Perhaps my favorite statement came from a vendor who was chatting about the wave of smart grid buzz, how smart grid was "the next big thing" not because of its fabulous awesomeness---though it does, of course, offer fabulous awesomeness---but because it gives a lot of government green, a good hefty ton of bucks.
"A lot of utilities were already putting in smarter meters and communications systems before smart grid terminology came along," he said. "But, utilities are like hound dogs. They sniffed out that cash. So, many of them put a halt on their programs, waited for the funding and then restarted with the government paying for half."
Very savvy, really. Super good utility finance planning, but it rather pops the bubble of smart grid as the next big thing because of a wave of progress and government intervention. It was creeping in all along, according to our vendor informant.
Other places on the floor I heard a number of new buzzwords that have tangential dealings with smart grid, but that also seemed to be starting a new trend. First and foremost: Interoperability.
Doug Voda with ABB discussed the company's interoperability work at length when I sat down with him, along discussions with their partnerships with speciality vendors to help them expand their offerings. Cooperation and integration were two items I heard repeatedly yesterday. But, Doug started that ball rolling, and I loved that he spoke of the end of the battle between DNP 3 and IEC 61850.
"With interoperability truly in the game, with plug and play technology actually available right now, that war is over, that battle is good and dead," he said.
Today marks the second day of DistribuTECH 2010, the 20th anniversary of the show. I wonder if the talk about interoperability and vendor partnerships will continue.
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