Back before Secretary Chu delivered an early, 32-course Thanksgiving feast of smart grid demonstration grants, I had promised readers I would connect the dots in some intriguing conversations that took place at the GreenBeat conference in San Mateo, California. Here’s the first installment on that promise.

 

For awhile now, companies not originally connected with smart grid goods and services have been jumping into what was once a very familiar pond, and what is now beginning to look more like Lake Ontario (in a nod to the province that’s leading the Canadian pack in its move towards a more intelligent utility).

 

Without naming names, we’re seeing an influx of telephone and cellular service providers, the defense industry, CIS and GIS providers who’ve been focused on other industries, and a thankfully increasing number of venture capitalists, as well.

 

In advance of standards across the board, this can be a bit daunting for electric utilities, suddenly faced with a multitude of options from which to choose. But at the same time, it’s an exciting place to be, as well, especially if you know what you’re looking for in an end result (i.e., you know what you want the final system or systems to do), and you keep firmly in mind the following advice offered by Wade Pyles, senior security analyst at Southern Company, who spoke at the recent Remote 2009 conference in San Antonio, Texas. While he was speaking specifically about the biggest concern currently associated with the smart grid – that of security – his words ring true across the board: “Have a clear understanding of what your core business is…and understand what your business needs.”

 

But once the needs are defined, the world of the intelligent utility is a virtual toy store from which to choose, depending upon budget, need, and options available. (For instance, you don’t want to buy Lego, Tinker Toys, and Lincoln Logs, and then try to build an interconnected system. That app will be a long time in coming, I can guarantee it. Proprietary systems don’t always mesh the way you’d like them to.)

 

And the money’s there, or beginning to be, if you’re the smart grid vendor -- or partnership -- with the right solution. Venture capital is out there, according to investors willing to spend.

 

The Westly Group’s Steve Westly, is, in his own words, “incredibly bullish” about the smart grid space. Westly -- whom many might remember from his previous job as the controller and chief financial officer of the state of California (in which his work, and that of his department, led to an effort to commit more than $1 billion to clean technology investments), or his work as a senior vice president with eBay, or his two books on alternative energy and electric utilities – says the “hype” of the smart grid comes with the territory.

 

“Will there be hype? Absolutely. Will tons of companies fail? Without a doubt,” he said. But still, smart grid and clean tech provide tons of opportunity, Westly noted, and he’s in the market for business plans in which to invest. “This is a big business,” he said.

 

“We are going to see more applications than you ever dreamed of,” Westly told the group in San Mateo, adding there’s a place for the big companies, and also room for the start-ups. “This is a fascinating space with all the Titans coming together. This is an exciting space to be in. I want the United States to be Ground Zero for this innovation; I want to see bigger numbers, and I want everyone make a lot of money.

 

“And what I really want to see is the United States, California, the Silicon Valley, and somebody in this room who comes up with the application that changes the world. That’s how you change history.”