IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2016 - 37

The intent of this conceptual framework is to provide a structure
that facilitates defining, implementing, monitoring, and updating
a utility of the future strategy.
These organizations are responsible for ascertaining those
industry developments that deserve further investigation,
evaluation, testing, and validation via research, pilot, proofof-concept, and demonstration projects. Furthermore, they
need to identify sources of funding for project implementation (using internal resources and grants); detect and study
opportunities for partnerships; develop, identify, protect,
and commercialize intellectual property; evaluate project
benefits and costs; and assess if these solutions have potential for wider scale deployment.

Research, Pilot, Proof-of-Concept,
and Demonstration Projects
research, pilot, proof-of-concept, and demonstration projects are important instruments for utilities to evaluate, in a
controlled environment (e.g., laboratory, well-defined geographic area, or within organizational or business processes
boundaries), the potential benefits, costs, and implementation considerations for deploying new technologies and
solutions while managing risk without making significant
investments or sharing resources, for instance, by partnering with technology developers and public and private
research organizations. Projects that have a high benefit/cost
ratio or that are strategic in nature are then considered for
a larger-scale deployment. one of the important benefits of
this type of project is the opportunity to develop intellectual
property that can position utilities as industry leaders and
provide additional revenue streams via royalties, licensing,
service portfolio diversification, or the creation of spin-off
organizations. it is worth noting that new technologies such
as real-time digital simulators as well as the availability of
modern power systems and business software tools facilitate
the execution of these types of projects. These tools allow
the evaluation of a wide variety of potential conditions and
what-if scenarios in a laboratory setting or using a computational model. if results of these evaluations are promising,
then they can be later tested and validated in the field.

Conclusions and Recommendations
The unprecedented and ongoing evolution experienced by the
electric industry is prompting utilities to revisit and update
their vision and strategy to be able to adapt to the changing
customer-centric business environment. in this context, a utility of the future vision and strategy is critical to ensure that
utilities empower, provide opportunities, and fulfill customer
needs, while remaining profitable, sustainable, and vital
organizations. This article has outlined a framework that can
september/october 2016

serve as a high-level reference for defining and implementing a utility and grid of the future strategy. This framework
emphasizes 1) the significance of a robust foundational infrastructure that allows providing a reliable and efficient service,
2) the importance of the enabling infrastructure to provide
advanced functionalities, 3) the need for advanced applications to improve operational efficiency and provide customers with new services and business opportunities, and 4) the
criticality of continuous innovation to identify emerging
trends and potentially disruptive or transformational technologies and concepts and to further develop solutions to adapt
the selected strategy to market changes in a timely fashion.
The utility of the future vision is a dynamic construct that is
expected to experience additional changes in the next decade.
Therefore, the intent of this conceptual framework is to provide a structure that facilitates defining, implementing, monitoring, and updating a utility and grid of the future strategy.

For Further Reading
J. romero Agüero and A. Khodaei, "roadmaps for the utility of the future," Electricity J., vol. 28, no. 10, pp. 7-17,
dec. 2015.
r. Masiello and J. romero Agüero, "sharing the ride of
power: understanding transactive energy in the ecosystem
of energy economics," IEEE Power Energy Mag., vol. 14,
no. 3, pp. 70-78, May 2016.
s. Bahramirad, A. Khodaei, J. svachula, and J. romero
Agüero, "Building resilient integrated grids: one neighborhood
at a time," IEEE Electrification Mag., vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 48-55,
Mar. 2015.
IEEE Standard for Interconnecting Distributed Resources with Electric Power Systems: Amendment 1, ieee standard 1547a-2014, 2014.
nys department of Public service. reforming the energy vision. [online]. Available: http://www.dps.ny.gov/
smart cities council. smart cities readiness guide. [online].
Available: http://smartcitiescouncil.com/resources/smartcities-readiness-guide

Biographies
Julio Romero Agüero is with Quanta Technology, houston,
Texas.
Amin Khodaei is with the university of denver, colorado.
Ralph Masiello is with Quanta Technology, raleigh,
north carolina.
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ieee power & energy magazine

http://www.dps.ny.gov/ http://www.smartcitiescouncil.com/resources/smart

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