Managing smart grid programmes
Smart grids are one of the biggest developments in the power utilities industry worldwide in modern times. They offer the potential to significantly reduce grid inefficiency, enable more interactive demand management, better integrate distributed power sources into the grid, change customer experience and facilitate new uses for electric power.
In Autumn 2010, we brought together around 40 people in a roundtable of senior executives from the US, Europe and the Middle East, as well as PwC smart grid experts, to gain first-hand insight into the rollout of smart grids. Participants in the roundtable included major utility companies, network operators, suppliers, regulators and PwC specialists working on smart grid projects in different parts of the world. The event benefited from the insight of companies in a variety of markets and a variety of different rollout stages.
This report draws on the experience of these and other companies at different stages of smart meter and smart grid implementation. The overriding lesson from the participants in our smart grid roundtable is ‘don’t underestimate the scale and reach of smart grid projects.’ They need to be planned on the basis of a large capital project.