Energy Smart Technologies Leadership Forum - The Results Book

Foreword

Welcome to this special publication documenting the Energy Smart
Technologies Leadership
Forum, which took place at Glen Cove Mansion outside New York City on
27–28 October 2010.

The Energy Smart Technologies (EST ) Leadership Forum was the latest in the
Bloomberg New Energy Finance series aimed at senior decision-makers and
experts in clean energy. After the success of our Carbon and Offshore Wind
Leadership Forums, the EST edition brought together more than 60 thought
leaders from across the smart energy landscape: utilities, financiers,
market and regulatory bodies, non-governmental organisations, and service
and technology providers – from smart grid and buildings, through
distributed energy to electric vehicles and energy storage.

The industry today has more confidence than ever that each of the
components of the smart energy vision can be brought to scale.There are now
over 300 smart grid projects and pilots underway across the globe; demand
response is gaining widespread acceptance and will continue to grow; energy
management systems are gaining traction in homes and buildings; significant
levels of distributed energy are beginning to affect networks in some
regions; plug-in vehicles are starting to roll off production lines, and
even energy storage is being demonstrated at scale.

Discussions on the first day of the Forum therefore reflected a justified
sense of accomplishment that so much has been achieved in recent years –
but digging deeper into individual technologies and applications uncovered
a variety of outstanding challenges still to be overcome. Cost points of
immature storage technologies need to come down, as do those of distributed
renewable generation. Consumers – both residential and commercial –
need more education and clarity about the possibilities offered by smart
homes and buildings; and the debate over business models for electric
vehicle charging infrastructure remains deeply divisive.

And it is not just the individual technologies and applications that need
to be nurtured to scale. There is a need to re-examine power markets and
regulatory structures, which were designed in a time of centralised bulk
generators, vertically integrated utilities and one-way flows of abundant
energy – they are not fit for a smart, distributed architecture. More
investment is needed to help innovative companies bring new solutions to
market. And if we
really believe that the various components of smart energy will be
successfully integrated into a smart system, deeper cooperation and
knowledge exchange across multiple stakeholder groups will be critical.

The EST Leadership Forum was convened in the hope that a meeting of the
brightest minds in the industry would provide greater clarity of purpose
and a platform to share experiences and lessons. Over two days, thought
leaders recounted not only their
latest achievements, but also their future challenges and initiatives.
Although it has been impossible to capture everything, this Results Book
aims to document the highlights of the conversations at Glen
Cove – and to suggest a way forward to overcome the challenges that have
been laid out.

We hope that investors, policy-makers and industry alike will take the time
to digest the lessons set out in this document and act to capitalise on the
recent surge of momentum in the industry. We look forward to continuing our
research coverage in this dynamic space and working with all of you as you
move forward.

To access the full Results Book please download the report.