New White Papers Scope Out the Coming Smart Grid

A new report from NextGen Research details the need for, current and projected growth of, and benefits of a Smart Grid.  Noting that North America’s centralized system is a security risk that leaves it vulnerable to attack, the report advocates decentralized generation, demand response, smart meters, and more for both the U.S. and countries around the world.  Titled “Smart Grid Applications: Demand Response, Decentralized Generation and Smart Meters Increase Electrical Networks' Capabilities, Efficiency and Reliability,” the study notes that utilities and governments worldwide spent more than $12 billion modernizing their electrical grids in 2008, and projects that number to soar to $33 billion in the next five years. The study also notes that the lack of standards are currently a serious obstacle to Smart Grid development.

Handling the titanic amounts of data that the Smart Grid could conceivably supply is the subject of another white paper, “Building Scale for the Utility Company’s Future,” sponsored by Microsoft and published by Energy Insights. Through two case studies, a utility’s retail operation and a generation site, the paper explores the infrastructure utilities will need in the future to handle large amounts of data, process the data at various levels of precision, accommodate multiple data types, and more.

   NextGen news release

   NextGen report purchase page

   MSDN blog report on Energy Insights paper

   Building for Scale white paper (PDF)