mPrest
Andy Bennett is the CEO of mPrest.
At the Distributech mega-conference in Dallas, senior experts explain their technology that can have the greatest impact on distribution grid efficiency and resilience. What follows are conversations with Hitachi Energy executive vice president Anthony Allard, Schneider Electric senior vice president Alexis Grenon, SEL CEO Dave Whitehead, Smarter Grid Solutions Executive Director Alan Gooding, mPrest CEO Andy Bennett, and Deloitte vice chair Jim Thomson.
PUF: What are you hoping to learn here?
Andy Bennett: We know there is something to learn. DERs are happening at an incredible rate and huge proliferation. But the utility industry's been slow to think about this growth and actually do anything about it.
When you talk to a lot of utilities they'll sit down and say, DER integration is not a problem yet. One of the things that we're talking about with a lot of utilities, when you hear that sort of attitude, is how long are you going to wait before it's a problem?
Because waiting seems like a poor strategy. We had a great dinner with a customer last night. His comment was, It's already a problem and we haven't done anything about it yet.