it's too late for traditional utilities?

A leading US energy analyst has warned that the conventional electricity industry is facing a major “thunderstorm” from distributed energy resources, and it may already be too late to save the traditional business model.

Fereidoon Sioshansi, from the California-based Merlo Energy, told representatives of Australia’s incumbent energy industry at a conference in Sydney that their traditional business were being rapidly eroded.

There were clouds on the horizon from the reduction of demand from the grid that was occurring in most developed countries, and the growing increase in renewables.

“But the news gets worse,” he told the Eastern Australia’s Energy Markets Outlook 2013 conference. The major threat – the thunderstorm – was coming from distributed energy resources, which included self generation from solar and fuel cells, energy storage and the impact of energy efficiency.

“Together, they are the perfect storm,” he said. Even if the “regulatory fiat” afforded the incumbent industry could prevail, it was clear that efficiency was growing, “negawatts” (reduced consumption) were cheaper than building new “megawatts of power, and many countries had reached saturated markets for energy.

See More here

http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/already-late-traditional-utilities-59020

The energy revolution is gaining momentum. All aboard!