. Editor's note: We're pleased to kick off our utility Q&A series with Joe Hamrock, who is president and chief operating officer, AEP Ohio, serving approximately 1.4 million customers in Ohio and the northern West Virginia panhandle. He has authority for distribution operations and a wide range of customer and regulatory relationships.  Hamrock joined AEP in 1986 as an electrical engineer in transmission and distribution planning at Ohio Power in Steubenville, Ohio, where he also served in commercial and industrial customer services. Hamrock received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1985 from Youngstown State University in Ohio and a master's degree in business administration from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, where he was a Sloan fellow. He is a registered professional engineer in Ohio.

Q: How would you characterize AEP's greatest smart grid success to date?

A: Our greatest success to date has been building strong partnerships with vendors, partners and other stakeholders that have allowed us to transform the way we deliver products and services to our customers using the successful deployment of new technologies and consumer tools/programs. We have already demonstrated grid-management technologies in the field and have achieved 3 percent in demand and energy reductions with two volt-var optimization deployments, and also have been able to improve reliability with automated circuit-reconfiguration technology that resulted in nearly 9,000 customers foregoing a sustained outage during the past year.  

Q: What has been AEP's greatest smart grid challenge to date?

A: The greatest challenge has been delivering these new technologies and programs while meeting customer and shareholder expectations as it relates to speed-to-market and quality.

Q: What will the grid look like 20 years from now?

A: The grid will likely incorporate many of the technologies that we’re currently testing as part of the demonstration project. The most likely near-term technologies include circuit reconfiguration, volt-var control, AMI meters, smart appliances and in-home energy management tools. There will be increased commercialization of in-home products that will enable consumers to have more control of their electricity usage and more choices for how they manage that use.

Q: What is the likely future for community energy storage? For grid-scale storage?

A: We believe in the concept of and see great promise for community energy storage (CES), providing it stays the path of most emerging technologies when the cost per unit decreases throughout time. As CES matures, we envision improved customer reliability, grid stability and ancillary services.

Q: What role will renewables play for AEP 10 years from now?

A: Renewables will continue to be a part of the generation portfolio. Renewable technology and energy storage capability need to correlate. For example, solar power is generated during our peak periods when solar generation relatively closely matches our load profile. However, wind-generated energy typically is at its peak at night and during the winter when our system demand is at its minimum. Both sources are variable and we'll need a method to closely match energy generation with energy load to maintain system stability.