Not so fast. Solar power is causing grid engineers and policy makers to scratch their head: it is intermittent and has indirect costs to provide useful energy. Some victims of Storm Sandy realized that first-hand when their solar roofs shut down when the grid blacked-out. What is the point of deploying solar when you cannot use it when it matters the most? Back-up gas generators are still cheaper than deploying solar panels and batteries. The solar sector is at a crossroad.
Sports cars got a fast start at the Detroit Auto Show last week while sales of electric vehicles are growing slowly. Transportation is only one way to reduce carbon footprint, and it seems that environmental concerns are taking a back-seat compared to speed and elegance. Tesla's Model S won the car of the year award in 2012 by surprising the auto fans with its best-in-class performance.
Auto manufacturers are still excited about the potential of EV's. Earlier this year, Ford announced a new energy initiative at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas , in partnership with Eaton, SunPower and Whirlpool. A study done in collaboration with Georgia Institute of Technology shows that a typical American family can reduce its carbon foot-print by 55% by combining renewable energy generation and smart devices such as plug-in vehicles and new home appliances.
I have talked before about the convergence of home and transportation, and the second generation of solar about to take place. I decided to talk to Ford about MyEnergi Lifestyle program, as well as their hands-on experience at the assembly factory in Michigan where they installed 500 kW of solar panels and 2 MWh of energy storage. Their take-aways are interesting.
The four big utilities in California get together every year to check some of the latest solutions developed by start-ups. PG&E hosted the Emerging Technology Coordinating Council (ETCC) Open Forum in San Francisco last week. It was an opportunity to get a heart beat in the smart grid sector while private investments in start-ups have taken a dive.
I was expecting to see a mixture of utility strategy executives and product managers along with investors, similarly to the Telecom Council that used to meet regularly in Silicon Valley ten years ago. Apart from a few angel investors, the room was packed with technical personnel. The Q&A discussion following the presentation of the fourteen selected companies was of high quality as a result, but it got me thinking about where the smart grid sector is going.
