Chapter Six - Technologies, Changes, and Impacts: From a Vertically Integrated to Dispersed Energy Systems

Abstract

Technological change has been pervasive in the electricity industry, and this has had persistent impact on the structure of utilities and the cost of energy for homes and vehicles. Historically, technological change has been the catalyst for change. We think that advanced and emerging technologies have been primary drivers for the transformation of the energy sectors be it transportation or for buildings. To a certain extent, the lack of technological innovation and change led to societal changes which helped to create the conditions that led to deregulation and the catastrophic energy crisis that created energy disruptions in California from 2000 to 2001 and seen since then in the Eastern United States and southern Canada as well as most of Western Europe during the summer of 2003. In this chapter, we discuss shifts in the technological base of the energy industries that led to pressures which impacted the market, organizational, and regulatory structures.