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During a May 11 Webinar, IHS CERA launched a new multiclient study, Smart Grid: Closing the Gap Between Perception and Reality.
Lawrence Makovich, IHS CERA Vice President and Senior Advisor for Global Power, who is leading the Closing the Gap multiclient study, is the featured speaker on the Webinar replay which
- Describes the multiclient study process and format
- Reviews the Smart Grid narrative and questions arising from the narrative
- Presents the value proposition of the multiclient study
- Provides the benefits and deliverables of membership in the multiclient study
To download a copy of the study prospectus or request a replay of the webinar, please complete the following form:
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IHS CERA employs the smart grid narrative as a basis for evaluating and analyzing smart grid (see “The Smart Grid Narrative”). Widespread acceptance of this narrative by the power industry and related stakeholders is
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influencing government policy and business strategy
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informing capital investment decisions amounting to billions of dollars
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shaping early deployment pilots that may run the risk of technology obsolescence or are encountering problems
Additionally, the narrative raises important questions that challenge the popular perception and test the limits of smart grid (see the “Questions Arising from the Smart Grid Narrative” on page 5). By presenting in-depth research and analysis to answer these questions, Closing the Gap will provide valuable help to our study members by identifying the realistic opportunities associated with smart grid
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Establishing business models that align with client behavior
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Influencing policy and regulatory direction
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Guiding smart grid strategy and deployment
The Smart Grid Narrative
Smart grid is one of the foremost potential disruptive technologies that will transform the power sector by reshaping demand, decentralizing power supply, and lowering power bills.
The vision for smart grid is a nationwide network of power lines, advanced meters, sensing, communication, and control technologies linked through universal standards and protocols, coordinated with advanced two-way communication and orchestrated by information technologies and complex optimization software. This network will be self healing, more secure against cyber threats, and capable of delivering higher quality and lower cost power service.
Smart grid will take more than a decade to implement fully. Already more than 8 million advanced meters are in place in the United States and more are on the way. The economic stimulus has directed over $4 billion toward accelerating smart grid deployment. Many new information companies are poised to make smart grid as transformational in the future as the Internet has been and continues to be.
Smart grid deployment will reshape power use by confronting consumers with real-time power prices. These price signals will alter consumer decisions either directly through behavioral changes or indirectly through preprogrammed smart appliances and control applications. As a result, many market failures will be fixed and much of the “low-hanging fruit” of the efficiency gap will be harvested. The savings will drive monthly power bills lower.
Eventually, smart grid will make traditional power supply obsolete—as wind, solar, and combined heat and power systems reach “grid parity” and these small-scale distributed generation resources become ubiquitous. This will bring about a significant decarbonization of power supply.
Smart grid will enable the rapid penetration of electric vehicles and in so doing will create a “roving” battery to the power system. Such distributed power storage plus network expansion will capture the geographic diversity of wind and solar production patterns, and as time passes the old “linear” paradigm of conventional power plants being dispatched to meet
fluctuations in power demands will give way to a new “fuzzy” paradigm in which the degree of load control allows load to follow distributed small-scale generation patterns.
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• Do consumers want real-time prices, and how are they likely to respond?
• How will regulators reconcile real-time pricing with regulated cost recovery?
• Is there a first-mover advantage in smart grid deployment or are advanced meters and other smart grid
technologies subject to rapid obsolescence?
• How long will pilot projects be conducted and when will smart grid be widely deployed?
• Is market failure widespread in power consumption decisions, and does a massive efficiency gap present “low-hanging fruit” for smart grid to harvest?
• Can entrepreneurs capture and utilize smart grid consumer information given customer privacy concerns?
• What are the limits to reshaping consumer power use?
• Do economies of scale and storage economics favor small-scale and/or renewable generation resources?
• Will the costs of smart grid implementation be offset by the benefits?
Note: these questions are subject to modification by IHS CERA and based on the input of the Closing the Gap study members
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IHS CERA’s Closing the Gap study brings together a community of stakeholders from the power industry—electric utilities, generation and transmission companies, independent system operators, service and equipment providers, technology companies, and regulators—that share a strong interest in the outcome and success of smart grid. IHS CERA will lead an in-depth research effort that undertakes a critical analysis of the smart grid narrative by answering the key questions that the narrative raises. In addressing these questions, IHS CERA will develop a revised version of the narrative as well as signposts that track the actual path that smart grid will follow. Members of Closing the Gap will benefit from IHS CERA’s independent and objective assessment of the realistic opportunities and challenges facing smart grid and from taking part in a broad stakeholder dialogue.
During the Multiclient Study process, both IHS CERA and Closing the Gap members will bring their experience and perspectives to bear on the critical questions facing smart grid. Specifically, IHS CERA will deliver the following to our study members:
• Thought leadership and original insight into the global power industry
• Integrated perspective on smart grid that reflects its complex, multifaceted nature at the intersection
of energy, technology, policy, environment, and the consumer
• Knowledge and lessons learned from analogous initiatives in other sectors of the energy industry
Closing the Gap members will bring
• Shared interest in the long-term success of smart grid
• Collective view of smart grid’s opportunities and challenges
• Experience in strategy and early deployment of smart grid
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By providing in-depth research and facilitating a broad industry dialogue, Closing the Gap is designed to benefit the study members by
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Delivering insight and research that can support their smart grid capital investment decisions
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Establishing business models that help utilities align with customer behavior
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Informing and influencing policy and regulatory direction
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Guiding smart grid strategy and deployment
Closing the Gap members receive a comprehensive set of study deliverables, including
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Introductory Research Briefing comprising the research agenda, smart grid narrative, and arising questions
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Introductory Conference Call (Webinar) to present and discuss the Research Briefing
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Preliminary Workshops, held in both the United States and Europe, that will include presentation of in-depth research and discussions among stakeholders
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Final Workshops, held in both the United States and Europe, that will provide conclusive research and findings for feedback from the study members
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Access to the study Final Report on IHSCERA.com, including
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Executive Summary
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Answers to questions arising from the narrative
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Supporting, in-depth research and analysis
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Revised smart grid narrative
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