SPEAKER:
Marc Lacroix, eMcREY
ABSTRACT:
During the next years, the utilities will face huge changes at the edge of their power system. Residential customers now have access to affordable domestic generation and energy storage, and intelligent appliances enabling them to shape their energy use. To minimize impacts on the control and operation of power systems, the industry will need to develop a new infrastructure and develop a new partnership with their customer to manage energy consumption in the interest of both. The key to develop such partnership comes from the implementation of a more customer-centric business based on connected homes, loyalty programs, data analytics and cybersecurity.
Connecting the intelligent homes will enable the collection of highly useful information on customer behavior and preferences. The customers will be able to interact with the market to sell or buy energy and get information on forecasted price of energy. They will also be able to manage their energy use benefiting from incentives received from the utility.
Real time analytic, based on big data analysis, creates a baseline of customer behavior to forecast precisely the load for the next hours and predict what customers are going to do. The data analytic function is able to calculate a more accurate forecast of the energy providing a valuable information to the system operator.
In the development of a new business model, the industry will need to review its corporate structures and processes, but the benefits are numerous. Capital expenditures can be reduced since the residential customers are more resilient to power failures and fewer investments are thus required in the power system. Operational costs can also be decreased since the new approach enable more efficient maintenance programs..
SPEAKER’s BIO:
Marc Lacroix is responsible for the energy sector development at eMcREY. He worked at Hydro-Québec from 1980 to 2013. He has developed a unique expertise related to transmission, generation and smart grid automation and operation. From this expertise and his participation to international standards, he has developed a visionary viewpoint of the future of power systems. Marc received his Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering (1995) from École Polytechnique de Montréal and an Executive Development Program Certificate from HEC Montreal. He is an IEEE Senior Member and is active in IEC Smart Grid SyC and TC58 Working Groups 10, 15 and 17.