Six key smart grid application trends are shaping the evolving electric industry sector.
Distribution automation, data analytics, demand response, carbon management, home energy management and electric vehicles have been identified as central to improving efficiency, reliability and versatility of the electric grid, according to analysts and experts who talked to Breaking Energy.
Smart Grid development is poised to shift focus from infrastructure upgrades and smart metering to distribution automation and data analytics.
Distribution automation (DA) and data analytics would be the “next great contest in the emerging smart grid industry,” a report from clean tech market analysts Pike Research launched at the GigaOM GreenNet conference said.
Clint Wheelock, author of the report, said: “A lot of the early focus and the high profile focus has been on smart meter deployment. There’s going to be a shakeout in the consumer market because it’s overcrowded and the business case has yet to be proved out.
“But our analysis shows that grid automation [and] infrastructure enhancements from a utility perspective have become much stronger areas for growth in recent months as utilities get their hands around smart meter deployment and start to shift more toward distribution automation.
“For these more esoteric, utility grid applications, there’s definitely room for a lot of innovation from the large utility suppliers like ABB, GE, Siemens and others, and out of the IT world such as IBM, SAP and Oracle who have put huge bets on systems and applications for grid operations. But there is a lot of room for innovation and there startups and entrepreneurs who have good understanding of utility operations issues and can help to innovate applications. It’s certainly an attractive area.”
Eric Dresselhuys, executive vice president and chief marketing officer from Smart Grid developer Silver Spring Networks, said that software and devices to monitor and manage the smart grid were essential to the integration of clean power.
“If you’re a grid operator, you used to have a half dozen or a dozen power inputs, from large interconnects or powerplants on the grid,” he said. “Now you have 1,000, tens of thousands or perhaps hundreds of thousands of things that are generating electricity. That whole dynamic is a lot more variable than it used to be.
“The grid stability issue is starting to become pronounced. We don’t want that to become a problem that’s a barrier to doing new solar or wind development,” Dresselhuys said.
David Crane, chief executive officer of NRG Energy, said that despite indications that the Smart Grid was maturing, many aspects of the market were still conceptual for consumers, said: “I’m not sure we have our vision all figured out yet, but we think this is a trend we want to be part of but we want to maintain some flexibility as to where it goes. The conundrum that we in this industry are facing is that we haven’t come to grips with the essential nature of our products. We all have to face the fact we are selling something that the American consumer cannot see, cannot smell, has difficulty conceptualizing it and if they touch it, they die.”
He said that EVs would play a vital role in transforming American consumer attitudes to energy. “I’m not sure you could find anyone more bullish on the transformative nature of a product than I am on EVs. If you let me warm up, I’ll get to the point where I say that EVs could create world peace. The one and only place that Americans get in touch with their energy side is at the pump. It’s transportation.
“EVs won’t be a big part of our income for a very long time, I’m more interested in their ability to change mindsets and to connect to the grid and show people the realm of the possible.”
