The GridWise Global Forum came and went last week, airing some thoughtful discussion on the state of the grid and where grid development may be headed. I moderated a session focusing on the technology horizon – trends and potential disruptions.

As a speaker and panel moderator, I have had the opportunity to peak behind the curtain of the various GridWise and GridWeek events in Washington since their inception and I watched their evolution from one event in the fall to two. Both GridWise and GridWeek this year seemed a bit flatter this year compared to past years both in the program content and attendance.

There could be a number of reasons that the events were less electric than in prior years. Perhaps to some extent it reflects the state of national energy policy – with no ringing, clearly articulated clarion call to robustly embrace all that today’s grid technology offers. State regulators over the summer at our EnergyBiz NARUC roundtable told me that they are increasingly concerned about costs, making this “the most challenging time to be a regulator.” It is in our current issue of EnergyBiz.

Back to my panel at GridWise, Mark Johnson, program director of the federal effort, DARPA-E, talked about the efforts at his federal agency to push the envelope. “Three areas we are focusing on at ARPA-E are leveraging breakthroughs in power electronics, innovative approaches to grid-scale storage and advanced approaches to thermal energy storage,” Johnson said. “Advanced storage technologies are focused on ramping and intermittency - dealing with potential new problems from variability and dynamics in generation and demand. Thermal storage is a new program focused on separating when you need to generate electricity from when you need thermal energy for heating and cooling.”

Michele de Nigris, director of T&D Technologies for RSE, the most important Italian center for electric grid research, said that one of the most important challenges shaping the grid in the next five years will be integrating renewables. He explained he is concerned on the transmission side with the transfer capacity of lines and energy storage. On the distribution network, he is focused on “the hosting capacity of variable renewables and the consequent transformation of distribution networks from passive to active.”

We will watch with interest to see where GridWise and GridWeek head in future years. Perhaps they will explore joining forces once again and putting together one strong, compelling program that best serves the needs of the industry.