The future of utilities, utilities of the future

Energy Futures Lab is delighted to be hosting Dr Fereidoon P. Sioshansi, President of Menlo Energy Economics who will discuss how technological innovations in distributed energy resources will reshape the future of the power sector.

Atendees are requested to register in advance.

Abstract

The electric power industry is fundamentally changing on a number of dimensions including generation, transmission, distribution and, most important, on the customer end.

While the pace of change has accelerated along the industry’s long value chain, it is most pronounced in distributed energy resources – which includes energy efficiency improvements plus distributed generation. The former allows consumers to use less; the latter allows them to generate more of what they need. Combined, they are turning an increasing number of consumers into prosumers, eroding utility sales and revenues and threatening the historical business model, which was based on fixed tariffs applied to volumetric consumption.

The result is that for the first time in history, consumers in high retail tariff regions are able to meet most if not all their service needs through self-generation at costs that are on par or lower than the grid-supplied electricity, a phenomenon that is likely to spread as the cost of distributed generation continues to fall while the cost of grid-supplied electricity is projected to rise.

Equally important are rapid technological advances in energy storage, electric vehicles, micro-grids, intelligent home energy management, demand aggregation, and demand response, all pointing to a different future with a different role for the incumbent stakeholders in the power sector, particularly for the distribution business.

This presentation, based on a forthcoming book, examines the ramifications of these developments and speculates about their impact on the power sector.

Biography

Dr. Sioshansi is President of Menlo Energy Economics, a consulting firm in San Francisco and the editor and publisher of EEnergy Informer, a monthly newsletter with international circulation. EEnergy Informer is regularly featured in The Electricity Journal, Breaking Energy, Energy Spectrum (UK), EU Energy Policy Review (France), Energize (So Africa), IAEE Forum and other publications. His professional experience includes Southern California Edison Company (SCE), the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), National Economic Research Associates (NERA), and most recently, Ventyx, now part of ABB.

His recent edited books include:

• Electricity Market Reform: An International Perspective (2006)
• Competitive Electricity Markets: Design, Implementation, Performance (2008)
• Generating Electricity in a Carbon Constrained World (2009)
• Energy Sustainability and the Environment: Technology, Incentives, Behavior (2011)
• Smart Grid: Integrating Renewable, Distributed & Efficient Energy (2011)
• Energy Efficiency: Towards the End of Electricity Demand Growth, Feb. 2013
• Evolution of Global Electricity Markets, New Paradigms, New Challenges, New Approaches, June 2013
• Distributed Generation and its Implications for the Utility Industry, June 2014
• Utility of the Future: Future of Utilities, forthcoming March 2016.

He has degrees in Engineering and Economics, including an MS and Ph.D. in Economics from Purdue University.