Aug 26 2009

PG&E CEO Named One of 15 Smart Grid Leaders

Posted by: Jonathan Marshall

Is he in your Rolodex? If so, says Earth2Tech, "you're probably in pretty good shape."

The noted energy and clean tech blog today named PG&E CEO Peter Darbee as one of the "top 15 most influential people in the smart grid space." This list, produced by Katie Fehrenbacher, calls PG&E "one of the most aggressive utilities, deploying smart meters and home area energy management tools."

Also today, IDC Energy Insights and Intelligent Utility magazine named PG&E one of the nation's five most "intelligent utilities," based on metrics quantifying productivity, renewable energy, smart initiatives, demand response/energy efficiency, and IT investment. The goal was to separate "smart grid hype" from reality.

"These metrics measure each company's efficiency, commitment to renewable energy, investments in developing smarter grids, enablement of their customers to manage their energy usage and costs, and their investment in information technology to enable business process improvement," according to the announcement.

The Earth2Tech story notes Darbee's extensive experience in the telecom industry, saying he "has a unique perspective on what the smart grid should provide for utilities in the U.S." It adds that he has "brought in and promoted executives with more of a Silicon Valley, think-outside-the-box mentality, compared to the traditional utility industry. His leadership shows, and PG&E has been partnering with tech-savvy startups like Silver Spring Networks and applied for smart grid stimulus funds to roll out home area network technologies."

Others on the list of leaders include Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Cisco CEO John Chambers, Silver Spring Networks CEO Scott Lang and Guido Bartels, IBM's top exec for energy and utilities.

Fehrenbacher's timing was impeccable--she posted just hours before PG&E announced its application for Smart Grid stimulus funding for an innovative new energy storage project.

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"PG&E" refers to Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation.