A deliberate approach to infrastructure advancement.
Andrew Owens is a senior consultant in the energy IT and smart grid operation at Science Applications International Corp.
The grid’s intelligence has been developing since the beginning of the electric power industry. And most customers expect to continue benefitting from an ever-smarter grid that will readily support future demands for electrical energy—wherever, whenever, and however it’s needed. That’s probably a reasonable expectation, so long as utility leaders understand how their decisions and actions can help or hinder the next critical stages of smart grid development.
The whole utility enterprise will need to become more flexible, capable, and responsive to new challenges and opportunities. So, what are the options? How can a utility take deliberate steps that promote timely and efficient advancement of the full smart grid value proposition? What are the likely outcomes and consequences when an electric utility develops its infrastructure, information, and processes in a fragmented and incidental fashion?