Last week we published a first look at GTM Squared's Annual Survey Report: The Future of Global Electricity Systems. As we continue to pore over survey data from the 40-page report, we are offering sneak peeks of trends we've spotted.
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How prepared is the power industry for a responsive, consumer-centric grid with an increasing penetration of distributed energy resources?
That's the question du jour, and it will remain so for some time as more municipalities and states deploy distributed energy resource (DER) solutions, such as demand response, energy storage, and solar.
There's a consensus among industry experts that power utilities, regulators, and technology/service providers will have to work as one to achieve preparedness vis-à-vis technology integration, grid reliability, and DER valuation and revenue streams.
For our upcoming survey report, we asked 500 industry experts from across the power industry value chain if the industry as a whole is prepared for the surge of DERs at the grid edge. We then asked if their respective organizations are prepared for new opportunities brought about by DERs. The results are below.
Source: Annual Survey Report: The Future of Global Electricity Systems
At first glance, our experts appear to be conflicted. While more than 80 percent say the industry is not prepared, more than 70 percent go on to say their organization is prepared.
We took the analysis one step further by doing a preliminary evaluation of answer combinations within each type of organization surveyed (19 types in total) and grouping them as either pessimistic, confident or ambivalent.
Source: Annual Survey Report: The Future of Global Electricity Systems
But is there any room for optimism among our survey respondents? Yes. Roughly 15 percent of participants answered 'yes' to both questions.
The final 40-page survey report will include greater insights and 20 additional inquiries into the key trends shaping tomorrow's power market. The report will be made available to GTM Squared members during the week of February 1, 2016.
Join GTM Squared today to get access to this report, as well as the rich archive of existing GTM Squared content. More required GTM Squared reading on the topic of industry preparedness includes: