NGU Summit September 2008
Last week I was fortunate to spend two days with about 50 leaders from the Utility industry at a unique event called The Next Generation Utility Summit. The entire two days are spent in a small group setting of workshops, focused on a variety of topics that relate to the name of the summit. This is the second time they have held this event, and my second time attending.
So, what did I hear and what did I learn?
First off, these people believe in the “Smart Utility” concept. It is critical to their businesses (obviously) and to the overall US Economy. Lest we forget, the “Digital Economy” requires a constant and cheap source of electricity to function.
Second, they have a long way to go. The Electric industry in the US runs at an average 46% utilization of their generation capacity. That’s worse than the airline industry USED to be, by like 25% percent. That’s the bad news. The good news is that the ROI for investing in technology that delivers connectivity, monitoring, control, and automation is easy to obtain. Most of the technologies that would be needed are created right here in the good old US of A.
Third, the amount of capital that will need to be invested to “modernize” our electrical industry is somewhere between $3 Trillion and $13 Trillion over the next 10-30 years. OK, so that’s a big range, and the high end of it is about equal to our national debt. That said, what if? What if the next administration in Washington made this a strategic priority? What if they provided capital to an industry that wants to make itself more efficient and which makes all other industries more competitive? What if they showed real leadership in brokering a national electrical transmission corridor equivalent of the Interstate Highway system, and forced the states to play fair and share generation assets on a national market basis (it’s very balkanized today)?
Fourth, there are real leaders and visionaries running our large (and not so large) Utilities in this country. It’s not that they are some altruistic hippies mind you. These folks have figured out that energy efficiency is good for business, and the globe. Pretty cool.
The last, and maybe most important thing I learned came from the COO of a major Utility on the east coast. To give full credit, he got it from an African proverb. It went something like this: “We did NOT inherit the earth from our ancestors. We are borrowing it from our children and grandchildren.” That’s a fundamentally different starting point for viewing our decisions and actions from here on out. Tell me what you think.
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