Carriers joining with utilities in smart grid evolution

MONTREAL, CANADA: Government regulations and money continue to be the key drivers for smart grid deployments in North America according to Maravedis' latest research report entitled, "Smart Grids and the New Utility" produced in partnership with the Telecommunications Management program (TLMN) at the University of Maryland University.

"Smart Grids will in the long term realize the Grid's full capacity as a two-way, IP-enabled, communication pipeline with value added services," said Maravedis technology strategist Mead Eblan, who directed research for the report. "Vendors in all areas who can provide innovative solutions for real-time monitoring, data aggregation, and consumer feedback will reap the benefits of this emerging market."

The current level of commitment to smart grids varies widely across utilities. Despite all the excitement, to-date most roll-outs have been in secondary markets involving small clusters of trial users. "This is a very fragmented market with over 4,000 electrical distribution utilities in the US," added Adlane Fellah, Research Director at Maravedis.

Select key findings
Utilities. The three types of utilities are investor-owned, municipal and cooperatives. They have different agendas and regulatory frameworks governing them, from national to state to counties and townships.

Carriers. While the utility segment has been re-ignited among carriers, notably in the wireless arena under promising M2M opportunities, many utilities hesitate to outsource network infrastructure needs.
Vendors. Many smart metering programs are incorporating wireless interconnectivity. While many vendors are lining up behind WiMAX solutions, the success of LTE will be determined by 4G deployments over the next couple of years.

Consumers. Smart metering is the beginning of the Smart Grid transformation. Their value must be properly communicated to rate-payers.

Standards. New levels of standards protocols need to be agreed on, from device to network, and especially across utilities driving the need for open ‘utility-agnostic' solutions and devices.