Why Smart Appliances May Result in a Stupid Grid: Examining the Layers of the Sociotechnical Systems

Abstract

This article discusses unexpected consequences of idealistic conceptions about the modernization of power grids. It focuses on demand-response policies based on automatic decisions by smart home appliances. Following the usual approach, individual appliances sense a universal signal (namely, grid frequency or price) that reflects the system state. Such information is the basis of their decisions. While each device has a negligible impact, their aggregate effect is expect to improve the system efficiency; this is the demand-response goal. The smartness of such an ideal system, composed by isolated appliances with their individual decisions, but connected in the same physical grid, may worsen the system stability. This undesirable outcome comes from the synchronization of the devices' reactions when subject to the same signal. We argue that this is a predictable effect of (implicit) methodological choices. We employ a different approach that understands the electricity system as constituted by physical, informational and regulatory (networked and structured) layers that cannot be reduced to only one or two of them; it needs to be viewed as an organic whole so proper management tools can be designed. Two examples are provided to illustrate the strength of this modeling.

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