Smart Power Anniversary Edition: Climate Change, the Smart Grid, and the Future of Electric Utilities

This pivotal work offers a clear and accessible vision of how we can transform the electric power industry to adapt to twenty-first century challenges. Few industries are as stuck in the past as utilities are. In the face of climate change and the need for energy security, a system that took more than a century to evolve must now be extensively retooled in the span of a few decades, although many of the technologies and institutions needed are still being designed or tested. It is like rebuilding an entire aeroplane fleet, along with the runways and air traffic control system, while the planes are all up in the air filled with passengers. In this accessible and insightful book, Peter Fox-Penner considers how utilities interact with customers and how the Smart Grid could revolutionise their relationship. He considers the costs of, and tradeoffs between, large-scale power sources such as coal plants and small-scale power sources close to customers. Finally, he looks at how utilities can respond to all of these challenges and remain viable, while financing hundreds of billions of dollars of investment without much of an increase in sales. This Anniversary Edition includes up-to-date assessments of the industry by such leading energy experts as Daniel Estes and Jim Rogers, as well as a new afterword from the author.