The outlook for spending on smart grid technologies in 2009 and beyond.

For more than 30 years, Newton- Evans Research Company has been studying the initial development and the embryonic and emergent stages of what the world now collectively terms the smart, or intelligent, grid. In so doing, our team has examined the technology behind the smart grid, the adoption and utilization rates of this technology bundle and the related market segments for more than a dozen or so major components of today's - and tomorrow's - intelligent grid.

A service management platform for the smart grid helps utilities better manage their networks and systems while improving customer delivery.

Today's utility companies are being driven to upgrade their aging transmission and distribution networks in the face of escalating energy generation costs, serious environmental challenges and rising demand for cleaner, distributed generation from both developing and digital economies worldwide.

Even with the current raft of economic problems, the U.S. utility infrastructure can be upgraded with the help of progressive regulatory practices on the state level.

With utility infrastructure aging rapidly, reliability of service is threatened. Yet the economy is hurting, unemployment is accelerating, environmental mandates are rising, and the investment portfolios of both seniors and soon-to-retire boomers have fallen dramatically. Everyone agrees change is needed. The question is: how?

In every one of these respects, state regulators have the power to effect change. In fact, the policy-setting authority of the states is not only an essential complement to federal energy policy, it is a critical building block for economic recovery.

Everything can be done, but not in the timeframe envisioned by politicians.

The U.S. utility industry - particularly the electric-producing branch of it, there also are natural gas and water utilities - has found itself in a new, and very uncomfortable, position. Throughout the first quarter of 2009 it was front and center in the political arena.

Several techniques can help utilities better understand how networks will operate in various smart grid scenarios to maximize real-time performance.

In the past, distribution demand reduction was a technique used only in emergency situations a few times a year - if that. It was an all-or-nothing capability that you turned on, and hoped for the best until the emergency was over. Few utilities could measure the effectiveness, let alone the potential of any solutions that were devised.

When engineers built the national electric grid, their achievement made every other innovation built on or run by electricity possible - from the car and airplane to the radio, television, computer and the Internet. Over decades, all of these inventions have gotten better, smarter and cheaper while the grid has remained exactly the same. As a result, our electrical grid is operating under tremendous stress. The Department of Energy estimates that by 2030, demand for power will outpace supply by 30 percent.

Electric vehicles have come a long way in a short time, marked by energy efficiency gains that could drive changes in business and technology models.

The electric vehicle first made its appearance about a century ago, but it is only in recent years - months, to be more precise - that it has achieved breakthrough status as, quite possibly, the single-most important technological development having a positive impact on society today.

The smart grid promises to deliver a broad range of innovative network and market services to the global community, but challenges abound.

Energy systems in both mature and developing economies around the world are undergoing fundamental changes. There are early signs of a physical transition from the current centralized energy generation infrastructure toward a distributed generation model, where active network management throughout the system creates a responsive and manageable alignment of supply and demand.

Areva T&D offers solutions to bring electricity from the source to end-users, building high- and medium-voltage substations and develops technologies to manage power grids and energy markets worldwide. It is a full-fl edged solution provider, offering safe, reliable, efficient power distribution down to the lowest level end-user consumption.