Dive Summary:
- Amid widespread interest in the advantages of the smart grid, experts at Pike Research claim the grid is not actually all that smart—or at least it will not be until grid solutions are implemented to make sense of big data and act quickly and correctly in response to issues and inefficiencies.
- A study from Pike calculates smart grid analytics spending could reach $34 billion between now and 2020.
- IBM is taking part in a project led by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory that uses smart meter data from 11 utilities across six states to streamline IT infrastructure while Dell now offers a data management solutions package so that utilities can swiftly dissect data and react to it.
From the article:
"These days, whenever I sit back to write a piece about energy efficiency, or energy storage or the smart grid, I can't help thinking about that new television show Revolution, which explores what would happen if the world's power went out. Permanently. Did I mention that it is described as post-apocalyptic?
Naturally, my next thoughts go the transmission and grid infrastructure that supports our current electricity supply - and all the initiatives going on to make the grid smarter. I equate the investments being made in the so-called smart grid as akin to those made decades ago in the U.S. interstate highway system. Getting it all integrated seamlessly (and securely!) is not a trivial undertaking, especially for the utility industy -- which can't exactly be called an innovator when it comes to IT infrastructure. ..."