By Liz Enbysk

SGN Managing Editor

Rodger Smith of Oracle calls distributed generation {DG) “the most disruptive influence electric utilities have faced in recent history.” But the company’s SVP and General Manager for Utilities also believes DG provides great opportunities to improve reliability, reduce both costs and emissions and improve power quality. It is one of several technologies that most of our experts consider “must haves.”

Yet with DG as well as the two other oft-cited requisites of a smart grid -- demand response and energy storage – there will be challenges to surmount. Let’s take a look at some of the opportunities and the barriers that will need to be overcome in the next few years as seen by insiders from Ventyx, S&C Electric, Echelon and other industry leaders.

With DG, Smith says decoupling mechanisms that allow for appropriate network charges and payment policies, including changes to the utility’s revenue model, are imperative.

“DG also has the ability to disrupt the operation of system protection schemes, so changing safety and security issues need to be addressed too,” Smith adds.

DG enjoys broad-based support in the utility industry, says Conrad Eustis, Director of Retail Technology Strategy for Portland General Electric. He notes that solar installations are becoming more cost effective and he anticipates continued cost declines and market growth.

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DR, ADR, Fast DR

Eustis also lists demand response as a resource with great potential for utilities – and one that can be cheaper than peaking plants. “However,” he notes, “broad-based adoption will be contingent upon smart appliances going mainstream.”

Honeywell is active in the OpenADR Alliance which is developing and promoting an open communications protocol for the delivery of automated demand response signals between utilities and their customers, notes Jeremy Eaton, the company’s VP and General Manager for Smart Grid Solutions.

“As power providers and grid operators struggle with balancing and reliability, OpenADR technology and demand-side management will become more prominent in all customer segments – residential, small and large commercial, and industrial,” Eaton believes. “This is especially true as intermittent energy sources come online.”

And while Jason Cigarran, VP of Marketing at Comverge, expects to see faster and more efficient systems leading to increased interest in those ADR programs that Eaton mentions, he takes it a step further.

“Looking a little further into the future,” Cigarran says, “we expect ‘Fast DR’ to become a very important demand-side management tool.”

With Fast DR, Cigarran explains, utilities will be able to use a combination of smart grid hardware and software to curtail demand in a matter of seconds.

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Energy storage – what next?

Is there a smart grid technology with more potential and more challenges than energy storage? Here’s how some of our industry insiders see the future of energy storage:

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· “As the electric vehicle market continues to advance battery technology, cost-effective storage will find its way into utility applications. Energy storage – provided costs drop enough – will be a major part of the solution for dealing with the variable output from renewables.” -- Conrad Eustis, Director Retail Technology Strategy, Portland General Electric

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· “Battery technology needed to support grid-scale energy storage will continue to advance. This new technology will play a big role in helping utilities meet renewable energy goals, while also reducing peak demand and thus allowing utilities to defer asset investments and reduce reliance on inefficient generating plants.” – Mike Edmonds, SVP Strategic Solutions, S&C Electric

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· “The price levels of battery systems will decline, pushing the electric mobility market as well as the local storage market. Both developments will have a huge impact on the design of our grids. Electric transportation will dramatically increase the demand for electricity transport and distribution, storage will become a major means to provide flexibility to the energy market, but also to prevent network congestion and allow power quality control,” – Rob Wilhite, Global Director Management and Operations Consulting, DNV KEMA

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· “We will become smarter as we recognize that ‘mid-process storage’ has value as a battery. This could be thermal, liquids, materials – anything that can introduce controlled variability into the processes of society.” – Don Rickey, SVP Infrastructure Business, Schneider Electric

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