Dive Summary:
- John McDonald, Director of Technical Strategy and Policy Development at General Electric Digital Energy, claims that utilities that have yet to implement smart grid technologies were unable to respond quickly and efficiently to Hurricane Sandy.
- According to McDonald, smart meters would have helped utilities with more immediate and accurate outage alerts, thereby enabling utilities to use their resources more effectively.
- McDonald argues the long-term benefits outweigh the short-term costs of smart meter installations, especially considering the bad publicity some utilities received after the storm passed.
From the article:
"... 'Not all utilities have invested in those technologies,' McDonald told AOL Energy. 'They are not as up to date and effective as they could be.'
But he cited PPL, based in Allentown, Pa., as a utility that operates four essential smart-grid components: meters, outage and distribution management systems, and GIS, and has integrated them to get the greatest benefit.
'They are in the best position when the storm hits and comes through their service area,' he said. ..."