Reality check about the smart grid

Itron, Reality of the smart grid

The smart grid promises of a new way of thinking. In the simplest terms, the smart grid will ensure we will have reliable power and energy at the lowest possible cost. It will also help us take better care of our planet.  

For these reasons, fostering the smart grid is one of the world’s biggest priorities, but it’s also one of the most complex. We need to move quickly and decisively with the best ideas and the right technologies.  

For the smart grid to mature, we need an honest discussion, stripped of the hype.

Doing business differently

The smart grid facilitates two-way communication between utilities and their customers, helping empower consumers to make better choices about energy use. This effort involves complex technology, processes and decision-making.

It is about more than just communications, technology and energy systems allowing us to secure our energy future. It’s about a cultural transformation for the utility industry as well as consumers. Utilities that do not embrace this transformation face higher costs, reliability problems, and dissatisfied customers and regulators.

At Itron, our legacy understanding of the utility business has never been more important – we’ve been learning from and shaping the industry for decades.

We can help utilities be successful in their move to the smart grid, balancing the costs of build out with proven results. We are committed to a transparent discussion of our experiences with smart grid technologies.

Imperative on security

It is time to get real about the level of security needed to protect our energy infrastructure. The world’s energy supply is one of our most precious resources, and securing it is just as critical as our economic and national security.

Smart grid security must provide easy, reliable and safe operation for authorised users, and it must also protect against intrusion, limit damage and speed recovery. As one of our priorities, we’ve invested tens of thousands of hours in designing and implementing smart grid security.

Through collaboration with leading utilities, vendors, research laboratories and standards development organisations, we’ve developed advanced smart grid security measures to protect energy and data, consumers and utilities.

Open standards

Utilities and regulators need to demand standards that allow for seamless interoperability between hardware, software and other systems in the grid, without jeopardising the ability to innovate or earn a fair return.

We designed our application for the smart grid as an open, adaptable framework – we currently support numerous standards and easily integrate with leading smart grid solutions from other companies.

Unprecedented collaboration

Don’t believe the hype: the reality is that no one company, no matter how big or how innovative, will build the smart grid. We need a new model of collaboration to be successful.

Software and hardware designed to work in concert will act as the central nervous system of the smart grid. A solution that is merely cobbled together will ultimately fail.

Itron has established a robust ecosystem of partners to help deliver smart grid benefits to utilities. Our most complicated smart grid and AMI installations are becoming reality, and from their successes and challenges, we’ve learned a lot. This knowledge will pay off for the entire industry.

Future proof approach

Building the smart grid may take a lifetime. But aspects of it are here today and are developing rapidly. At the same time, technology is continually evolving to be stronger, faster, smaller, cheaper. To be successful however, we need a smart grid infrastructure that is designed to adapt.
Itron leads the industry in building multi-vendor solutions that meet the needs of utilities today, while anticipating tomorrow’s challenges.

We’ve designed our smart grid solution to be flexible, to adapt as needs change. It can benefit utilities of all shapes and sizes. Every experience, act of innovation, employee and research dollar invested in our solution has prepared us to help make the smart grid a reality.

Malcolm Unsworth
President and Chief Executive Officer, Itron Inc.
W: www.smartgridreality.com
W: www.itron.com