Smart Grid Opportunities for 2010

Here come the smart grid services — or at least some of them.

Utility cooperative Bluebonnet Electric in Texas will rollout smart grid services to 65,000 homes starting in April, and it will feature home control company Control4' s EMS 100 energy monitoring and automation system.

Large electric utility Duke Energy is planning to spend $1 billion over the next five years on smart grid projects, and in a pilot project the utility is linking solar panels to two-way smart meters and energy management systems inside the home.

More smart grid rollouts with smart meters and home electronics systems are on their way across the country, thanks in part to billions of dollars in U.S. economic stimulus funding.

These smart grid debuts are accompanied by a surge of consumer interest in energy efficiency. Recent Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) research finds that 70 percent Americans are concerned about the cost of their monthly electricity bills and that a majority of Americans are interested in technology that would lower their energy bills and manage their energy consumption.

Energy efficiency services from smart grid, such as time-of-use pricing and demand response services that can run power-hungry appliances at times when electricity rates are lower, should point savvy CE pros toward providing the in-home energy management and automation systems that can make these services work simply and seamlessly.

After all, more than 40 million new smart meters enabling these services could be employed by 2015, according to Greentech Media Research.

The key phrase is "by 2015." Even with more pilot programs and small rollouts like Bluebonnet's, 2010 will not yield much smart grid work for CE pros — if any. Many large electric utilities are still conducting pilot programs and must clear regulatory hurdles to offer services like variable pricing and demand response. In addition, many technology standards still need to be set for smart grid services, both behind the scenes and in the house.

2015 Beckons

This doesn't mean your work on smart grid services should be put off. In fact, the slow rollout of smart meters and utility services allows you the necessary time to network with your local utilities and get your feet in the door to provide services when needed. The utilities are using this time to plan their smart grid services, and so should you.

Keith Davis, of Residential Technologies in Charlotte, N.C., has been talking with Duke Energy and proposing packages of electronics that can go into homes when Duke is ready to introduce its smart grid offerings. "Utilities are not yet rolling it out on a big scale," he says. "I don't see that as something they can embrace today. But this is the time to find the right decision makers at the utility and make some proposals. At least get your name out there."

Duke reportedly wants to own the entire residential smart grid system in its area, including everything from the solar panels to the in-home energy monitoring systems and software. That could cut out a guy like Davis, but he isn't intimidated.

"Duke does not want to get into the electrical contractor business," he says. "When [the utilities] get into residential, they're going to have to find people who have experience with that. And they're going to start transferring that work to other companies."

Rollout of Energy Management Systems

Although small CE firms don't have the manpower to help rollout energy management systems to millions of homes, the smart grid rollouts may well take place in smaller, more manageable stages. Davis, for one, is encouraged that Duke recently selected startup company Narenco to install a 1.2-megawatt solar system.

Paul Nagel, vice president of strategic development at Control4, views the company's EMS 100 energy monitoring system as a gateway for the CE pros to offer more advanced automation and control services in the home. "Many people don't even know it's possible to make all of these things work together in the home, and that's a great opportunity for our dealers," he says. "As a lead generation tool, it's pretty compelling. We can use home automation as a follow-up."

"Some of the California utilities are a little more progressive in their thinking on this," adds Nagel. "They'll provide installs and hand-hold customers at the outset." And over time, installation of these devices shouldn't be too complicated. For now, Control4's EMS 100 is being marketed exclusively to utilities, but could also become available in retail outlets.

Still, opportunities should exist for savvy CE firms. Nagel likens it to the many truck rolls that still occur to get wireless WiFi routers working in homes. "In winter, if that thermostat isn't working, who is going to do the truck roll? It could happen in a number of different ways. We're looking at our 1,500 dealers, Best Buy has the Geek Squad. …"

In many cases, having an electrical contractors license will serve you far better than just being a low-voltage installer, for it allows you to install more smart-grid-related systems inside the home and interface with high-voltage systems. If high-voltage isn't your thing, consider partnering with a licensed electrical contractor who also has smart grid ambitions.

"For people who want to make a living of this and have a passion for it, [the smart grid] is going to be a far bigger market than just the CE stuff," Davis adds. That is, if you start marketing your services now.