Distributed, renewable generation-units and more efficient use of electric power,demands a developed electric grid. This grid is often referred to as the “Smart Grid”. This future electric system rise expectations among actors in the existing electricmarket. International organizations share visions of opportunities for electricityconsumers and new actors, ready to enter the market. At the same time, electricutility companies may question the need for some of these upcoming changes, as theyare sometimes expected to lead the development. This paper therefore seeks to investigate the business opportunities related to SmartGrids. This is done throughout interviews, literature-studies and analysis usinginnovation-development theories. Primary focus of the paper is directed towards theelectric utility companies, secondary towards electric consumers. Business opportunities for utility companies are found to be primary associated withoperation and maintenance aspects of the grid. Developed control-systems andupdated maintenance strategies may increase the overall system knowledge and thequality of the distribution. Cost-reduction activities as these are probably results ofthe revenue-cap regulation controlling grid companies. Future consumers may benefit,socially and economically, from solutions visualizing and controlling different electriccomponents in the real estate. At the same time the development of Smart Grids is a rather slow process, partlybecause of large amount of system-components and partly because of existing rulesand laws concerning the electric system. In order to identify future opportunitieswithin Smart Grids, it is crucial to gain knowledge of the system and to satisfy realneeds or problems.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-176979 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Ewing, Mikael |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Industriell teknik |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | UPTEC STS, 1650-8319 ; 12027 |
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