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[[Mike Carlson, VP & CIO, Xcel Energy] What is Smart Grid?]
[It's a complex opportunity to integrate]
[solutions into one of the most complex machines in the world. ]
[[Dan Reicher, Director Climate change & Energy Initiative, Google]]
[Well, I'm from Google, so I Googled the term Smart Grid]
[and, interestingly, what I found is that there's]
[millions of different views of what the Smart Grid is. ]
[[Anthonly Star Director Policy and Evaluation, CNT Energy]]
[Information is the king these days, and Smart Grid is the opportunity to bring]
[the electric utility industry into the information age. ]
[[Pat Hagan, Sr.VP, Network Strategy, National Grid]]
[Those technologies today don't necessarily talk to each other as conveniently as ]
[the PC that sits on your desk talks through various components]
[of various programs, and it's about making the grid as ]
[easy as that operation of the PC on your desk. ]
[[Luke Clemente, GM, T&O Smart Grid, GE Energy]]
[Where we're headed with the Smart Grid, we're going have a lot more information.]
[the will, politically, is here, so now is the time to get started. ]
[[♪ upbeat music ♪][Why Smart Grid?]]
[[Vijay Vaitheeswaran, Correspondent, The Economist]]
[I see the grid as the essential enabler of all the good things that are]
[possible that are coming with clean energy, with ]
[sustainability, and the interconnection of those things. ]
[[Carl Koval, Professor, University of Colorado] We have to figure out how to produce]
[this two or three times more energy and reduce greenhouse]
[gas emissions by a very large amount, by as much as 80 percent. ]
[It absolutely can't happen without the Smart Grid. ]
[[Jim Suciu, VP Sales and Markething, GE]]
[There's three things that we're looking at, enabling more renewables, empowering]
[consumers, and driving effeciency in the energy system. ]
[[Jonathan Lash, President, Work Resources Institute] We're going to have a shift to ]
[That's absolutely inevitable. ]
[The only question is whether it goes relatively smoothly]
[and we have a managed transition to more]
[renewables, more efficiency, or whether we have a]
[somewhat chaotic and unpredictable process. ]
[it's about job creation, it's about clean energy,]
[renewable energy, plug-in hybrid vehicles, ]
[all of these are dependent on ]
[what is known as a Smart Grid. ]
[[Bob Gilligan, VP, T&O Energy] Smart Grid is critical to helping]
[us break our dependence on foreign oil]
[because it is a key enabler to deep penetration of renewable energy. ]
[[Greg Cominos, GM, Sales and Commercial GE Energy] Why Smart Grid? Why now?]
[It's a perfect storm, and it's totally undefined.]
[[Peter Evans, Director, Global Strategy & Planning GE Energy] The coolest thing about]
[the Smart Grid is that it is not clearly defined, and in 5 years from now, ]
[we're going to be surprised at what we see.]
[The moment is now because of the confluence of security concerns, ]
[reliability issues with the environmental climate change concerns, ]
[and we add these together and you see that we've reached a tipping point. ]
[[♪ music ♪] [Consmer Empowerment & Choice] ]
[I think the engagement of the consumer is critical. ]
[[Todd Arnold, Sr. VP, Smart Grid & Customer Systems, Duke Energy]]
[At the end of the day, this is about the consumer. ]
[[Linda Stuntz, Partner, Stuntz, Davis, & Staffier] Either this really helps consumers ]
[improve the quality of service, improve their quality of life, ]
[reduce the cost of electricity, reduce emissions, ]
[So I think consumer empowerment, consumer benefits, ]
[is really key to Smart Grid. ]
[[Andrew Tang, Sr. Director, Smart Energy Web Pacific Gas & Energy] We believe that ]
[providing customers with access to information and giving them the ability]
[to understand what the implications are of their decisions, ]
[that that will empower customers to actually make some proactive choices. ]
[unlimited natural resources wisely. ]
[No one wants to be wasteful.]
[Proactive choice is such as moving electricity from the peak period]
[into the offpeak period when it's actually less expesive to generate power. ]
[[♪ upbeat music ♪] [Regulatory Reform]]
[The technology is certainly there to do it. ]
[[Humayun Tai, Principal, McKinsey & Company] I think where it starts to break down ]
[a bit is the regulatory issues. ]
[This requires cooperation among 50 states, ]
[several hundred utilities, a variety]
[of industries who have the technology and want to invest, ]
[[Craig Baker, Sr. VP, Regulatory Services, American Electric Power] Without some]
[unanimity, it's difficult to get any of this accomplished.]
[[Andres Carvallo, CIO, Austin Energy] The single most important thing that any]
[regulator or legislator could do is to ensure]
[that either the words Smart Grid]
[energy standards of any state. ]
[[off-camera speaker] Government can impose mandates.]
[the demand for the technology.]
[[Suedeen Kelly, Commissioner Federal Energy Regulatory Commission] If we priced carbon, ]
[that would increase demand for the technology. ]
[If we had a national renewable energy standard, ]
[that would increase demand. ]
[If we had a national efficiency standard, that would increase demand. ]
[[Bill Hagan, Professor, Harvard University] If you give people the right incentives]
[and the right information through the Smart Grid, and all the innovations we're ]
[talking about, the amount of ]
[creativity it will unleash, and the innovation and change]
[[♪ upbeat music ♪][Industry Reform]]
[[Mark Dudzinski, GM, Global Marketing, GE Energy] Today we have a business model, ]
[in the U.S. in particular, where everybody is rewarded]
[for selling more electricity.]
[As we encourage energy efficiency, how do we ensure that]
[we still make a profit, despite the fact we're encouraging people]
[I think the biggest obstacle to modernization of the grid is really our]
[ability to quickly develop standards in our operability]
[in terms of how we build out]
[Interoperability, plug-n-play, standardization, ]
[is key to our ability to take this to scale. ]
[We're the richest country on earth and we're the most innovative]
[on many regards, but when it comes to energy, ]
[And I think our legacy assets and old ways of thinking are what hold us back. ]
[You're going to have to have business and solutions stepping up.]
[You're going to have to have government or regulatory stepping up. ]
[You're absolutely going to have to have customers step up. ]
[[Gary Harper, Director, System Operations, Salt River Project] So we're going to have to]
[get better at educating the customers, educating the stakeholders, ]
[educating the regulators on exactly how much]
[this will cost and where the value propostion is.]
[I think the most exciting thing is this industry,]
[which has been black labeled as the ]
[least innovative, slowest moving industry,]
[is finally starting to change. ]
[This is the kind of transformation we haven't seen in this industry]
[since the turn of the century--turn of the last century, that is. ]
[[♪ upbeat music ♪] [Deployment]]
[There are Smart Grid pilot projects in places]
[like Miami, Boulder, Austin, Texas,]
[a lot of activity in California,]
[but many major cities do not have]
[significant Smart Grid deployments at this point. ]
[Piecing together a system that works in theory and ]
[works in practice, that exploits the information in the Smart Grid, ]
[and it provides sustained incentives for innovation,]
[is the real challenge in order to deal with climate change,]
[fossil fuel concerns, renewable energy, and so on.]
[We have the opportunity to have solar energy,]
[and when you're not using the energy, you can feed it back ]
[to the utility and you can be paid for that power generation. ]
[To me, the single most exciting thing about the Smart Grid]
[is how it would transform the transportation industry. ]
[The big thing that changes it is taking]
[carbon out of transportation, and the only way we can do that]
[is getting off gasoline and diesel and going onto electricity. ]
[And without the transactional ability of the Smart Grid, we aren't going to be able to do that. ]
[With a Smart Grid, you have the opportunity to have]
[a plug-in hybrid, and have the system be smart enough]
[to only charge your car when the rates are cheapest. ]
[It turns out that if you plug in at night]
[you can actually charge--about 70 percent]
[of all the cars in the U.S. could be charged at night without]
[building anymore power plants or adding anymore transmission]
[or adding any more distribution. ]
[And if you can get to that number, you'd reduce the amount]
[of imported oil coming into the U.S. ]
[by 6 million barrels a day. ]
[Government funding can best be spent]
[to accelerate the Smart Grid]
[by doing large-scale deployments where we can really prove out]
[and scale the benefits that we firmly believe]
[will be offered by a smarter grid. ]
[A Smart Grid is where we need to go. ]
[The toothpaste is out of the tube, and we've got to do it. ]
[Now is the time for Smart Grid. >>Now. >>Information.]
[Potential. >>Convergence. >>Essential. >>Consumer empowerment.]
[Transformative change. >>Success. >>Exciting. >>Empowering. ]
