Issues

China Utility Week offers a powerful portfolio of end-to-end T&D solutions as well as specific zones dedicated to innovation and start-ups, intelligent buildings and the energy revolution.

In our special feature on smart cities we explore undertakings in the United States, Europe and Asia to fully understand how utilities can continue to be a key leader in smart city development.

Explore the world of connected devices, intelligent grid-edge devices and high-speed communication with near real-time processing of the data in our special report on the Internet of Things.

Our focus on DistribuTECH 2019 explores the programme and presentation of this year’s event and provides some indepth insights on topics such as customer experience, the role of blockchain and FERC Order No. 829

The first edition for 2019, issue 1-2019 of the Smart Energy International magazine is now available. In this edition, we showcase news, views and opinions from some of the leading thought and industry leaders in the global smart energy sector.

We examine why. One country that is considering the future of energy is Australia. In 2016, Australia’s chief scientist Dr Alan Finkel told the leaders of the Council of Australian Governments that they had “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reform the electricity sector to maximise its resilience in the face of rapid market changes.” Read pg 114 to understand part of the journey they are undertaking.

We examine the development of cybersecurity law in Europe and the UK, as well as some of the amazing organisations behind a multitude of cybersecurity initiatives, such as the North American Electricity Reliability Corporation and their biennial cyber exercise GridEx.

In this section, we provide information not only on the day-to-day of the most important utility event in Europe, but we also speak to the likes of Laurent Schmitt, secretary general for ENTSO-E, the European Network for Transmission Service Operators. We try (really hard) to understand what blockchain is and why it’s important for the utility sector in a conversation with Jo-Jo Hubbard, COO and co-founder of Electron and a speaker at #EUW18.

Decentralisation and renewable technologies, combined with digital and communication models, are enabling society to shift towards a sustainable future. This edition of the Global Smart Energy Elites, recognises innovative projects and leaders across the power and water sectors that have taken elements of sustainable living and put them into working models that are shaping the utility sectors of tomorrow.

Our special supplement is focused on a current buzzword and potentially industry changing concept – namely blockchain. Blockchain has the ability to provide intermediary free interactions between stakeholders on the network, effectively rendering the utility’s role in energy trading or sharing obsolete. What this means for utilities is still to be determined and it may well be true, as one of our contributors says, that “blockchain technology can barely justify the current hype around it.” Ye...

We explore the role of data in the utility sector in depth in this special supplement. Our exploration of data includes a look at an exciting project being undertaken by Southern Water in the UK, along with 8 partners, which will change the face of data sharing in Europe; and we talk to Peter Jackson, Southern Water’s chief data officer and the driving force behind the DataWell project

Data, in whatever form it takes, is a central theme in this edition, as we journey from Latin America and the smart grid installations and projects being undertaken on that continent; to the United States, where Florida Power & Light shares its storm preparations. Our trip around the world also encompasses rural utilities and how they can best improve the efficacy of energy efficiency programmes and ends in Australia where we give an update on the Power of Choice programme.