According to the World Economic Forum's Smart Grid Steering Board and Task Force, the utility industry has seen over the past year the impact government spending can have on the transition to a low-carbon economy, as well as the central role the smart grid can play in this transition.
As a result, there has been a substantial increase in the number of smart grid pilots being implemented, with industry estimates at around 90 pilots globally.
The WEF group prepared a report in collaboration with Accenture and with the input from a steering board of project champions and a task force of experts. For this report, over 60 industry and policy/regulatory stakeholders were engaged to identify the factors that determine the success, or otherwise, of smart grid pilots.
The global analysis identified a number of issues across the pilot life cycle that are preventing pilots from reaching their full potential. Our report presents several recommendations for stakeholders: the crucial role of the regulator in incentivizing smart grid pilots by providing clarity over funding and stranded assets; the need for the utility to apply rigor to pilot scoping with a mixture of consumer-centric and grid-centric technologies and to develop compelling consumer value propositions and outreach programs while understanding operating model and business model implications of smart technologies; and the need for cross-industry collaboration to form multidisciplinary consortia and to increase international knowledge exchange.
Over the last 12 months, we have seen significant growth in the number of projects being undertaken; the prevailing industry estimate is that 90 smart grid pilots are in progress today, with at least as many in the pipeline.
The pilots have been predominantly focused in North America, Australia and Europe; however, we are now seeing considerable activity in South America, South Africa, China, India, Japan and South Korea.
The scope of these pilots shows the continued dominance of advanced meter reading (AMI — smart metering); however, we are beginning to see more smart grid projects that are focused on network optimization and dealing with the challenges of accommodating a broad spectrum of low-carbon technologies.
Over the last year, we have observed three broad trends within the smart grid industry:
• The rise of smart grid as an industrial imperative — Many governments are seeing smart grid and the broader low-carbon technology industry as critical to the evolution of their manufacturing and knowledge economy. In the East Asian economies, strategic investments are being made to develop intellectual property and manufacturing capabilities in this sector with a view to growing the export market globally.
• The broadening of the smart grid concept to intelligent cities — The debate has also notably shifted from being a discussion on pure "smart grids" and electricity infrastructure to include intelligent infrastructure, whereby the sensing and control capabilities inherent in the smart grid are applied to multiple physical infrastructure layers within the urban environment (e.g. water, waste, buildings, etc.).
• The emergence of new entrants in the utility value chain – We are beginning to see a new breed of industry participants, such as consumer products, telecoms and retail companies, explore their potential roles within the industry. We have not yet seen a significant disruption in the traditional business model; however, as the new entrants develop their understanding of the industry dynamics, we expect disruptive business models to emerge.
Opportunities and Challenges
Our review of the first crop of pilots suggests that, while the industry has taken a significant step forward, there are clear opportunities to extract more insight and value from these investments. We see the following as the key challenges of today's smart grid pilots:
• The struggle to create strong smart grid business cases remains in environments where regulatory incentives have not evolved to reflect today's policy agenda
• Future legislation is uncertain and, in some cases, disaggregation of the utility value chain is increasing complexity; making it more difficult to align and allocate risk and reward
• Challenges remain around data privacy, cybersecurity, interoperability and standards
• There are examples of conflation of objectives, whereby new technologies and pricing structures are rolled out in parallel, making it difficult to understand cause and effect when customers react poorly to the change
• Pilots are encountering consumer engagement challenges, both in communicating effectively with the consumer and in delivering high-quality implementations in unpredictable field environments
• A number of smart metering pilots have struggled to convince the regulator and the consumer over the true benefit of their smart grid value propositions
In the context of the growing number of smart grid pilots, it is critical that we use this period of industry momentum to accelerate the technology development and develop the sustainable regulatory frameworks that will enable them to transition to the mainstream. By challenging the regulatory status quo at this stage, we will avoid the risk of becoming limited by the legacy frameworks to the "lowest common denominator" of smart grid.
Finally, for consumer-centric pilots it is critical that projects seek to engage and educate consumers at this point of inflection in order to generate buy-in and stimulate the necessary market demand. For smart grid to be economically and socially sustainable, customers will need to recognize the value that these technologies can provide and be willing to pay for the products and services on offer.
1. They provide a mechanism for utilities and their partners to innovate in a lowered risk environment and gather data proving the value of smart grid investments.
2. They help the utility to field-test new technologies and generate capabilities and insights that will support them in the successful full-scale roll-out of smart grids.
This year's publication is the output of a joint research effort between the World Economic Forum and Accenture with the input from the project Steering Board and Task Force members, who represent stakeholders from the entire smart grid value chain.
It puts forward a number of recommendations to enable current and future pilots to reach their full potential. The research engaged utilities, vendors, communications companies, regulators, policy- makers and NGOs via workshops and one-on-one interviews. This study unearthed a number of "lessons learned" from the existing pilots, which we have broadly grouped into four sections:
• The right regulatory and policy framework for innovation and investment: Regulators and policymakers need to create the right environment for private sector investment in innovation and capital assets. In liberalized markets, this is further complicated by the disaggregated nature of the value chain. Regulators should pay close attention to the allocation of risk and reward across the value chain and develop regulatory frameworks that encourage investment and align incentives.
• Drive for global standards: Standards help provide market certainty and increase interoperability. However, if they are applied too early or are deemed too proprietary in nature, they can stifle innovation. Multiple regional standards are being developed with the consequent risk that we will see competing standards bodies. There is an opportunity to increase the level of international outreach and cooperation; increase the prevalence of open standards; and apply standards from other established industries, such as the Internet protocol and security standards, to help expedite their adoption.
Be clear about the test parameters and understand when customers will be engaged
• Clarity and ambition in design: It is essential that pilots invest in creating and documenting clear test parameters and hypotheses that they intend to prove, or disprove, through the implementation phase. We encourage utilities to trial holistic and ambitious smart grid pilots that demonstrate the value of the technologies within a broader system context. Designers should be mindful of the risk of conflating objectives and ensure that pilots are divided into sequential, yet iterative, phases examining technology, operating models and business models.
• Grid vs consumer pilots' capabilities: Most pilots will contain a mixture of consumer-facing and network-facing technologies. Consumer-facing pilots may confront additional challenges around consumer acceptance and behavioral change, where proactive consumer engagement programs can play a critical role in securing the long-term success of a pilot. Each interaction with the customer can be critical to the longer-term success of the pilot.
Collaborate to develop commercial capability that trials new operating and business models
• Successful commercial collaboration: The creation of successful commercial consortia will become a point of competitive differentiation in the transition towards the low-carbon economy. Utilities will benefit from using pilots as a test bed to put in place the commercial and legal frameworks to bring these different capabilities together.
• Experiment with new operating and business models: Once technology is robust and interoperability is proven, there is an opportunity for pilots to help utilities understand what changes they will need to make to their operating and business models to maximize the value of new technologies.
• Segment consumers by behavior: In the planning stages we recommend that pilots undertake behavioral segmentation analysis, looking carefully at the three major groups: residential; small and medium enterprises; and commercial and industrial. By segmenting these customer groups, utilities and their partners can develop product and service offerings that meet the customer needs and create "pull" for smart grid offerings.
• Target business customers: Business customers are often more sensitive to price and open to innovative product and service offerings that help increase profitability. Furthermore, early adopters in the residential sector often take their cue from technologies that they are made aware of in the work environment.
• Engage and educate consumers: Consumer outreach programs and ongoing product/service support are critical during pilots that directly impact the customer. Within these outreach programs, utilities need to communicate messages in clear, common language; adopting new techniques, channels and incentive schemes to build trust and to explain the value proposition to consumers in their everyday lives.
• Re-engineer in the field: The most successful pilots encourage collective problem solving in the field, eliciting and responding to consumer feedback and ensuring the skills and flexibility are in place to successfully re-engineer improvements in technology and the business process. This is particularly important in consumer-facing pilots, where any lapse in performance has the potential for a long-term, detrimental impact on the consumer's perception of smart grid and their relationship with their energy provider.
• Share lessons from the field: Today's knowledge exchange remains limited. The recent launch of the Department of Energy's beta version Smart Grid Information Clearinghouse demonstrates the way forward; however, it remains focused on the US market. A larger, international data set with contextual data, such as customer demographics and network topology, may enable utilities to benchmark themselves more effectively and make stronger value cases.
• Inform the regulatory/policy environment: An opportunity exists for utilities to make the case for change in their own regulatory frameworks. Data and knowledge gleaned from the pilot programmes will provide empirical data that can be used to create policy and regulatory frameworks that align incentives and encourage private-sector investment.
Key Takeaways for All Stakeholders across Three Key Timescales
1. Short term: Lay the foundations for success
a. Policy-makers and Regulators — Create the right conditions for innovation and certainty over funding and regulatory treatment while driving alignment on standards
b. Utilities and Partners — Develop broad-based consortia, focus on creating a stable technology platform and engage consumers where they are likely to be personally affected
2. Medium term: Reshape the agenda and roll-out proven technologies
c. Policy-makers and Regulators — Review the regulatory framework to align incentives and encourage private-sector investment
d. Utilities and Partners — Use initial data to help shape the regulatory agenda; pilot changes to the operating model and processes; share data and use simulation to make the value case for roll-out of "proven" technologies
3. Longer term: Change the model
e. Policy-makers and Regulators — Reward utility innovation and encourage participation of new entrants that may offer new business models
f. Utilities and Partners — Position the value case for full-scale roll-out of technologies as the economics improve; and innovate around the business model to offer customers greater value and behavioral segmentation data to target a greater proportion of customers with differentiated product and service offerings
Play Video Reuters – Pre-Viking find in Norway mountains 
Reuters – The Juvfonna ice field at 1,850 metres (6070 feet) above sea level is seen in the Jotunheimen mountains … JUVFONNA, Norway (Reuters) – Climate change is exposing reindeer hunting gear used by the Vikings' ancestors faster than archaeologists can collect it from ice thawing in northern Europe's highest mountains.
"It's like a time machine...the ice has not been this small for many, many centuries," said Lars Piloe, a Danish scientist heading a team of "snow patch archaeologists" on newly bare ground 1,850 meters (6,070 ft) above sea level in mid-Norway.
Specialized hunting sticks, bows and arrows and even a 3,400-year-old leather shoe have been among finds since 2006 from a melt in the Jotunheimen mountains, the home of the "Ice Giants" of Norse mythology.
As water streams off the Juvfonna ice field, Piloe and two other archaeologists -- working in a science opening up due to climate change -- collect "scare sticks" they reckon were set up 1,500 years ago in rows to drive reindeer toward archers.
But time is short as the Ice Giants' stronghold shrinks.
"Our main focus is the rescue part," Piloe said on newly exposed rocks by the ice. "There are many ice patches. We can only cover a few...We know we are losing artefacts everywhere."
Freed from an ancient freeze, wood rots in a few years. And rarer feathers used on arrows, wool or leather crumble to dust in days unless taken to a laboratory and stored in a freezer.
Jotunheimen is unusual because so many finds are turning up at the same time -- 600 artefacts at Juvfonna alone.
Other finds have been made in glaciers or permafrost from Alaska to Siberia. Italy's iceman "Otzi," killed by an arrow wound 5,000 years ago, was found in an Alpine glacier in 1991. "Ice Mummies" have been discovered in the Andes.
Reuters/Photo courtesy of Vegard Vike
Patrick Hunt, of Stanford University in California who is trying to discover where Carthaginian general Hannibal invaded Italy in 218 BC with an army and elephants, said there was an "alarming rate" of thaw in the Alps.
"This is the first summer since 1994 when we began our Alpine field excavations above 8,000 ft that we have not been inundated by even one day of rain, sleet and snow flurries," he said.
"I expect we will see more 'ice patch archaeology discoveries'," he said. Hannibal found snow on the Alpine pass he crossed in autumn, according to ancient writers.
Glaciers are in retreat from the Andes to the Alps, as a likely side-effect of global warming caused by human emissions of greenhouse gases, the U.N. panel of climate experts says.
The panel's credibility has suffered since its 2007 report exaggerated a thaw by saying Himalayan glaciers might vanish by 2035. It has stuck to its main conclusion that it is "very likely" that human activities are to blame for global warming.
"Over the past 150 years we have had a worldwide trend of glacial retreat," said Michael Zemp, director of the Swiss-based World Glacier Monitoring Service. While many factors were at play, he said "the main driver is global warming."
In Norway, "some ice fields are at their minimum for at least 3,000 years," said Rune Strand Oedegaard, a glacier and permafrost expert from Norway's Gjoevik University College.
The front edge of Jovfunna has retreated about 18 meters (60 ft) over the past year, exposing a band of artefacts probably from the Iron Age 1,500 years ago, according to radiocarbon dating. Others may be from Viking times 1,000 years ago.
Juvfonna, about 1 km across on the flank of Norway's highest peak, Galdhoepiggen, at 2,469 meters, also went through a less drastic shrinking period in the 1930s, Oedegaard said.
REINDEER
Inside the Juvfonna ice, experts have carved a cave to expose layers of ice dating back 6,000 years. Some dark patches turned out to be ancient reindeer droppings -- giving off a pungent smell when thawed out.
Ice fields like Juvfonna differ from glaciers in that they do not slide much downhill. That means artefacts may be where they were left, giving an insight into hunting techniques.
On Juvfonna, most finds are "scare sticks" about a meter long. Each has a separate, flapping piece of wood some 30 cm long that was originally tied at the top. The connecting thread is rarely found since it disintegrates within days of exposure.
"It's a strange feeling to be tying a string around this stick just as someone else did maybe 1,500 years ago," said Elling Utvik Wammer, a archaeologist on Piloe's team knotting a tag to a stick before storing it in a box for later study.
All the finds are also logged with a GPS satellite marker before being taken to the lab for examination.
The archaeologists reckon they were set up about two meters apart to drive reindeer toward hunters. In summer, reindeer often go onto snow patches to escape parasitic flies.
Such a hunt would require 15 to 20 people, Piloe said, indicating that Norway had an organized society around the start of the Dark Ages, 1,500 years ago. Hunters probably needed to get within 20 meters of a reindeer to use an iron-tipped arrow.
"You can nearly feel the hunter here," Piloe said, standing by a makeshift wall of rocks exposed in recent weeks and probably built by an ancient archer as a hideaway.
(Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
Cambridge, MA, USA -- Using carbon nanotubes (hollow tubes of carbon atoms), MIT chemical engineers have found a way to concentrate solar energy 100 times more than a regular photovoltaic cell. Such nanotubes could form antennas that capture and focus light energy, potentially allowing much smaller and more powerful solar arrays.
"Instead of having your whole roof be a photovoltaic cell, you could have little spots that were tiny photovoltaic cells, with antennas that would drive photons into them," says Michael Strano, the Charles and Hilda Roddey Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and leader of the research team.
Strano and his students describe their new carbon nanotube antenna, or "solar funnel," in the Sept. 12 online edition of the journal Nature Materials. Lead authors of the paper are postdoctoral associate Jae-Hee Han and graduate student Geraldine Paulus (pictured above).
Their new antennas might also be useful for any other application that requires light to be concentrated, such as night-vision goggles or telescopes.
Solar panels generate electricity by converting photons (packets of light energy) into an electric current. Strano's nanotube antenna boosts the number of photons that can be captured and transforms the light into energy that can be funneled into a solar cell.
The antenna consists of a fibrous rope about 10 micrometers (millionths of a meter) long and four micrometers thick, containing about 30 million carbon nanotubes. Strano's team built, for the first time, a fiber made of two layers of nanotubes with different electrical properties — specifically, different bandgaps.
In any material, electrons can exist at different energy levels. When a photon strikes the surface, it excites an electron to a higher energy level, which is specific to the material. The interaction between the energized electron and the hole it leaves behind is called an exciton, and the difference in energy levels between the hole and the electron is known as the bandgap.
The inner layer of the antenna contains nanotubes with a small bandgap, and nanotubes in the outer layer have a higher bandgap. That's important because excitons like to flow from high to low energy. In this case, that means the excitons in the outer layer flow to the inner layer, where they can exist in a lower (but still excited) energy state.
Therefore, when light energy strikes the material, all of the excitons flow to the center of the fiber, where they are concentrated. Strano and his team have not yet built a photovoltaic device using the antenna, but they plan to. In such a device, the antenna would concentrate photons before the photovoltaic cell converts them to an electrical current. This could be done by constructing the antenna around a core of semiconducting material.
The interface between the semiconductor and the nanotubes would separate the electron from the hole, with electrons being collected at one electrode touching the inner semiconductor, and holes collected at an electrode touching the nanotubes. This system would then generate electric current. The efficiency of such a solar cell would depend on the materials used for the electrode, according to the researchers.
Strano's team is the first to construct nanotube fibers in which they can control the properties of different layers, an achievement made possible by recent advances in separating nanotubes with different properties.
While the cost of carbon nanotubes was once prohibitive, it has been coming down in recent years as chemical companies build up their manufacturing capacity. "At some point in the near future, carbon nanotubes will likely be sold for pennies per pound, as polymers are sold," says Strano. "With this cost, the addition to a solar cell might be negligible compared to the fabrication and raw material cost of the cell itself, just as coatings and polymer components are small parts of the cost of a photovoltaic cell."
Strano's team is now working on ways to minimize the energy lost as excitons flow through the fiber, and on ways to generate more than one exciton per photon. The nanotube bundles described in the Nature Materials paper lose about 13 percent of the energy they absorb, but the team is working on new antennas that would lose only 1 percent.
Anne Trafton is a writer in the MIT news office.
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