EnergyBiz - January/February 2008 - (Page 47) How close is your utility to being able to operate the distribution grid remotely? (IOUs) NOT PREPARED PLEASE RANK ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 5 PLEASE RANK ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 5 FULLY PREPARED 1 2 3 4 5 How IOUs close is your utility to being able to operate the distribution grid remotely? (IOUs) 7.7% 27.5% 42.9% 19.8% 2.2% NOT PREPARED PLEASE ON A SCALE 1 TO 5 Municipals 21.1% 28.9% RANK28.9% OF13.2% FULLY PREPARED 7.9% Figure 3 RANK ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 5 PLEASE 1 2 3 4 5 Co-Ops 14.3% 28.6% 28.6% 14.3% 14.3% How close is your utility to being able to operate the distribution grid remotely? (IOUs) IOUs 7.7% 27.5% 42.9% 19.8% 2.2% NOT PREPARED PLEASE ON A SCALE 1 TO 5 Municipals 21.1% 28.9% RANK28.9% OF13.2% FULLY PREPARED 7.9% PLEASE RANK ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 5 1 2 3 4 5 Co-Ops 14.3% 28.6% 28.6% 14.3% 14.3% IOUs 7.7% 27.5% 42.9% 19.8% 2.2% Municipals is your utility to having 21.1% 28.9% 28.9% 13.2% 7.9% How close the grid be self-healing and self-operating? Co-Ops 14.3% 28.6% 14.3% NOT PREPARED 28.6% PLEASE RANK ON A SCALE 14.3% OF 1 TO 5 FULLY PREPARED Figure 4 RANK ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 5 PLEASE RATING AVERAGE 2.81 2.58 RATING AVERAGE 2.86 2.81 2.58 RATING AVERAGE 2.86 2.81 2.58 2.86 AVERAGE 1 2 3 4 5 How close is your utility to having the grid be self-healing and self-operating? IOUs 19.8% 45.1% 27.5% 7.7% 0.0% 2.23 NOT PREPARED PLEASE TO 5 FULLY PREPARED Municipals 47.4% 34.2% RANK ON A SCALE OF 17.9% 10.5% 0.0% 1.79 RATING PLEASE RANK ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 5 AVERAGE 1 2 3 4 5 Co-Ops 28.6% 28.6% 42.9% 0.0% 0.0% 2.14 How close is your utility to having the grid be self-healing and self-operating? IOUs 19.8% 45.1% 27.5% 7.7% 0.0% 2.23 NOT PREPARED PLEASE TO 5 FULLY PREPARED Municipals 47.4% 34.2% RANK ON A SCALE OF 17.9% 10.5% 0.0% 1.79 RATING PLEASE RANK ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 5 AVERAGE 1 2 3 4 5 Co-Ops 28.6% 28.6% 42.9% 0.0% 0.0% 2.14 IOUs 19.8% 45.1% 27.5% 7.7% 0.0% 2.23 Figure 5 Municipals 47.4% 34.2% 10.5% 7.9% 0.0% 1.79 How effectively does your utility use business intelligence to make informed business decisions? (IOUs) Co-Ops 28.6% 28.6% 42.9% 0.0% 0.0% 2.14 NOT EFFECTIVELY VERY EFFECTIVELY PLEASE RANK ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 5 RATING AVERAGE 1 2 3 4 5 How IOUs effectively does your utility use business intelligence to make informed business decisions? (IOUs) 4.4% 29.7% 41.8% 19.8% 4.4% 2.9 NOT EFFECTIVELY VERY EFFECTIVELY Municipals 10.5% 31.6% 50.0% 7.9% 0.0% 2.55 RATING PLEASE AVERAGE 1 2 3 4 5 Co-OpsRANK ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 5 0.0% 14.3% 28.6% 57.1% 0.0% 3.43 How effectively does your utility use business intelligence to make informed business decisions? (IOUs) IOUs 4.4% 29.7% 41.8% 19.8% 4.4% 2.9 NOT Utility Enterprise/ EFFECTIVELY VERY EFFECTIVELY Energy Group report: The Intelligent 10.5% Municipals 31.6%intelligence” throughout the grid, reaching even into 50.0% 7.9% 0.0% 2.55 RATING a5large Smart Grid: The AVision OF 1 TO 5 date; PLEASE AVERAGE 1 2 individual homes. There also is0.0% gap between 3 4 Co-OpsRANK ON SCALE & Progress to 0.0% AMI/AMR: 14.3% 28.6% 57.1% 3.43 How much, How soon? IOUs 4.4% 29.7%current capabilities and future needs in this area even 41.8% 19.8% 4.4% 2.9 According to that report, more than 90% of util- at the corporate level—not to mention in the field on Municipals 10.5% 31.6% 50.0% 7.9% 0.0% 2.55 ity executives now feel the Intelligent Utility Enter- the grid. Co-Ops Smart Grid (IUE/SG) are an inevitable part Most of the solutions required to meet the demands prise and 0.0% 14.3% 28.6% 57.1% 0.0% 3.43 RATING of their future. This finding was true of virtually all utility types. However, when asked if their utility had a plan to get from the current state to the future IUE/SG state, the percentages answering “yes” fall off dramatically. Fewer than half of all utilities, other than IOUs, have even developed a plan to get to where most informed industry insiders and observers believe they will have be in 10 years or less. One of the techniques mentioned by both IBM and Oracle in dealing with the myriad of issues utilities face is going to be the ability to operate much of their grids remotely (with fewer people and more demands for automatic switching, restoration and “tuning” to maximum efficiency). However, less than 3 percent of IOUs executives indicate they are “fully prepared” for this capability on a five-point scale, as shown in the following charts. The percentages are slightly higher for other utility types, but IOUs deliver about 85 percent of all electricity in the U.S. Perhaps even more telling of the work remaining to be done, no IOUs, Municipals or Co-operative utilities say they are fully prepared for a self-healing, self-operating grid that is likely to be needed in the future. In his article on the following pages, Guerry Waters of Oracle B I Z January/February 2008 writes about the future need for “distributed 18 E N E RGY of the next 10 years envision smart meters at the home, through which utilities can implement demand response, distributed generation, variable pricing to encourage conversation, etc. However, according to Sierra Energy Group’s survey and report, fewer than 10 percent of all utilities are able to read all of their members remotely through automatic meter reading (one-way) or an advanced metering infrastructure (two-way). A Smart Grid and informed consumers with choices as discussed by Oracle and IBM, will require AMI (advanced metering infrastructure) to enable the hard choices looming between now and 2018. Fortunately, the solutions exist to what now really should be called an electricity crisis in the United States. They are technologically related—smart grids, intelligent utilities and consumers, conservation, new types of generation. But the entire country—and especially utilities themselves—seem to be rather far behind in getting those solutions into place. They are constrained by regulation and legislation and what are sometimes unrealistic demands placed upon them by those who have the ultimate decisionmaking capability. Whether it is a “crisis” that can be resolved or an impending “disaster” that involves rolling blackouts and brownouts nationwide remains to be seen. The tipping point, THOUGHT certainly has been reached. BY X X X however, LE ADERSHIP – SPONSORED spEciaL aDvErTising sEc TiOn 18 E N E RGY B I Z January/February 2008 THOUGHT LE ADERSHIP – SPONSORED BY X X X www.energycentral.com E n E rgyB i z 47 http://www.energycentral.com
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