A new report by Business Insights, The Smart Power System | Smart Grids, concludes the smart grid may never come to fruition unless “inherent weaknesses” are addressed. Even though energy providers have addressed technological concerns they also need to overcome economic implosion and reputation risk. Paul Marshall, the senior energy analyst at Business Insights, says economic failure currently seems “the most likely reason for spectacular failure. Large-scale infrastructure projects, from the digging of the Panama Canal onward, are frequently plagued by unknowns, often subject to massive cost over-runs, and at times victim to the sudden loss of nerve by their backers. The difficulty with smart grid investment is that the sums involved are so large, the unknowns so great, that it seems one or more projects will turn out to be fatally flawed, financially.” Business Insights also finds that the reputation of smart technology has been bruised, such as the backlash in California Marshall notes, “Whether smart billing is accurate or not is of secondary importance to whether it is perceived to be or not. If a public perception takes hold that smart billing is inherently inaccurate, that is likely to be a source of major difficulty for all future smart grid projects over the coming years.”
Business Insights publishes industry and market insight across a number of industry, saying it “specializes in analyzing the changing market landscape, and the strategic implications of that change.” Founded in 1998, Business Insights works with both “blue chip and emerging companies, providing thought leadership and key data on fast-growth areas, evolving threats and opportunities, and winning strategies.” For More information please visit : http://www.research-store.com/smartmeters/Product/the_smart_power_system?productid=BI00018-027
