The idea is to create a common set of communication protocols and data formats that utilities and smart-grid start-ups can adhere to.

The benefit of a more intelligent infrastructure is that load can be curtailed as needed and problems spotted more quickly. By flattening out spikes in demand, utilities may not need to build new power plants, which are expensive and opposed in some places for environmental and health reasons.

Navigant Consulting, Inc. (NYSE: NCI) today announced the launch of a major multi-client study on the convergence of the Smart Grid with Photovoltaics (PV). This comprehensive and focused study is helping the eighteen participating organizations identify the key technology components of a PV Smart Grid; understand how the Smart Grid could create additional value for distributed PV; gain insight to the implications for utilities; and identify trends and valuable market opportunities.

In summary, the Committee voted overwhelmingly 31-17 yesterday evening to approve the Commission's proposed electricity Directive, but has proposed amendments on the following key issues

Results from a year-long study on high-tech electricity meters found smart grid technology performed as intended, saving consumers about 10 percent on their bills while easing strain on the power grid.

In the future, utilities will pay you to plug-in your vehicle. Millions will plug-in their electric vehicles (EV), plug-in hybrids (PHEV) and fuel cell vehicles (FCV) at night when electricity is cheap, then plug-in during the day when energy is expensive and sell those extra electrons at a profit. Vehicle to Grid (V2G) technology is a bi-directional electric grid interface that allows a plug-in to take energy from the grid or put it back on the grid.

The Department of Energy has just wrapped up a fascinating experiment in Washington State in which it provided both homeowners and their appliances with tools that can sense stress on the power grid. Homeowners who made use of the tools saved money—approximately 10 percent on their electric bills—and the grid was more stable, too.

After safety, the longevity of the batteries in a
plug-in hybrid is the greatest unknown. Can a plug-in
hybrid’s battery pack retain the bulk of its energy
capacity over 10 years of daily use and more than 4000
full-discharge cycles? (For a deeper look at the
challenges facing plug-in hybrid batteries, see “Lithium
Batteries Take to the Road”.)[ LINK:
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/sep07/5490 ] As Don
Hillebrand of Argonne National Laboratory, in Illinois,
said tartly, “Batteries are the showstopper.”

Periodic demands from the grid, even for only a small
fraction of the battery’s stored energy, would clearly
affect the cells’ life span—but no one has data on how
much. Another open issue is the development of creative
financing models for replacement battery packs costing
several thousand U.S. dollars even after mass production
is achieved.

Third-party battery leasing could be one answer, if
combined with a secondary market for batteries whose
performance has fallen below automotive levels.
Carmakers, electric utilities, and large
consumer-financing groups are quietly batting around
these notions to see if they can build a financial model
that makes sense for all three parties.