Demonstrating the Smart Grid

Deck: 

Pilot projects clarify the vision of an intelligent utility system.

Fortnightly Magazine - June 2008
This full article is only accessible by current license holders. Please login to view the full content.
Don't have a license yet? Click here to sign up for Public Utilities Fortnightly, and gain access to the entire Fortnightly article database online.

The smart grid might not be a done deal, but the U.S. electric utility industry seems to have reached a conclusion about it. In short, we have seen the future of the electric system, and it works—intelligently.

In just a few years, the idea of a smart grid has advanced from a pie-in-the-sky idea to an industry bandwagon. Across the country, utilities large and small are touting investments in transmission and distribution (T&D) automation, and calling them part of a smart-grid strategy.

Of course, this investment trend isn’t really new. For a couple of decades, utilities have gradually built more automation into their T&D systems. But the trend has evolved into something more. The smart grid has become a vision for the industry’s future—a vision that both executives and lawmakers have recognized as a politically neutral, forward-looking technology trend. As a result, it’s gaining momentum not just in terms of investment plans, but also in public-policy processes.

This full article is only accessible by current license holders. Please login to view the full content.
Don't have a license yet? Click here to sign up for Public Utilities Fortnightly, and gain access to the entire Fortnightly article database online.