Keynote Case Study: TechAdvantage 2018 — The Energy Future Is Distributed + Hyperconnected

At TechAdvantage 2018, futurist Jim Carroll challenged the utility sector to see rapid change as opportunity — from battery advances and grid parity to microgrids, analytics and distributed technology resources.

The Energy Future Is Distributed + Hyperconnected

Utility business models were entering a world where customers could generate, store, share and intelligently manage more of their own energy. Jim’s keynote left the room with a clear challenge: the future belongs to those who are fast.

Six trends are shaping that shift.

• Hyperconnectivity. Homes, devices and infrastructure increasingly become connected parts of the energy system.
• Big Data + Analytics. More operating data supports faster insight, prediction and management across the grid.
• Battery Advances. Rapid improvements in storage expand the practical role of distributed and renewable energy.
• Grid Parity. Changing economics bring new generation technologies closer to traditional cost structures.
• Microgrids. Customers and communities can generate and exchange more energy through local networks.
• Distributed Resources. Edge energy technologies change where power is created, managed and consumed.

When energy becomes distributed, the utility model becomes a software, data and network story, Jim told the TechAdvantage audience.

It’s the reframe utility technologists in that room carried straight into their own grid modernization plans. Explore more keynote case studies.