Double-Edged Sword: GEoogle Energy Partnership

• Looks like a GE/Google energy partnership is all but confirmed at this point.  Steve Fludder, GE’s VP of Ecomagination division, told E2T yesterday that not only are they in data related talks, they’re even discussing a commercial product.
• He went on to ambiguously describe that the product could be an energy data management service they would offer to utilities or even extend to consumers in a web-based form.
• Fludder also explained that at this point, all topics are simply discussions.  Considering Google’s recent PowerMeter announcements and GE being one of the world’s largest smart meter producers, I think the deal might have some serious grounds.
• This, however, raises a few fundamental questions regarding the consumer’s right to access energy data.  Google’s always promoted the open access of information, and energy data is no different.  The problem is, many of the utilities GE’s dealt with for years aren’t nearly as progressive as Google in this sense.  This provides for quite a double-edged sword because what could possibly be the most promising joint effort towards the smart-grid could be dramatically hindered by stubborn utilities unwilling to adopt up-to-date open standards.  What happens if the utilities won’t allow their customers to control their energy data?  Will this cause direct hang-ups and delays in the overall smart grid implementation effort?
• What will happen is yet to come, but we can be sure that if this team up does produce a product, it’s sure to be impressive.  Stay tuned for updates.

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