2009: The Year of the Smart Grid

“The smart-grid vision is nice; we all have our color PowerPoint slides, I think people kind of get the vision by now. Now it’s time to get stuff done.”

- Don Von Dollen, manager of intelligent-­grid research at EPRI.

2009 will be the year of the Smart Grid . Recent activities suggest that we have reached the tipping point:

• Venture Capital Investment in Greentech and Renewable Energy exceeds $2.5B in Q4 2008 and Reaches $7.7B for the Year
• Xcel Energy made Boulder, CO, the first Smart Grid City .
• Google launches Google PowerMeters , an application to track your own electricity consumption.
• General Electric implement a smart grid in Maui .
• IBM implements one in Malta
• Cisco is also interested in the Smart Grid business .
• Research suggest is could be $65 billion market opportunity in 2013 .
• A report shows Smart Grid investment could create 280,000 jobs .
• The US government will invest $11 billion toward smart-grid technologies to run the power grid more efficiently .
• General Electric and Google teamed- up joined to push for better federal and state policy to enable the grid and organized a public event,  “Plug In to the Smart Grid “.
• An article in the Technology Review shows how smart-grid technology is a necessary condition for green tech and renewable energies.
• The Ontario Smart Grid Forum argues in a new report for a $1.6B investment over five years on smart grid technologies.
• The Ontario Centre for Environmental Technology Advancement also highlights the necessity and benefits of Smart Grid technologies in a new report.

Tags: Energy, smart grid