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In the talk, Laskey, Sinai and I discuss why energy data should be open, how utilities will deal with the influx of big data and how government can help. Check out the rest of the Verge videos and photos here.

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• Big data meets the smart grid

However, I’m interested in what seems to be a growing number of startups and entrepreneurs at the event, and that seems to be a sign that real innovation and new business models are actually starting to happen when it comes to adding digital intelligence to the power grid and managing energy data.

Here are the top 10 trends that I took away from the event:

1. Managing big data. Managing large streams of energy data is fundamental to the future of the grid, as well as for helping consumers reduce their energy consumption. What methods the software companies use will also determine how well they’ll do in the industry. Startups like Opower and Tendril are essentially big-data plays, using cloud computing tools and sophisticated analytics, and both companies released interesting news at the show. Oracle, touting its software and data management, had a huge booth on the floor. I chatted with both the newly acquired Ecologic Analytics (bought by Landis+Gyr) and eMeter (acquired by Siemens), and these companies manage the massive amounts of data that flow off of meters for utilities. Cloud computing is no longer a dirty word for utilities; in fact, it’s likely the future of this business.

Cisco's connected grid router, ruggedized, inside

2. The Internet of Things. Beyond connecting meters and grid devices, the smart grid really extends to create the Internet of Things, connecting cars, home batteries, solar panels, light bulbs, thermostats, and consumer electronics like televisions and cell phones. The term the Internet of Things is oft-used in IT circles, but hasn’t really caught on in the smart grid and utility industries. But it will, and it will also provide new lines of business for the power grid vendors.

3. Prepaid electricity. Prepaid meters and electricity might not catch on in the U.S. all that quickly, but throughout the world it’s becoming a phenomenon — particularly in countries with low rates of credit card holders, and high percentages of populations that don’t have a steady income stream, like farmers. There were a couple of startups at the show selling these meters and software systems, like PayGo, but I’m not sure this is a startup play at this point. I’d expect the big meter companies to create their own solutions.

Prepaid energy and meters via PayGo

4. The year of the smart thermostat. I already did a slide show on this, but it seems like 2012 is the year utilities, consumers and device makers are starting to really pay attention to smart thermostats. As one show attendee explained to me, it’s the low-hanging fruit and the area where utilities can see the most “bang for buck.” Smart thermostats, which can be controlled by utilities, can help utilities shave off consumer power consumption when they need it (called demand response). Other players like Nest (which I didn’t see at the show) are looking to sell a coveted connected thermostat straight to consumers.

5. Energy storage batteries moving into commercial deployments. Battery makers made an appearance at the show, touting batteries that could provide energy storage and frequency regulation for the grid. Some are even selling batteries for homes, to connect with solar panels, and I could see many homes having their own batteries one day. Batteries for energy storage have long been discussed, but the problem has always been that they are one of the most expensive forms of energy storage. However, some power producers and utilities now have commercial battery farm deployments in place, so we’ll see this year how popular batteries for energy storage become.

6. Ditch the hardware; focus on software. After talking with a variety of home energy management startups, it feels like there has been an acknowledgement that focusing on the hardware piece of home energy management hasn’t worked out all that well, and that software is a much better bet for most companies. EnergyHub did a slight pivot to focus more on software to manage smart thermostats, and the company tells me it’s having its best financial year to date. Tendril also doesn’t focus at all on hardware anymore, and is only focusing on creating an open platform for connecting devices. However, Nest is the outlier in this, and is basing its business around its device.

7. The pivot. Constant reinvention is common in Silicon Valley and for startups. I feel like there’s a perception that it’s not that acceptable in the utility and power worlds. However, it’s becoming increasingly O.K. to openly discuss changing strategies and working out various business models. As the smart grid industry matures, the pivot is going to become a more common maneuver. Embrace change!

8. Cellular coming on strong. A few years ago, the cellphone companies were charging utilities way too much to use their networks for the backbone of the smart grid. But today, phone companies like Verizon have changed their pricing strategy and are actively working with utilities on strategies around a per meter basis. As I wrote earlier this week, there’s no longer a big debate about what type of wireless to use, from cellular, to mesh, to Wi-Fi to WiMAX. The network companies are offering them all to be flexible to the utility.

9. M&A still rolling. The smart grid is still one of the best places across the cleantech sector to sell a startup. Since the IPO market is pretty crappy right now, who could buy who was a topic of conversation at the show.

10. Go big or go home. This one comes courtesy of Tendril’s CEO Adrian Tuck who says he sees a lot of potential consolidation in the energy data management space this year, and he sees companies going big or going home. What do you think?

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EnergyHub says through crunching its customers’ energy data it’s discovered such counterintuitive notions like: folks in cold climates have a lower average heating temperature set point than households in warmer states. So basically the average person in a warm state like Texas sets his/her heating temperature significantly higher than an average person in a colder state like Vermont — despite that you’d think the person in the cold state would need a lot more heating than the person in the warm state.

But that statistic is probably due to the fact that people in the colder climates would have to spend an exorbitant amount of money on heating if they wanted to heat their homes in a similar fashion to a person in a warmer state — because there are that many more cold days, and those cold days can be really cold. So the people who live in cold states are just, frankly, dealing with it and going without the extra heat. As EnergyHub explained it: “Darwin’s core tenet is alive and well—it appears folks in the colder climates have adapted to their surroundings!”

That tid bit is just an example of the kinds of things that connected thermostats and analytics will be able to reveal about home energy consumption habits. And the more utilities, consumers and companies know about home energy consumption habits, the more energy consumption habits can be shaped and pushed to be more efficient.

EnergyHub’s CEO Seth Frader-Thompson told me in an interview that the company is expecting to add another 100,000 or so connected thermostats to its software platform this year, and much of those will come from utility deals — we have some 16 or so utility deals in trial and commercial stages, says Frader-Thompson. Currently the company’s 100,000 thermostats under management are largely due to service provider deals (like telcos and cable operators), or sold through retailers, and Mercury is the smart software behind Radio Thermostat’s WiFi thermostat.

EnergyHub also sells an energy dashboard and service, but started selling the connected thermostat service after the company’s customers started asking for a stand alone thermostat product. “This is by far our best year for holistic energy solutions,” said Frader-Thompson.

The smart thermostat has gotten a lot of ink in recent months because of the launch of Nest and its learning thermostat. While Nest provides both a well-designed thermostat, and also the behavioral and learning analytics. many of the other energy software startups are now shying away from building the hardware and thermostats themselves.

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The potential of open access to energy data has drawn U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra to the West Coast. On Wednesday morning Chopra and half a dozen utilities plan to announce the official launch of the Green Button initiative at an event in Santa Clara, Calif., which will enable utility customers to easily download their energy consumption data with one click in an easy-to-read format on utilities’ and third parties’ websites.

California utilities PG&E and San Diego Gas & Electric will announce on Wednesday that the feature is available now, presumably via a green button on the utilities’ websites. Other utilities including Southern California Edison, Glendale Power & Light, Oncor and Pepco Holdings will announce that they will offer the feature later this year.

The project is important because it is a broad-based plan to take energy data and standardize the format of it, open it up (while also providing security) and make it readily available to consumers. Data is commonly treated this way on the Internet, but for other sectors, open access to data isn’t as prevalent.

Standardizing and freeing the data can create an ecosystem for developers to use that data to create apps that can deliver new services and products. The Internet has thrived because of open data and standardized information systems. Delivering that energy data directly back to consumers is also important because it can lead to energy-efficiency measures and can help change a consumers’ energy-consumption behavior.

Chopra first introduced the idea of the Green Button initiative back in Sept. 2011 and challenged the utility sector to quickly work at offering customers standardized and easy access to their own energy information.

California utilities are moving first on this partly because last year the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) ordered the state’s big three utilities — Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric — to follow its proposed ruling on privacy, security and access to energy data. That meant offering up consumers easy and secure access to their data.

A score of startups, utilities and government officials will be at the event on Wednesday looking to discuss the implications of energy data.

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