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

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.

Farooq Abdullah presses for Smart Grid Adoption in India

Farooq Abdullah, the Union Minister of Renewable Energy mentioned that India should start working on Smart Grid Infrastructure at a one - day seminar on smart grids organized by Consortium of Electronic Industries of Karnataka (CLIK). Mr. Abdullah voiced, “For India to continue on its path of aggressive economic growth, it needs to build a modern intelligent grid.

The Government should constitute a focus group for Smart Grid in order to draft a policy. The US has long begun this work and it is about to roll out comprehensive reforms for the Energy Grid. India cannot delay its efforts on this important aspect of the Energy. It will also help improve the energy efficiency and reduce Global Warming for which India is committed and have set aggressive target (Reduce 20-25% of CO2 Pre-2005 level by 2020) during recently concluded Climate Change meet at Copenhagen.“Another driver behind the need for a smart grid in India, are trends towards energy efficiency and increased use of renewable energy sources. While blanket energy efficiency is important, India would greatly benefit from intelligent energy efficiency in the form of demand response and grid—responsive appliances”, Abdullah echoed at the conference.