Last Jan. 9, I listed the top five trends in the smart grid arena I thought would bear watching in 2014, and on July 10, I gave you a mid-year report card on those five trends.
In case one of those trends has become a hot button for you, this is a summary of this year’s news items on that trend.
There have been 24 issues of The Smarter Grid (TSG) issued in January through December, containing a total of 156 news items. Here’s how those 156 items relate to my top five trends.
Note: To see the details for January through June (1st half), click here: TSG mid-year report card.
If you missed some July through December issues, or you didn’t save the ones you received, you can access those issues at: Smart Grid Archive.
1. Smart meter roll-outs will continue worldwide.
TSG related news items: 23 1st half + 20 2nd half = 43 (14%):
- July 10: Bangalore Electricity Supply Company.
- July 24: Poland.
- Aug. 28: Firelands Electric Cooperative.
- Aug. 28: St. Kitts Electricity Co.
- Sep. 11: ERDF/Landis+Gyr.
- Sep. 11: ERDF/ Itron.
- Sep. 11: Consumers Energy.
- Oct. 9: Municipal Utility.
- Oct. 9: ERDF/CG.
- Oct. 9: Adoption of Smart Grid Networks.
- Oct. 23: Westar Energy.
- Oct. 23: Choptank Electric Cooperative.
- Oct. 23: Brazil’s Light.
- Nov. 13: Grand Cayman.
- Nov. 25: Tantalus and Itron.
- Nov. 25: Sweden’s E.ON.
- Dec. 11: Brazil’s AES Eletropaulo.
- Dec. 23: Lamar County Electric Cooperative.
- Dec. 23: Tantalus: municipals and cooperatives.
- Dec. 23: Sensus in Tokyo.
2. Managed services, also called subscription-based services or software-as-a-service (SaaS), will increase.
TSG related news items: 8 1st half + 3 2nd half = 11 (4%).
- Aug. 14: GE.
- Aug. 14: OSI.
- Sep. 11: Smart Grid Service.
3. Demand response (DR) activity will increase, not just for the traditional industrial customers, but commercial and even residential customers, as every customer becomes enabled by the smart grid.
TSG related news items: 8 1st half + 7 2nd half = 15 (5%).
- Jul. 24: Rally for DR.
- Aug. 14: Siemens.
- Sep. 25: Technology supports DR.
- Sep. 25: DR capacity to increase.
- Nov. 25: Con Edison.
- Nov. 25: PacifiCorp.
- Dec. 23: Landis+Gyr.
4. Both new back office systems and front office systems, such as customer information systems (CIS), will be installed to leverage smart grid data.
TSG related news items: 15 1st half + 8 2nd half = 23 (7%).
- Jul. 10: Glendale Water Power.
- Jul. 10: Morristown Utility Systems.
- Jul. 10: Real-time visualization.
- Jul. 24: PSEG.
- Aug. 14: DTE Energy.
- Nov. 13: PEPCO Holdings.
- Nov. 13: ComEd & Ventyx.
- Dec. 23: Georgia Power.
5. Security systems for the smart grid will improve, not just to prevent cyber attacks, but to address the privacy concerns of the average customer.
TSG related news items: 6 1st half + 4 2nd half = 10 (4%).
- Jul 24: Grid Optimization.
- Aug. 14: Waterfall Security & Schneider Electric.
- Aug. 28: Leidos.
- Sep. 25: Security Company.
The total number of TSG news items related to these five trends is 102 (33% of 310). Hopefully, this summary will be helpful to many of you.