Smart grid communication network capacity planning for power utilities

A reliable communications network is essential for the future smart grid. As power utilities move toward smart grid by implementing smart metering, it is important to plan the communication network with adequate capacity to accommodate future utility growth and new applications. This paper introduces a bottom-ups method for wide area communication network capacity planning. With this method data traffic for all foreseeable future major applications are identified and their hourly traffic profiles are estimated for both “Blue Sky Day” and “Storm Day” scenarios. Forecasts for the number of customers and devices in each region of the utility´s service territory are used to derive regional data traffic profiles so the regional capacity requirement can be planned. The traffic is also categorized into different applications such as smart metering; grid monitoring and control; and advanced applications. This allows the utility to develop flexible strategies for building a common communication network based on smart grid implementation plans.