Year: 2013
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The traditional power grid has served well in its existing period by transmitting and distributing\nelectricity from centralized generators to consumers. Characteristics of this grid has been a oneway\nflow of energy and energy meters that have to be read manually. Environmental and societal\nchallenges rises new demands for a more effective and flexible solution for energy distribution.\nMotivated by the combat against global warming and desire for national energy independence a\nsmart power grid is in development. Smart Grid (SG) is regarded as the new generation power\ngrid by utilizing modern information technologies to enable a two-way communication between\nadvanced smart meters and head-end systems at utility companies. While conventional power\ngrids are generally used to carry power form central generators to the users, SG uses two-way\nflow of power and information to deliver electricity in a more flexible, reliable and cost-effective\nway.\nFor SG fulfil its purposes, information communicated through Advanced Meter Infrastructure\n(AMI) is much more fine-grained than the every two months readings in the traditional grid and\ncan because of that reveal information about habits and activities inside the resident based data\nof electricity usage. This is a severe challenge in regard of the privacy of energy consumers, and\nis a problem utility companies must address in the deployment of SG and Advanced Metering\nSystems (AMS).\nCollection of data classified as sensitive and personal is regulated by laws, but there are grey\nzones between clearly illegal and legal data collection, storage and use. The purpose of data\ncollection must be clearly defined and communicated to the data subjects. The challenges in\nregard of privacy in SG development are several, from creating a secure communication channel\nfor transporting data between the smart meters and the head-end systems and to establish a\ntrust amongst the energy consumers so they can feel safe that their personal information is not\ncompromised or misused.\nThis thesis takes a closer look at the concept of privacy in the context of AMS and SG and explores\nthe threats and vulnerabilities of privacy that exists in this infrastructure. Based on this the thesis\npresents results from interviews with several Distribution System Operators (DSO) where they\nhave been asked how they address privacy challenges in their AMS projects and how they regard\nprivacy concerns in the future power grid.
Author: Aud Gran
Language: English
Subfield: Control and Systems Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2463651770