Smart Grid Moves Toward Its Next Phase

Published October 22, 2010

Several lessons emerged from Grid Week in Washington, D.C. The most striking for me is how smart grid applications are beginning to be used in daily operations -- especially on the power generation and distribution side of the business.

The consumer side -- while equally promising and far-reaching -- may take longer, but don't estimate the potential for that side of the market to grow quickly as well.

What only a few months ago were considered "pilot projects" are now increasingly becoming a part of everyday operations for several utilities across the country.

In essence, smart grid is moving to a new phase that proves the business model works and proves it can be a part of a new energy era which includes more sustainable sources of energy as well as the means to deliver it. Paul Camuti, far left, and the Siemens Smart Grid Dome

For example, Bluebonnet Electric and Oncor -- both electric utilities located in Texas -- have installed Siemens Smart Grid solutions. Bluebonnet has rolled out a meter data management system and customer engagement portal, and Oncor is already seeing results from the distribution management system they have implemented.

Developments like this also put us that much closer, for example, to making charging stations for e-cars more of a reality where they can be connected to the grid and electric vehicles can be charged at optimal times.

Another lesson emerging this week is that it appears the public-private partnership for smart grid appears to be working. It started with $11 billion in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) for modernization projects and most recently included the rollout of the first Interoperability Framework introduced by the National Institute of Standards and Technology which will help improve grid interoperability and security.

No question, standards setting will help the industry overall and put us on an equal footing internationally. Washington should be applauded for their ongoing role here. But equally important is the fact that as Washington helps set those standards, the private sector is already seeing the opportunities and investments are starting to flow.

Next Page: Standards-setting and the smart grid.

SAP and Siemens Target Technologies Needed to Accelerate EVs The two companies will collaborate on developing the underlying technology needed to support widespread electric vehicle use, including the infrastructure needed between charging stations and the back-end systems that will process various utility transactions....	Heinz, ConAgra Get High Marks for Cutting BPA, Walmart and Kraft Fail Hain Celestial, Heinz and ConAgra received passing grades from two groups that surveyed companies about their efforts to eliminate bisphenol A (BPA), an endocrine-disrupting chemical, from can linings. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Geneva}...
Walmart and General Mills Bullish on Sustainable Palm Oil General Mills and Walmart have both made smart business decisions by committing to use 100 percent sustainable palm oil. Companies that ignore supply chain risks such as deforestation put their company's reputation and profits at risk, and investors are starting to notice....	Bridging the Gap in Biodiversity Finance Experts say it will cost $300 billion per year by 2020 to stop biodiversity loss, but the Global Canopy says that we are now only delivering between $36 billion and $38 billion per year....
Can Sustainable Investing Beat the Markets? The latest round of Newsweek green rankings -- and the financial performance of its top-ranked companies relative to the S&P 500 -- shines new light on the question of whether socially responsible investing is also smart investing....	UK's Carbon Tax Bombshell Takes Business by Surprise Experts predict that a government move to impose a carbon tax through the Carbon Reduction Commitment may actually help make the scheme less complicated....
Five Reasons Why Carbon Management Software is the Next Big Thing As carbon becomes an ever-bigger liability on the corporate balance sheet, carbon and energy management software is poised to be the newest addition to the list of mission-critical enterprise software systems....	Why the USGBC Probably Isn't an Illegal Monopoly As almost anyone in the green community knows, last week LEED critic Henry Gifford sued the USGBC for, essentially, a few different flavors of fraud. I will address the various causes of action in different posts, starting this week with monopolization....

Blogs

Smart Grid Moves Toward Its Next Phase

GreenBiz Events