and, as market forces turned in favor of alternative energy—
natural gas, wind, and solar—to pursue sustainability and cost savings. With a digital grid, power providers
can generate electricity based on actual demand. System failures can be addressed before they happen.
Automated backup generation and distribution can keep the power on during severe weather and ensure
that the intermittency of natural gas and renewable energies won’t reduce reliability.
But while the country may want and need this today, we can’t have this digital grid anytime soon—at least
not on a national scale. Our power grid not only has to be made newer, it also has to be made smarter.
This will take time—decades—to complete.
Consumers are not willing to wait this long. Whether their concern is climate change, resiliency, or cost,
they’re eager to reap the benefits of a digital grid today. There is, however, an alternative to waiting. Our
solution, at Siemens, is to put customers back in power.
Siemens enables customers to stay connected to the grid while also having the capability of generating and
managing power themselves using the latest technologies and software. Using localized, efficient power
systems and automated controls, consumers become “prosumers” who buy power from the grid when
rates are lowest or sell excess power supplies back to a utility. Siemens’ customers have more control over
how they manage their energy supply, how they use it, and how much they pay for it. And critically, they are
shielded from damaging storms and severe weather.
These solutions—microgrids, for example—can sometimes be described as “alternatives” to the utility grid.
But Siemens believes that these systems complement rather than compete with the existing grid. They can
help maintain power, restore power from a black start, and add value to the grid’s transformation.
In time, the grid will catch up. But if you can get back in power, the future is already here.
For more on how Siemens is helping to transform the future of on-site energy,
visit www.usa.siemens.com/onsite-power.