Operating a smart grid.
Laying the foundation for a sustainable, smart energy future
The Smart Grid is the foundation for Smart Energy. While new Smart Grid opportunities abound for market players with vision and innovation, implementing the technology, systems and supporting processes involves significant challenges.
Keeping pace with and adapting to the rapid technology development—and its impact on policy, funding and business models—is particularly challenging to traditional utilities.
Future-proofing technology– Early adopters of Smart Grid technologies needed to “future-proof” the technology so they do not end up with stranded costs. From an obsolescence standpoint, interoperability is a key to mitigating the risk of changes in technology. Pilot testing and field testing initial deployments are also important to ramping technology up to scale. And creating a development function that bridges the R&D function—from working with partners in beta state and development specialists in beta to commercial—can help mitigate the commercial risk of technology.
At the same time, the technology must be made robust enough to survive major outages. Improved performance needs to be balanced with continued simplicity – or sufficient redundancies need to be included to make the technology less failure prone.
Smart workforce: human aspect of transformation– A significant amount of human capital development will be needed to make all the Smart Grid technology work. Data impacts will be significant in terms of how to manage and use the data on a “real time” basis. The Smart Grid will also drive change in the functional, process and job skills aspects of a utility. Mission change management and culture change management will help utilities move their people and processes forward along with the Smart Grid.
The Smart Grid also is poised to reenergize the broader US workforce– creating value-added work in energy, “greening America”, and the IT parallel of energy structure. The challenge is building the interest in and pursuit of power engineering as a career path.
Information and the customer– In a Smart Grid, information must flow just as fluidly as electricity. With the massive influx of data, questions arise over who “owns” the data, who accesses the data, and which data to access and use. Attention must be given to how to structure a transparent Smart Grid—from customer “ownership” and privacy rights to provider access to system-wide data.
Ultimately, the Smart Grid brings all grid participants together. Participants can no longer afford to work in silos if they want to maximize theoperational efficiencies gained by leveraging new technologies. The path to success is forging new partnerships and engaging in open andproactive cross-industry communication, collaboration and integration.
About the Utility of the Future conference
KEMA’s 2nd annual Utility of the Future executive conference was held June 18 – 19, 2009 in Washington DC.
For information on the panel participants and keynote speakers, download the conference summary Whitepaper, “Utility of the Future: Navigating energy sustainability.”
Thoughts, comments or insights?Join the KEMA Utility of the Future conversation.
KEMA’s 2nd annual Utility of the Future conference session summaries.
The utility industry is at a point of historic transformation. Communications, collaboration and innovation are key to how well utilities will fare in a fast-paced, always-on future.
Transforming the sustainable energy future requires significant investment in smart grid, energy efficiency and renewable technologies.
Rules make markets. And rules are driving the immediate action on Smart Grid.
There continues to be significant regulatory uncertainty in energy generation—particularly so in light of the American Climate and Energy Security Act.
The utility industry expects to see new carbon policy limiting carbon emissions during the current administration.
Energy storage is a transformative technology—it has the potential to change everything.
Plug-in vehicles (PEVs) have become a topic of focus of bulk system operators, along with demand response, renewables and smart grid.
Smart grid technology is a bridge that connects generation supply, demand and customers. To make it work, we need to know what customers are going to do.