It wouldn’t be the end of another year without a look back — and that’s what our annual list of smart grid winners, losers and fence sitters is all about. Take a look, and then use the comment form to agree, disagree or add your own suggestions.
And our smart grid winners are …
- Pecan Street. Despite its status as one of the true pioneers, Austin’s Pecan Street project has taken very few arrows in the back.
- Texas PUC. Setting up Texas as a retail competition state is starting to really benefit consumers.
- The systems integrators. Integrators large and small had banner years in 2011, including Accenture, Bridge Energy, Capgemini, Enspiria, IBMand the Structure Group.
- SDG&E. The San Diego utility continues to rack up awards, including recognition as the country’s smartest utility. It finished the bulk of its smart meter rollout in 2011 and is now busy integrating solar PV, improving customer initiatives and blending in distribution automation.
- SGCC– In what may be the most useful study we’ve seen in a long time, the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative has identified best practices for smart grid consumer engagement based on real-world findings from 20 mature AMI projects around the country.
- Glendale Water & Power. Glendale Water & Power, the first utility to win a Recovery Act stimulus grant, became the first to wrap up its smart grid project with the completion of an installation of smart electric and water meters for the 120,000 customers in its service territory.
Smart grid losers …
- Beacon Power. The Massachusetts-based flywheel energy storage maker that received federal stimulus money and a state loan filed for bankruptcy.
- Solyndra and the DOE loan guarantee program. Speaking of stimulus recipients, California solar panel maker Solyndra shut downafter receiving $535 million in DOE loan guarantees, a program now under scrutiny.
- PG&E. To be fair, PG&E rolled out millions and millions of meters, a major accomplishment. And it filed a comprehensive smart grid road map full of good ideas. But it can’t seem to figure out how to make friends with the press and the public, and continues to suffer from bad publicity.
- Xcel Energy. Xcel completed Boulder’s SmartGridCity, in our view one of the country’s most complete smart grid implementations. But cost overruns, regulatory wrangling and disputes over how much energy should come from coal caused the city of Boulder to vote to secede” from Xcel and form its own municipal.
- Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn – After a contentious debate involving politicians, labor unions and smart grid proponents, the Illinois General Assembly voted to override Gov. Quinn’s veto of smart grid legislation, giving Commonwealth Edison the go-ahead to build out a smart grid.
- Congress. We don’t cover politics much, but it’s hard to miss the Congressional gridlock that has stymied progress on energy policy and put some valued programs – such as ARPA-E at risk.
- Utilities in the Northeast. After racking millions in costs to restore power after the unseasonable October storm, governors, senators and others are calling for investigations of utility preparation for and responses to it.
Sitting on the fence …
- ComEd. Yes, the governor’s veto was overridden and they got the go-ahead to build a smart grid, but they were saddled with significant performance metrics. Can they deliver?
- FERC. The commission took some necessary steps toward transmission planning and cost allocation reforms. But will they stick … or be overturned by opponents?
- Broadband over power line. BPL doesn’t have a strong following in the U.S., but it’s showing promise in India and has proven more manageable in the UK where networks are built differently.
- Silver Spring Networks. On the plus side, they continued their growth, built out their industry-leading platform, filed for an initial public offering and announced new financing. On the down side, we won’t know for a while if that IPO is successful. If it is not, that failure could (in hindsight) taint what was otherwise a strong year.
- Zigbee. There was a time when ZigBee looked like it would become the planetary standard for home area networking, but mounting competition could interfere.
- Renewable energy industry. Tax incentives that have been a huge boost to the renewables industry are scheduled to end, leaving many companies sweating the political and economic reality that could mean the incentives won’t be renewed.
- The Obama Administration. In October, the Obama administration unveiled grid modernization pilot projects designed to speed up the permitting and construction of seven proposed transmission lines across the country. Will they succeed?
Your turn! Did we get it right? Wrong? What did we miss? Please use the comment form below to share your thoughts.
Jesse Berst is the founder and chief analyst of Smart Grid News.com. He consults to smart grid companies seeking market entry advice and M&A advisory. A frequent keynoter at industry events in the US and abroad, he also serves on the Advisory Council of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Energy & Environment directorate.
This article originally appeared on SmartGridNews.com. SmartGridNews.com is the Internet’s oldest, largest and highest-ranked smart grid site. Visit for up-to-the-minute analysis of smart grid trends, smart grid technology and smart grid companies. Sign up for the free email newsletter or follow SGN on Twitter.
Photo courtesy TpolyG.

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