Electric Utilities Enter A 7"D"​ World

The electric utility industry is undergoing dramatic, multi-dimensional change. Consider these new dimensions of the electric utility industry.

“D”eterioration

The aging, monolithic, centralized, carbon intensive, cost-plus monopoly electric grid is deteriorating in many ways. Reliability is declining, costs are increasing and grid operations are becoming more complex. Even if these deficiencies were not occurring, the legacy electric utility business model is being disrupted from without and within.

"D"ecarbonization

The growing demand for sustainability from customers, regulators and the general public continues. Furthermore, even if that weren’t the case, economics increasingly favour sustainable energy resources, both physical and virtual, which can meet customer demands not only more sustainably but actually more economically than traditional electric utility generation.

"D"ecentralization

The legacy bulk electric system, a monolithic network of central station generation connected via high voltage transmission lines to load centers is being increasingly displaced by real and virtual energy sources on the distribution lines, even on the demand side of the meter.

"D"istributed energy resources

Distributed energy resources (DERs) are proliferating at an accelerating rate on electric distribution networks. They include actual electric energy production and controllable electric energy consumption (i.e. virtual generation). They are increasingly being deployed on the customer’s side…