Movers & Shakers of Smart Grid to attend GridWeek 2011

GridWeek, the biggest gathering of Smart Grid industry in the world is again set to attract the worlds Who's Who of the industry. The event, which is going to be organized at Washington DC on 12-15th September is covering broadest range of topics, issues, companies, people, and governments. Under the theme "The Way Forward - strategies for energy business, policy, and solutions", GridWeek is going to be attended by 60+ utilities from across the world, where more than 200+ speakers are going to present their experiences, vision, solutions, and obstacles for the future path.

"The Who’s Who: In addition to utility speakers, GridWeek is bringing together the Smart Grid elite:

• Regulators and consumer advocates: With representation from NARUC and FERC, as well as a variety of advocacy organizations, GridWeek is bringing consumer and regulatory topics to the forefront.
• Analysts: With eight major analyst partners, GridWeek attendees can expect fresh research and perspectives.
• International delegates: From senior vice presidents of utilities in Europe, to the highest energy officials and utility chief executives in India, GridWeek is gathering dozens of international delegates to deliver a broad global perspective."

The StarCast of the event includes :

Aneesh Chopra: Chief Technology Officer, United States of America

Daniel Ponman: Deputy Secretary of Energy, U.S Department of Energy

Nicole Lamb-Hale: Assistant Secretary of Manufacturing and Services, U.S. Department of Commerce


Patt Hoffman: Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy

K.Venugopal: Minister of State for Power, Government of India

P Uma shankar: Secretary of  Power, Ministry of Power, Government of India


The event covers topics like Electric Vehicles, Demand Response, Cyber Security, Energy Storage, Distributed Energy Resources, Renewable Integration, and Climate Change.

Check more about the event at GridWeek

Countries across the world embracing Smart Grid .. Part-1

Smart Grid is a hot buzz these days on the news, commercials, business, technology, and political spectrum. Over the years various technologies have changed but the energy grid, designed over 80-100 years ago has remained more or less the same. As it is said, if Graham Bell is to visit the earth today he would not recognize the communication technologies, but if Edison were to visit he would very well figure out the energy grid. The challenges of Global warming, limited conventional energy resources, increasing demand of energy, global energy security, and energy efficiency are the key concern for countries across the world. Smart Grid, which is an umbrella term for collection of technologies is set to play key role in meeting these energy challenges facing us today.    Smart Grid for India takes a closer look of the countries that are pursuing this technology to revolutionize their energy infrastructure which is said to have potential to transform the energy and utility industry the way Internet transformed the computer industry and may have same impact as internet has in our lives.

The United States : The US is at the forefront of Smart Grid technology race. Almost a year ago the Obama government allocated $3.4 billion stimulus budget for the Smart Grid technologies,  so far the government has allocated most of the stimulus fund to the selected companies,  universities, and organizations.  The United States has largest Smart Grid program going on in the world where governments, organizations, companies, universities, and utilities are collaborating for new Smart Grid standards, developing innovative products, setting up training institutes, initiating pilot projects, starting companies, and establishing consumer advocacy groups.

Smart Grid Projects in USA (Courtesy Smart Grid Clearing house)

Key developments

• Xcel Energy has started Smart Grid pilot projects to transforms Boulder, Colorado into Smart Grid city. When completed, Boulder will be the first Smart City in the world.
• Almost every utility in the US has some or other form of Smart Grid focus or project going on
• All major US companies including IBM (Smart Planet), Cisco(Smart Grid products), GE (ecomagination), Google (PowerMeter), Microsoft(Hohm), Itron, Accenture have strong Smart Grid focus
• National Institute of Science and Technology, IEEE, Department of Energy are actively collaborating with the stakeholders to set up Smart Grid standards
• More than 10 Smart Grid organization (GridWise Architecture, GridWise Alliance, ZigBee Alliance, Smart Grid Consumer Coalition)  have been established and are actively pursuing Smart Grid related development.
• Smart Grid Clearing house and www.smartgrid.gov provide comprehensive information about smart grid and smart grid projects sponsored by government respectively
• The US government and 15 other countries have launched International Smart Grid Action Network for global smart grid collaboration.

Canada : The northern neighbor of US is equally active in transforming its archaic grid  to Smart Grid. Canadian government is funding the utilities smart grid initiatives under the clean energy fund. The government plans to invest $1 billion over the next five years in clean energy. Ontario is leading the Smart Grid movement in Canada through its energy conservation responsibility Act of 2006 by which it has mandated that all the businesses and household be equipped with smart meter by 2010.


Key developments

• Canadian provinces Calgary, Alberta, Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island have received $2.5 to $20 million funding from the government for various Smart  Grid demonstration projects.
•  Hydro One, the Ontario utility with its Smart Grid partner Trilliant is actively pursuing Smart Grid initiative in Ontario region. It has installed more than 1.2 million Smart Meters in Ontario. Soon, Hydro One will have Time-of-Use(TOU) pricing mechanism for its consumers
•  BC Hydro (British Columbia), EnMax (Calgary), Fortis Alberta(Alberta) and other provincial utilities across the nation have started Smart Grid projects which are at various stages of implementation.
• Toronto Hydro, the Toronto energy provider has completed Smart Meter installation in Toronto. It has started Time-of-Use(TOU) pricing mechanism for its residential consumers.
• Organizations like Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) are spearheading the Smart Grid movement through Ontario Smart Grid Forum and Ontario Smart Grid Task Force

Mexico : Mexico is taking active interest in Smart Grid developments in North America, but  as of now the country do not have any national Smart Grid plans. The Country is participating in International forums like International Smart Grid Action Network (ISGAN) and is member for many of the ISGAN working groups. The Mexico city power supplier CFE is planning to upgrade its aging infrastructure for which it is actively considering to used Smart Grid technologies for the new upgrades.

Part -1, Part -2, Part-3, Part-4

India cautiously adopting Smart Grid

India is adopting Smart Grid cautiously reports Financial Express. The report is based on the recent report published by Ernst & Young Analysis about Smart Grid. E&Y reports that the Smart Grid development happening across the globe will revolutionize the Power & Utility sector which has changed little in last 100 years. Advance economies like the US, parts of Europe, and Australia are adopting it a big way, the emerging economies like China, Brazil, India are following it cautiously. China is the early leader among the emerging economies. It has made Smart Grid a strategic priority and is collaborating with US through joint US-China Cooperation on Clean Energy (JUCCCE). Many Initiative are planned and MNCs like IBM, GE, Siemens AG and Cisco are investing in China's Smart Grid. India is bit slow and is taking measures through Individual company or cities. The reports indicates that because of financial risks like public ownership of utility companies, bureaucratic delays, and financial weakness of the sector, investors are cautious in investing in Smart Grid. I think, in the absence of government policy and framework the investors will not take the risk. As mentioned, previously in this blog , India is uniquely position to take advantage of Smart Grid as it is still building the energy infrastructure and can bypass the old Grid model. E&Y reports indicates India will save close to 15% of energy, which is equivalent to 12GW of power generation or total of $ 500 billion of investment. The savings in investment alone are exciting enough for India to aggressively pursue Smart Grid technology. The other benefits includes reduction in Greenhouse gases a huge indirect benefit as it will reduce numerous environmental issues directly impacting the country's socio-economic well-being. It will help meet the target of CO2 reduction it has committed at Copenhagen summit (20-25% CO2 reduction to pre-2005 level). A new emerging sector will generate numerous jobs and new businesses will generate tax and other benefits.