Dark Grid: Electric Utilities Scramble to Get Smart

Here is a great article in Forbes regarding the incredible opportunities that utilities have with our nation's electricity grid to make them "smarter". I learned in one of my renewable energy classes (and it's talked about in this article) that utilities don't know when their customers have a power outage until those customers call and let them know the power is out. How crazy is that? Unfortunately it's true. The power grid is dumb because there is no instant feedback mechanism to provide utility operators with real-time information on the state of the grid and power flow. Lot's of money is beginning to be poured into making the grid smarter, which I think will ultimately be good for the electricity consumer.