Smart Grid Today Podcast

Jan Vrins is global energy practice leader for Navigant Consulting and his department recently released its latest whitepaper on what Navigant calls the "energy cloud," with this paper describing Energy Cloud version 4.0. Vrins shared some background on how we got to version 4.0 of this smart grid evolution and how his firm sees the future unfolding for his clients and for the industry as a whole - and a spoiler here, yes, it is all about distributed energy resources. He sees regulatory changes as the biggest hurdle to cross ahead, he told us.

We interviewed Sharon Allan, Chief innovation officer at the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA), a non-profit that represents diverse stakeholders including utilities, regulators, technology providers and financial organizations. SEPA works with its members to navigate the changes to become a more modern and cleaner power grid and recently started an advisory service for its members.

ICF is a global business management consultancy and Philip shared with us his perspective on where the electric industry is now in its transition from a ratemaking industry to one that is adopting the regulatory business models needed to incent a new vision for the industry.

Dan Belmont is senior director of energy and utilities at consultancy West Monroe Partners and authored recently a report titled “Signature Research: Managing Grid Modernization: Integrating IT and Operations at US Utilities.” He spoke to us about how his firm advises utilities to bring IT and OT together, and how to attract top talent to achieve the goals of an evolving industry. NOTE: An article based on this interview with some quote excerpts is available for Smart Grid Today subscribers here: West Monroe reports to utilities on IT, OT convergence

We spoke recently to Dr Subramanian “Mani” Vadari about his new book that highlights the journey to electric utility 3.0 with solid examples and real-world case studies, titled, “Smart Grid Redefined: Transformation of the Electric Utility.” Dr Vadari is founder and president of what he described as a small strategy and management consulting firm called Modern Grid Solutions (MGS). The book has a 25% discount code available at http://us.artechhouse.com/Smart-Grid-Redefined-Transformation-of-the-Electric-Utility-P1944.aspx with the code VAD25.

Eaton Electrical Business Senior VP and CTO Michael Regelski spoke to us about cybersecurity for industrial control systems (ICS) and the technology firm's teamwork with Underwriter's Laboratory (UL). The Eaton cybersecurity research and testing facility in Pittsburgh is the first lab approved to participate in UL's Data Acceptance Program for cybersecurity and the program aligns Eaton's testing methodologies and data generation with the UL Cybersecurity Assurance Program for UL Standards 2900-1 and UL 2900-2-2.

Danny Waggoner of Advanced Energy Economy or AEE is senior manager of regulatory transformation and lead author of a report on regulatory models that AEE believes could help foster the modernization of the electric utility industry. AEE has many years of experience advocating for and studying regulatory policies in the industry and Danny was able to share with us details about what this report reveals. The 64-page report is available for free download: info.aee.net/aee_institute_utility_report

Edgard Capdevielle is CEO of Nozomi Networks, a very experienced firm offering cybersecurity for utility control networks and visibility into the assets of those networks for value beyond cybersecurity. We recently featured Nozomi Networks in the Smart Grid Today newsletter and our interview for the podcast delved into the experience Capdevielle's firm has with Enel and beyond and his perspective on how the industry is responding to cybersecurity concerns.

We interview Dan Cross-Call, a manager in the electricity practice at Rocky Mountain Institute, or RMI, a very well respected renewable energy think tank. Dan co-authored a recent report from RMI titled, “Reimagining the utility – Evolving the functions and business model of utilities to achieve a low-carbon grid.” Dan shared with us his organization’s vision for the utility industry along with some of the regulatory hurdles and breakthroughs that can help lead the way to a more modernized version of the electric industry.