The Inevitable Nature of Smart Grid

by John Cooper on February 15th, 2010

intelligentutility 2/15/2010

Why the smart grid is inevitable

According to ZigBee Alliance chairman Bob Heile ...

American consumers are going to have to live with the interactive nature of the smart grid and the overwhelming fact that power generation will never keep up with future demand, Heile told me. Even if utilities pursued new power generation by every means, American attitudes towards nuclear power, not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) sentiments and demands of the Clean Air Act will constrain new generation to lag behind demand.

"We can't build new power plants fast enough, even without the transportation sector going electric," Heile said. "With EVs in the mix, demand will be huge."

"As a result, the price of electricity may have to get expensive to change consumer behavior," Heile said. "We'll have to pay the real cost of electricity and that means that consumers will have to get smart about how they use it."

"Take the tree-hugging out of it," Heile added. "Do we just get around to [the smart grid] when we can, to avoid rolling blackouts? I hope not. That seems like a remote scenario right now, but it isn't. It's going to happen. The coastal areas with large populations are going to be in deep trouble."

The United States has a good opportunity in this regard, however, because our infrastructure is so old and broken that we need solutions, Heile added. We can pull it together, he insisted.

"The market will experience a lot of misinformation, a lot of confusion, for the next year or so, before it settles down," Heile predicted.


Posted in PEV, The Smart Grid Consumer, Demand Response    Tagged with Zigbee, Smart Grid


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