Energy Efficiency And Grid Reliability Represent $65 Billion Market

Lux Research report predicts that focus energy efficiency and grid reliability will drive a $65 billion market opportunity in 2013.

The advent of distributed generation, distributed storage, and distributed intelligence will change power infrastructure into an intelligent and more nimble power web, according to a new report from Lux Research, "Alternative Power and Energy Storage State of the Market Q4 2008: Weaving the $65 Billion Power Web.

"Smart grid technologies, like advanced metering infrastructure and demand response services, will enable the transformation of the current grid to a more reliable and intelligent power web," said Ying Wu, Senior Analyst at Lux Research.

More on demand response and smart meter

Google Joins Smart Grid Coalition

Google joins Demand Response and Smart Grid Coalition

The Demand Response and Smart Grid Coalition (DRSG) is the trade association for companies that provide products and services in the areas of demand response, smart meters and smart grid technologies.

DRSG works to educate and provide information to policymakers, utilities, the media, the financial community and stakeholders on how demand response and smart grid technologies such as smart meters can help modernize our electricity system and provide customers with new information and options for managing their electricity use

How will Google use the power of information for the energy industry?

IBM Proposes Technology Fueled Economic Recovery Plan

From NY Times IBM Proposes Technology Economic Recovery Plan

Sixty-seven percent of electrical energy, for example, is lost because of inefficient power generation and grid management.

I.B.M. is increasingly playing the role of lead contractor in these so-called smart infrastructure projects around the world, from a traffic management network in Stockholm to electric grids in Texas.

computerized grids, thermostats and appliances can sense and communicate line failures or automatically turn off air-conditioners during peak load times to save money and fuel

A Smart Grid Relies On Demand Response

SmartGrid offers an Industry News summary
Their take: That new transmission has to be smart and self-healing to better accommodate the stresses of intermittent wind.

NERC cites improving Demand Response and lagging grid

Highlights I found in the 2008 Long-Term Reliability Assessment from the North American Electric Reliability Corp

To consistently validate and measure the results of the demand response programs, NERC is inaugurating a demand response event analysis system (Demand Response Data Task Force), expected to be launched in 2010.

Significant increases in demand response programs over the next ten years are projected to reduce growth in demand and provide ancillary services across North America.

Demand response will become a critical resource for maintaining system reliability over the next ten years.

Though demand continues to grow, new development of supply-side options are becoming increasingly limited – many coal plants have been deferred or cancelled, nuclear plants are becoming more and more expensive, and transmission lines increasingly difficult to site.

Further, demand response also has an important role to play as more variable resources (such as wind) are added to the system. Variable resources, for example wind generation, often need a “dance partner” which can provide operational flexibility to maintain reliability during resource down-ramps that can be ssociated with them.

Demand response can provide all or a portion of the flexibility required for this integration.

Brattle Group consultant Ahmad Faruqui revealed that his firm has updated its 2007 assessment of DR’s present value. The previous assessment, called The Power of Five Percent, concluded that if DR could reduce peak demand by five percent it would produce a benefit stream over twenty years with a present value of $35B.

Since then, says Faruqui, the cost of providing peak energy has doubled. Meanwhile, DR technology costs have come down and regulators have started promoting faster adoption. Even at a five percent reduction, the present value jumps to $66B.

If DR can reduce peak demand by 25%, says Faruqui, the present value is $332B.

2008 Long-Term Reliability Assessment from the North American Electric Reliability Corp

Creating Energy By Efficiency

“the cheapest and most available source of new energy is the energy we waste”...... U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman

The death of broadband over powerline (BPL) opens up other possibilities.

Another bit of energy efficiency trivia.

Shedding just 5 to 10 percent of utility's load at peak times on demand could reduce or eliminate turning to the expensive spot power market or powering up dirty old power plants.

Shaving that usage can have enormously disproportionate cost and environmental savings.

Improved energy efficiency and so-called demand response programs that curtail power consumption on hot days would reduce North America's total power demand 3.3 percent by 2016.

There's a unique opportunity to become part of the solution-and to profit from it at the same time. By leveraging Internet-enabled electricity load management technologies, businesses can help to save the grid by automatically reducing peak demand during critical periods.

This is all due to this government mandate.

CleanTech Developments To Watch In 2008

Nicholas Parker at CleanTech.com has a great piece on Eight Cleantech Developments To Watch For In 2008

His Top 8 Developments:

1. Green as global political platform

If 2007 was the year that environmental concerns emerged from the margins to become a central leg of a politician’s platform, then 2008 will be the year that articulating environmental positions and cleantech initiatives will be table stakes for any world leader.

2. Cleantech drives new business and financing models

More and more companies are now rushing to offer Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)s in solar and other energy sectors. (I see PPAs offering another revenue stream for large buildings/users of power)

3. Price per bushel on par with price per barrel

high prices per bushel will signal that resource scarcity and security are not just energy issues (soybean and corn prices versus a barrel of oil)

4. Increasingly fragile water supply at risk
we fear that after years of warnings, there could very well be a crisis event that draws attention to the fragility of existing fresh water supplies.

5. “CleanChip” clusters grow in Asia, EU and Middle East
the cleantech industry is clustering around a select number of urban hubs in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America.

6. Solar breakthroughs, commercialization of liquid fuels and better batteries
energy storage is the weak link in the emerging sustainable energy paradigm.

7. China graduates from manufacturer to end-market
the Chinese government arguably showing more significant commitments to embracing cleantech as a way to lower carbon emissions than most other industrialized countries

8. Energy efficiency and demand response generate smart grid savings
a smart grid in a somewhat unlikely way: through efficiency and demand response technology companies. (think energy conservation for corporations)

The 200 year old electric motor is already undergoing a CleanTech transformation.

Full CleanTech Report