Smart grid technology is set to be rolled out across Bermuda in the near future with Belco driving the revolution to harness the power of energy using the latest cutting edge technology.

At the forefront of this move is Christian Blais, Belco's vice-president of IT, who will be giving a presentation on smart grid technology at the HP Executive Conference held in Dubai next week.

The latest energy phenomenon is one of the biggest issues currently facing the world and impacts everything from the economy to healthcare and the provision of food.

It has become even more important following the recent Deepwater Horizon oil platform disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the issues affecting oil supply in the Middle East and the bleak message on global warming and climate change from former US presidential candidate Al Gore's film 'An Inconvenient Truth'.

Mr. Blais will be speaking on the preparations needed to be taken by a utility to get ready for launching a smart grid, with a focus on coping with the overload of information it faces when first setting up the system.

Smart grid technology is the integration of communications and power systems and involves the convergence of power systems engineering, communications technology and information technology to make use of the data.

Mr. Blais said the energy sector was presently in the early stages of deploying the new technology in a couple of jurisdictions, comprising the likes of smart metering.

"In Bermuda it is going to mean slightly different things," he said.

"We are pursuing efficiencies that are really going to make the grid more reliable, sustainable, and ultimately more effective."

He said that it was about initially drawing up a strategy for which technologies to implement first through looking at sub-stations, carrying out remote switching and gathering more information in order to make informed operational decisions, with Belco poised to start smart metering later this year.

Mr. Blais was approached by HP to give the presentation after the company heard an interview he did with Cisco Systems in November, which was subsequently made available as a podcast, having originally held several meetings with Cisco 18 months ago to see how it could get involved in smart grid technology and to help its sales service staff when talking to energy managers and IT people and knowledge share with its customers and the wider community about the subject.

"HP heard that and felt that I had some perspective in Bermuda that could be shared on a broader stage," he said.

"The conference is really an opportunity to compare notes with other utilities and experts in other environments and hear what they are doing and what the environmental and technological changes are.

"We all operate in different geographies in terms of size, wealth "We all operate in different geographies in terms of size, wealth and regulation because we don't compete, so we are quite open on sharing information and collaborating a lot on different issues, particularly Bermuda's case between utilities in the US, Canada and the Caribbean. The conference will really be another extension of that and hopefully there will be the chance to learn more about what is happening in Europe, the Middle East and Asia."

Mr. Blais said that smart grid technology was ground-breaking area of development, with a huge amount of interest in energy security and the field being ripe for automation and innovation, allied to an array of green and energy efficient initiatives, such as the $4.5 million set aside in Troubled Asset Relief Program by the US government to fund the technology and more money expected to follow.

"It is all about how we make use of the data and how we efficiently manage such an abundance of data and how we derive business value from it," he said.

"I think the Bermuda consumer is becoming more savvy in matters of technology and being a small environment they have always had a keen eye for sustainable living, with energy being a big part of that."

The 10th annual conference brings together senior executives from across the energy industry to listen to a number of presentations and collaborate on a range of topical matters. The event will feature an impressive line-up, including Dr. Anil Gupta, the INSEAD chaired Professor of strategy - France and Singapore, Dr. Gabrielle Walker, co-author with the UK chief scientist Sir David King of the bestselling book, 'The Hot Topic', which puts business strategy in its international context for dealing with the energy crisis and climate change, and Dr. Peter Hartwell, master engineer at HP labs.