It's as if the smart grid means nothing.
Perhaps, to these people, it does. ICUEE is a show that specializes in equipment: bucket trucks, construction products, switchgear, cabling. It usually pulls in around 15,000 people every two years. (Current numbers seem to be topping that, according to the show management.) And, when I got to the show yesterday morning, there was, indeed, a registration line that snaked through the lobby. A very popular little event.
Scratch that: A very popular BIG event.
But, an event with exactly one smart gird session, a 3:30 pm on Tuesday track titled "Getting Smart About the Smart Grid." It had a slew of good people from EnerNex, the GridWise Alliance, Duke Energy, GE, CISCO, the NRECA (National Rural Electric Co-op Association). It was, hands-down, the most well-rounded session on the ICUEE agenda. (Most other sessions were product-oriented or had a single speaker.)
Earlier in the day, I had attended a fleet management session with 53 people. So, I got to the smart grid one early to stake out a seat. But, how many showed up for this wave of the grid future? 18.
Wow. Maybe we need to push some of that smart grid stimulus money toward advertising. If last year is an indication, there were almost 15,000 people around and about at that show and the smart grid could only bring 18 into the room.
I admit it. I was floored. As someone who has lived and breathed the smart grid since Austin Energy's CIO coined the term in 2007, I couldn't believe this lack of interest from the very people we'll be counting on to support the grid. Perhaps that's the rub, though. They're not stakeholders in the process. They're not building the smart grid itself, per se. Instead, they're in charge of fixing cable or testing switchgear---examining and repairing the infrastructure backbone of the newly forming smart grid.
My question remains, though: Is it important that every level of a utility be excited about smart grid? Do we need even the bucket truck operators and the linemen to be vocal voices for a better, more intelligent grid? Are we missing a big piece of the picture by not getting everyone from the CEO the vegetation management chemical sprayer involved in promoting and believing in the smart grid?
As a speaker at the smart grid session, I agree with the expectations not meeting reality. I think this means we are not doing our jobs getting the word out to craft workers that smart grid will impact them--and likely in a positive way. For example, one utility in Minnesota retrained its line crews to install and maintain smart wireless dispatch technology for wind turbines. Now these employees can operate the digital technologies as well as the existing electro-mechanical equipment. As utilities deploy more smart grid technologies, I foresee more interest from utility workers. Let's try again next year at ICUEE!
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