Utilities

As renewable energy becomes the base upon which society operates, how will utilities manage unbalanced production and overproduction? Advances in communications technology, or the Industrial Internet, promise to channel energy to where it is most demanded via sensors and automatic communication between machines. Efficiently connecting supply and demand will grow with the increased ubiquity of our M2M devices and their potential for sensing energy needs across a myriad of platforms. VerdeXchange News reprints the following with the permission of ThomasNet News.

In this VerdeXchange News interview, James Kelly, formerly of Southern California Edison and now a strategic advisor to GRIDiant Corporation, among other startups, discusses the role of Embedded Network Sensing (ENS) in generating data, how improved data analytics will affect the management of the electrical grid, and what the evolution of data portends for the physical worlds of industry and utility. As alternative energies and power sources gain support in state and local government, stronger tools for monitoring the electric grid will be necessary for balancing supply and demand.

Last fall, the Los Angeles City Council approved the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s request for a $267-million budget for the next two fiscal years. Supported by an 11-percent rate increase, the expanded budget will go towards LADWP’s goal of 10-15 percent energy efficiency by 2020. Long-time energy executive David Jacot, formerly of Southern California Edison, joined the LADWP as Director of Energy Efficiency last summer, tasked with the development and management of the utility’s new, energy-saving programs. VerdeXchange News was pleased to discuss the specifics of these programs in a December 2012 interview with Mr. Jacot.

One Year Ago: at the fifth VerdeXchange Conference in January, 2012, Ron Nichols, General Manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, delivered remarks in the opening plenary, ‘Given an Uncertain Landscape, Is Renewable Energy and Sustainability Beyond the Tipping Point?’ Joining Nichols was Catherine Reheis-Boyd, President of the Western State Petroleum Association, Robert Hertzberg, Speaker Emeritus of the California Assembly. With Mr. Nichols on the agenda once again at VerdeXchange’s 6th Annual Conference, his comments last year provide a benchmark re the challenges the LADWP faces in meeting renewable energy mandates while struggling to keep rates even for customers.

Is everything about the smart grid - smart? James Kelly, former Senior Vice President of Regulatory and Environmental Policy for Southern California Edison, and current strategic advisor to GRIDiant Corporation, ARES, and many other start-ups, may be one of the most experienced experts to ask. In this VerdeXchange interview, Kelly calls upon his own utility and entrepreneurial background to chart the fast-evolving changes and innovations of today’s smart grid sector. The success of the smart grid, he notes, depends as much on regulation, collaboration, and proper implementation as it does on burgeoning technology.