Affordable electric power is critical to our nation's prosperity, national security and public health and safety. Yet our power grid, once considered a marvel of engineering, is aging and increasingly obsolete. The electric power system has not fully harnessed the power of digital technology. For the most part, it is still making do with equipment designed in the 1950's and 1960's ø before the era of the microprocessor. As a result, today's electric system is full of massive, expensive capital assets that are underutilized. Without a major shift in the way the energy system is planned and operated, nearly $500 billion of electric infrastructures must be added by 2020 to meet load growth projected by the Energy Information Agency.

GridWise™ is a vision for transforming the nation's electric power grid using advanced communications, automated controls and other forms of information technology. The GridWise ä vision integrates the energy infrastructure, processes, devices, information and markets into a collaborative arrangement that allows energy to be generated, distributed and consumed more efficiently. Similar to the nervous system in a living organism, GridWise ä will enable devices at all levels within the grid ø from utility to consumer ø to independently sense, anticipate and respond to real-time conditions by accessing, sharing and acting on real-time information.

With GridWise™, the management, planning and operation of the electric system becomes truly collaborative; communications and reaction times are instantaneous; productivity increases across the board; costs decrease for all participants; and overall service improves. New technologies will be woven into the system wherever they provide higher value alternatives to traditional infrastructure. The advent of these technologies will rely upon seamless, plug-and-play integration of alternative generation and storage assets into the information and power network. Real-time markets will influence consumer load response so that existing assets can be used more wisely. New technology will make such a response automatic, flexible, unobtrusive and profitable. Furthermore, small reductions in demand during times of stress will reduce peak prices, thereby helping to stabilize prices in times of limited supply.