Similar to content related to micro-grid, and community energy initiatives, latent content analysis findings indicated that there were no explicit references to grid flexibility and redundancy within climate change excerpts (this is also shown in Table 9). Within SG discourse, document content related to the term flexibility is reflected in open codes such as: “flexibility to market,” “flexible regulatory
framework,” “flexible EV charging,” and “SG enhanced flexibility.” The aforementioned open codes make it clear that the term “flexibility” was used in a number of different contexts including the economy,
industry regulations and grid operation. The following excerpts are examples of the manner in which electricity stakeholders referenced “flexibility” within the SG excerpts.
This approach provides for a flexible and robust framework. It ensures that the smart grid objectives and policy objectives set out in the Minister’s Directive are considered as part of the overall approach to regulation and rate-setting for regulated entities. (OEB,
Supplemental Report on Smart Grid, 2013, p. 6).
An important aspect of this evolution will be improving the alignment of conservation costs and benefits, as well as giving sector participants greater flexibility to respond to changing market conditions. (OME, Conservation First: A Renewed Vision for Energy Conservation
in Ontario, 2013, p. 17).
The goal of a smart grid is to use advanced information-based technologies to increase grid efficiency, reliability and flexibility. (IESO, Business Plan (2010-2012, p. 2).
In addition to using the term “flexibility” to describe the market, regulatory framework, and grid operation, latent content analysis drew attention to the use of the term “flexibility” in the context of SG policy as a mandated objective for SG deployment (open code: “flexibility- SG objective”). As a policy objective emphasized by the OME, “flexibility” was referenced in the following manner:
FLEXIBILITY: Provide flexibility within smart grid implementation to support future innovative applications, such as electric vehicles and energy storage. (OME Directive to the OEB, November 23, 2010).
In the excerpt above, flexibility is a term used in reference to ensuring that SG deployment results in the development of a flexible grid. Specifically, given that SG technology will evolve over time and
additional SG applications will be possible in the future, a flexible grid would allow the grid to accommodate these technological changes without major functional challenges or service disruptions. Notably, within the SG discourse the concept of flexibility was not referenced in the context of climate change despite the fact that grid flexibility is a CCA strategy (see Chapter 2).
With regards to electricity stakeholders’ use of the term “redundancy,” latent content analysis revealed that the term was used in the SG excerpts (open code: “redundant service: grid operation”), and not at all within the climate change excerpts (see Table 9). As discussed in Chapter 2, the term
included in case of failure in another component” (Oxford Dictionaries, 2015). The use of redundant components in the design of a system is used to increase the overall reliability of that system. Given this, I interpret Stephens et al.’s emphasis on SG redundancy as being a strategy to enhance the reliability and resilience of an electricity system in response to climate change. Recall from Chapter 2, that there are many SG technologies that serve to enhance the reliability and resilience of a system and arguably fall under Stephen et al.’s conceptualization of “redundancy.”
Latent content analysis within SG discourse provided evidence that between 2004 and 2013 several electricity stakeholders worked to implement SG technologies to enhance grid resilience and reliability. These technologies included self-healing grid technology, Fault Detection Isolation Restoration
(FDIR) devices, and Outage Management Systems (OMS). Furthermore, some stakeholders took steps to integrate GIS technology with FDIR, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition systems (SCADA) and
OMS systems so that in the event of an outage they are able to quickly identify where the issue is and dispatch crews to repair it so that power is restored quickly (open codes include “SG-enabled reliability” and “SG-enabled reroute during outage”).
As previously mentioned, the term “redundant” was not used in any content identified within the climate change excerpts. Moreover, within the climate change excerpts, electricity stakeholders primarily used the term “reliability” to describe the ability for renewable energy to ensure reliable supply or the ability for EVs to facilitate a reliable mode of transportation (open codes: “supply reliability” and “reliable transportation”). While SG technology is relevant to both the development of renewable energy and EV, it was not referenced in this context. Additionally, there was minimal focus on enhancing the reliability of the grid to respond to climate change. While a small number of stakeholders referenced the impact that climate change may have on the operation of electricity distribution infrastructure an even smaller number of stakeholders made reference to having either outage plans as part of their risk
management strategy or as working to enhance the resilience of their systems (See Section 5.2.1). This will be discussed further in Section 5.2.8.
Overall, latent content analysis made it clear that while the term flexibility was used in a number of contexts, including in regards to grid operations, it was not applied in the context of climate change response. In addition, electricity stakeholders did not commonly reference the term “redundancy”; however, between 2004 and 2013 a number of stakeholders deployed SG technologies to enhance the resilience and reliability of the electricity system. Within the climate change excerpts, only a small number of stakeholders acknowledged the necessity to manage climate change and weather related risk to ensure system resilience. The remaining references to reliability pertained to either renewable energy or
EV. The role of SG technology was not referenced in any of these contexts within the climate change excerpts.