Over the past century, the role of electric power has grown steadily in both scope and importance. Developments in key technologies such as electric lighting, motors, computers and telecommunications have continuously improved our lifestyles and the productivity of our commercial and industrial institutions. As technology advances, electricity accounts for a progressively larger share of total energy consumption, now nearly 40% of the total in the U.S. and in other countries with similar levels of economic development. This growth reflects the fact that electricity-based innovation lies at the heart of economic progress.

Today, the technology underpinning the electricity enterprise – from production to end use – is undergoing change at a pace and scope unmatched since the dawn of commercial electrification. To a large degree, decentralization of the electric utility industry has been enabled by the rapid evolution of technology, particularly in such fields as information, communication, controls, and distributed power generation and energy storage. The traditional vertically integrated utility is giving way to competitive, customer-oriented, global businesses serving markets in which both the energy buyer and the energy seller are heavily invested in sensitive electronic communication devices and automated equipment.

Overall, the timely and cost effective adoption of advanced technology based products and services, both for electric power suppliers and for their customers, has propelled the U.S. economic engine for the last decade and is one of the leading indicators for future profitability. We believe this period of industry transition is fertile with opportunities for proactive developers/vendors, aggregators/integrators, end-users and investors. Our insights to these technology innovations are addressed within the following topics: