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GridWeek,
the industry's premier smart grid conference, took place in Washington,
DC, last week, with nearly 1400
leaders from across the globe gathering to discuss concrete plans for making
smart grid a reality. Doubling last year's attendee number, delegates had
discussions ranging from smart deployments to smart policy … and even venturing
as far as the "smart consumer."
With billions of smart grid stimulus dollars available for smart grid projects,
utilities have stepped up to the plate with plans for holistic demonstrations
that will prove out key smart grid benefits going forward. More than 550
applications poured in.
We saw even more commitment from the government, with Energy Secretary Steven
Chu opening GridWeek with an announcement of $144 million in funding to help
transition to a smarter grid, and with Commerce Secretary Gary Locke closing
the week by announcing the completion of the first phase of the smart grid standards
roadmap, which will help guide smart grid innovation.
The commitment from business is clear, with new collaborations being announced
throughout the week– like the GE
and NURI Telecom, Ltd. collaboration to help bring smart grid progress to
Korea. We're also seeing new entrants in the energy sector, like AT&T,
which is also considering smart grid services.
Other themes – or "gaps" even – also surfaced. At the very
heart of smart grid success is real-time information and knowledge, all the
way up and down the power lines. But one of the biggest gaps identified at the
conference was education.
Whether it's to utilities, policymakers or consumers, education is required
as smart grid moves from concept to reality. Education is needed to underscore
the benefits smart grid will deliver – from clean energy integration, to
efficiency, to consumer empowerment –and address the concerns.
In the regulated utility model, most power companies can only go so far without
the support of their Public Utility Commission (PUC). Regulators will only support
smart grid investments if they have apparent value to consumers and local business.
And because none of this is "intuitive", education is required.
Some utilities, like Oncor
Energy out of Texas, are doing a great job at educating their customers.
Oncor presented at GridWeek during the "Marketing
the Smart Grid" panel and highlighted some of its key education tactics,
which ranged from events, to the web, to fliers and bill inserts. As a result,
the utility has garnered tremendous support from its customer base on smart
grid deployments.
The rest of the industry will also need to follow suit, particularly as the
media continues to call into question privacy and security – other themes
emerging at the conference.
Fortunately, the industry has historically been very good at protecting the
grid from attack – whether cyber or physical – and has done so for
more than 100 years. These principles will be applied as intelligence makes
its way down into the customer's home.
When it comes to privacy, consumers should also be comforted by how seriously
the industry is approaching this sensitive topic, with near unanimous agreement
that all electricity data belongs to the consumer. And any deviation from the
status quo would most likely require customer consent.
Education will help alleviate these fears.
Most importantly, society needs to understand that our economic competitiveness
and energy security depend on having a smarter electrical infrastructure, which
will deliver greater efficiency and productivity and help reduce our dependence
on foreign oil. Only with a smarter grid will consumers
be empowered to manage their energy usage and costs. Only with a smarter
grid will we be able to realize the benefits of high percentages of cleaner
energy and plug-in
vehicles. Only with a smarter grid can we guarantee high levels of power
reliability. And only with a smarter grid will we be able to realize the
environmental targets our nation is setting forth.
I can only imagine where we'll be next year at this time.
John D. McDonald is the General Manager, Marketing for GE Energy T&D.
John is a well-known and respected expert with 35 years of experience in Transmission
& Distribution, having been awarded the IEEE Millennium Medal in 2000, the
IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) Excellence in Power Distribution Engineering
Award in 2002, and the IEEE PES Substations Committee Distinguished Service
Award in 2003. He is a sought-after industry leader, technical expert, educator,
and speaker within the industry and on Smart Grid in particular.
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