By Doug Peeples

SGN News Editor

The election is finally over and it's time to get back to business, although we can't help wondering: What does the election outcome mean for the utility industry and the smart grid initiative? We set the stage here with some highlights (good and bad) of the past four years, then open it up for discussion through the Talk Back form below. Think of it as your turn at the microphone.

We don't claim the background we're providing is comprehensive. It's more like a quick jog down memory lane, a reminder of what we were most likely reading and talking about over the past few years.

"The Stimulus"

Remember when all anyone in the industry could talk about were the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the $3.4 billion for smart grid investment grants and demonstration projects?

Most will recall that of the total economic recovery and jobs creation package of about $831 billion, the energy industry benefitted from lots of other funding provisions (not just the $3.4 billion), including billions for energy efficiency, renewable energy, advanced batteries and vehicles, grid upgrades, expanded broadband access (a plus for AMI) and a lot more. And that doesn't include the loan guarantees and tax credit provisions. While the actual mechanics of picking stimulus projects to fund and delivering the dough got off to a fitful start, it did deliver and we've seen the results. It also made the Department of Energy, which distributed the bounty (and still is to a lesser degree), a household word in the industry and the smart grid's lead federal agency.

We asked, as many did at the time, "Will we get our money's worth?" That of course is a matter of opinion, although a much better informed one now than then. Now that the smart grid initiative is well underway (but far from complete if it ever will be), there have been calls for additional federal money to further bolster it.

Energy policy (what energy policy?)

There have been even more urgent calls for an all-encompassing energy policy. While we've made progress on critical smart grid standards for interoperability and technologies, the outlook for a U.S. energy policy has been dismal. For a variety of reasons, a lot of them political, coming up with one has proven harder than storing a breeze in a box.

In late 2010, the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology gave the administration an earful saying the tangle of existing policies and lack of coordination between federal agencies meant what was passing for an energy policy was an ineffective mess. The council recommended a review every four years to set national goals and coordinate how federal agencies work with each other, coordinate ways to support adoption and commercialization of proven technologies and overhaul DOE organization and processes to accelerate innovation and training to support its energy and science technology mission.