INDUSTRY WATCH
technologies will in fact work in the field and to test the vendor’ s ability to deploy them effectively.
Planning for failure and how to avoid it The road to smart grid rollout is littered with the bleached bones of failed pilot programs. The region has a host of examples of Advanced Metering Infrastructure pilots that led nowhere. The technology was proven, but the project still stalled. Why?
As discussed above, the answer lies in planning beyond the pilot, whatever the outcome. It is every bit as important to provide guidance for failed pilots as it is for successful ones. Having answers to questions such as, do we sign up the whole country to the vendor that pilots successfully, or do we trial other vendors and technologies too, can help keep vital momentum behind the project.
Without clear answers to these questions, the roadmap is incomplete and the impetus to finalise the pilot is lost. Trialing multiple technologies and setting a mechanism from the beginning for decision-making, post-pilot, are integral parts of developing the roadmap and ensuring that it leads to the desired destination.
While it can be good practice to trial several technologies concurrently, this approach is not without its own challenges; principally, keeping vendors committed to the project. Slicing the pie too thinly between too many potential suppliers, risks reducing the attractiveness of the eventual business, threatening the quality and price of the product in the process.
Smart-grid implementation is also likely to be reformative of the utility itself. The successful rollout of a smart grid will necessitate fundamental changes to the structure of the business, including the required skillsets and job descriptions of the staff. To reap rewards, each utility must draw up its own path and carefully consider their individual objectives. Utilities face one common reality: the smart grid rewards are bigger than ever for those who plan diligently and who stay plugged-in.
Excerpted from Switched On, How MENA Can Build Smart Grid Success, by Booz Allen Hamilton.
Benefits of smart grids
• Asset optimisation: Smart grid facilitates connectivity between intelligence and asset management applications
• Grid attacks: Smart grid detects and mitigates threats to utilities and is able to restore systems rapidly in the event of an attack
• Consumer participation: Smart grid gives consumers information to compare pricing plans and options to buy and sell
• Energy storage: Smart grid introduces storage options and integration of alternative energy sources including wind and solar energy
• New markets: Distributed generation enabled by smart grid benefits mature markets while developing new ones
• Operational efficiency: Interaction between intelligence and asset management results in efficiency across the grid
• Power quality: Smart grid offers range of power quality as well as price options
• Self-healing: When a problem occurs, the smart grid is able to minimise impact, and rapidly repair and restore its systems
56 INTELLIGENTCIO www. intelligentcio. com