1. Aggregate supply from hundreds of small sources into a “virtual power plant” of 100 MW or more that can bid more easily into CAISO and get full value for the power provided.
2. Do the same with points of load control, using sophisticated software and distributed load controls
3. Get a better picture of the “energy density map” of loads in a service area and manage less dense areas differently (could be close to net zero draw from the grid) than more dense areas (with a big draw on grid).
4. Find ways to add more renewables, integrate EV charging/discharging (V2G), and storage without adding substantial new costs.
• a) Could involve providing more reliability and backup locally rather than at great distance in order to avoid adding a lot more T&D investment
• b) Provide backup as an explicit service to customers going off-grid
• c) Add storage at strategically located “caches” to avoid T&D investment
• d) If complexity brings new costs, find ways to simplify to avoid costs.
• e) Look at increasing sensors, micro-controls, and software-based network management as a way to avoid investing in large hard assets.
5. Create software that can achieve seamless integration of microgrid devices with utility SCADA systems
6. Use Stone Edge Farm in Sonoma as a test site for innovative new renewable and microgrid demos.
7. Become a central buyer and dispatcher of supply and Virtual Power Plants for CCAs.  This is a function which has big economies of scale.
8. Provide management services for a network of microgrids and backup generation
9. Become a purchaser and aggregator of existing rooftop solar installations for which current owners and new owners of homes with solar panels no longer want responsibility.
10. Invent very inexpensive point controls on loads that can communicate with systems to aggregate load under control.
11. Prepare for circumstances where value of on-site production of power has lower value.
• a) Mixed monthly charge rather than on a per-kWh basis.  
• b) Could mean a fixed fee of $80/month charged by the grid
• c)Find a way to turn the high fixed cost nature of poles and wires into an advantage rather than a problem
12. Offer to refinance “stranded” contracts for renewables that are surplus to shrinking utility needs and worth less to new buyers at CCAs—stretch out payment terms, etc.
13. Develop technologies to underground distribution lines inexpensively to reduce liabilities on wildfires—trenchless conduit-laying, for example.
14. Re-think utility business not as supplying power, but as managing a network of assets largely owned by others.
15. Approach CCAs about using reinvestment of “profits” in local supply or load control projects.

There are so many things changing in the utility business it is almost certain to be a rich source of opportunity for clever startups.  What might those opportunities be?

This will be explored in a roundtable discussion set for May 7 from 9:30 am to 1:30 pm.  We have invited a number of experts to kick off the discussion, and then we will open it up to the audience to explore the questions that are raised.  The idea is to speculate what might be in store five or ten years out, and use that to spark some ideas as to useful products and services that might result.  

 To register to the event, use this LINK.

 The potential questions we have in mind covering are these, to the extent we can:

 Will the investor-owned utilities become just a poles-and-wires business?

1. If so, will that business also involve network management (clusters of microgrids, CCAs, and public-owned systems)?
2. Can network management become a profitable business?  What’s the latest experience in managing multiple microgrids?  What insights does this provide?
3. What would be a viable pricing strategy for network management?  A fixed monthly fee?
4. What role would the network manager have in setting prices for various services like load management, frequency and voltage control, reactive power, ramp up and backup?  Will it all be regulated?
5. Would a network manager be allowed to invest in equipment to provide those services itself rather than purchasing them from third parties?
6. Could there be an integrated network manager arise that does not own the poles and wires?
7. How would the future of public-owned utilities be different than for investor-owned utilities?  Would they remain integrated utilities?
8. With the rise of CCAs supplying now over 25% of all power in the state, and likely to reach 50%, what will happen to the existing power purchase agreements with the utilities?  Will they be successfully remarketed? 
9. The same will occur as Direct Access is potentially expanded.  Will there be a new “stranded cost” if they are sold at prices below the original contract price?  Who will pay that?
10. What might be the business opportunity in refinancing these contracts to achieve lower prices?  How will the PG&E bankruptcy play into this remarketing?
11. What will happen to net-metering?  If there is a fixed monthly poles-and-wires charge, will in effect net metering prices fall to just the avoided wholesale power supply price?  How will that affect the installation of rooftop solar?
12.  Will the new mandate for rooftop solar on new dwellings intensify the interest in storage?  
13.  Will the economics be better for distributed storage or centralized storage?  Currently, local marginal prices for power are sometimes negative. Will that happen more frequently?
14.  Will demand management and load control significantly lessen the need for storage?  What kind of software would be needed to make this extremely responsive to changing conditions?
15. With huge economies of scale in acquiring, delivering, and managing power, will the CCAs consolidate?  Or will someone arise to provide services to CCAs on a consolidated basis, while multiple CCA local governing boards continue to exist?
16. Will the new structure of the utility business make local generation projects more attractive?  They tend to be higher cost than big projects.  Will anything change that?
17. Will the gas utilities be immune to these changes?  Would the introduction of a “renewable gas portfolio standard” and provision for customer direct access to discrete supplies trigger the same evolution?

 This is a lot of questions.  We may not be able to get to them all, but it frames the extraordinary range of the opportunities that may exist.  We will cover as much as we can. Then we might have another session later in the year.

Big changes are underway for utilities.  What doors might that open for some new solutions and new business opportunities? Will the traditional utilities become more like network managers?  What would be their software needs? How would rates change? Flat fees per month? How would that change incentives? What would happen to net-metering?  Will utilities be required to compensate providers of alternatives to upgrading the distribution grid? Who will the buyers of power be? What will they want?  How will network management interact with EV charger management? If there is extensie load management, will the need for storage disappear?

If these questions are of interest to you, sign up for our upcoming roundtable “The Future of the Utility Business:  What New Opportunities it Creates” The format will be a lively discussion format with a group of experts and stakeholders in which you can participate.  It will be held at 500 Capitol Mall on May 7 from 9:30 am to 1:30 pm, with lunch included. Gather your questions and sign up. This is your big chance to see new opportunities.