Recently, Daymark Principal Consultant and Vice President Kathy Kelly moderated a panel on Restructured Energy Markets & the Grid of the Future at the Northeast Energy and Commerce Association's (NECA) New England Energy Conference and Exposition.

The panel discussion focused primarily on identifying necessary actions to remove current barriers to the success of the grid of the future. Several primary factors of ensuring success included:

• The need to implement two-way communication meters across the mass market
• Ensuring that energy loads are settled, using the information from those two-way meters
• The availability of data to competitive suppliers within 48 hours to facilitate the market and so that consumers can better understand how their actions impact their bills

 

Additionally, panelists noted that technology will be most critical in the success of the grid of the future.

"Getting technology installed - in particular, advanced metering infrastructure such as smart meters - is the key first step to move the market forward to the grid of the future," noted Kelly.

Pricing was a close second in importance, as the utility system overall will benefit from the investment in technology to encourage better consumer decision-making on when to use electricity.

Technology and pricing directly impact the data requirements and communications processes necessary to ensure that consumers and energy suppliers keep pace with the economic, regulatory and environmental evolution of the industry.

"Without data, it is difficult to incent customers to make a change in how they use energy - they simply see a monthly bill and can't see how their actions at home or work impact their cost," noted Kelly. "The grid of the future will help the end user to understand his or her impact and make educated choices in providers."

Learn more by connecting with Kathy on LinkedIn, or contact her here.