Smart Grid (R)evolution - Smart Grid (R) Evolution: Electric Power Struggles - page 222

of the world. Smart grid innovation is taking place for many reasons in many different
locations, and the diversity of its many objectives, implementation strategies, and societal
actors is rich and expanding.
9.6 Broadening Smart Grid Conversations and Collaborations
Given the diversity of smart grid futures, we do not consider ourselves advocates of a
particular smart grid pathway. We are, however, strong advocates of broadening societal
conversations about smart grid to enable more diverse participation and collaboration. We
believe that when smart grid conversations are expanded beyond the dominant technical
and economic perspectives to integrate social and cultural dimensions, a more inclusive
set of collective energy system goals can be established to guide smart grid development
(Stephens et al 2014 ) . Broader conversations about smart grid encourage a re-examination
of our perspectives on what is possible, what is desirable, and why energy systems have
developed the way they have. Rather than embrace a naïve, technically optimistic
perspective of smart grid potential, we encourage broad societal engagement to address
critical infrastructural challenges because how we tackle these issues and who is involved
in these conversations will determine the future distribution of power in society (both
electrical power and other forms).
We know that all changes, whether technical advances, policy innovations, or cultural
shifts, result in second and third-order changes that are impossible to predict or anticipate.
There will always be risks associated with both the deployment of new technology and the
lack of deployment of new technology. All change is challenging, and implementation of
system change requires imagination, flexibility, and adaptation.
One important lesson we draw from the experiences of widespread smart meter
deployments across the world, wind and solar deployment in Germany, or efforts to
increase community control in Boulder, Colorado, is that change that may have seemed
impossible to many can become possible in unexpected ways. When engineers, regulators,
or planners declare that something is impossible, it may one day become possible with
shifts in technology, as a result of policy incentives, or because someone tried to do it.
Engineers, regulators, and planners ten years ago claimed that it would be impossible to
have more than 20 percent wind on any electric system because the system could not
managetheresourcevariabilityandmightcollapse.IntheUnitedStates,severalstateshave
moved beyond the 20 percent mark, with the state of Iowa leading with 27.4 percent of the
state's electricity generated from wind (AWEA 2014 ) . In the EU, similarly high penetration
of wind power has been reached in several parts of Denmark and Germany.