Keeping our aging electric grid infrastructure up and humming requires more technology scope than what usually falls under the definition of smart grid.

Until fairly recently the power was sent to customers almost as a ‘Hail Mary’ football pass. We hoped they got it but didn’t know if they didn’t, unless they called to complain.

Now comes the 21st century. Converging technologies have changed the rules and drop-kicked the industry into a new paradigm – where sensors, telecommunications, and distributed processing can conceivably enable us to optimize or near-optimize just about every grid function and customer interaction.

Even the long-neglected distribution system is on its way to becoming a real, honest-to-goodness, observable, controllable system.