Dive Brief:

• Greentech Media has created a new moniker for where the action is in the electric utility industry: the grid edge.  
• Convinced that the term smart grid "is getting a bit long in the tooth," Greentech sees the grid edge as the place where a utility's technology vendors, regulators and end users will puzzle out the evolution of providing electricity from a centralized distribution network to a next-generation distributed energy system.
• Of special importance is the development of grid communications networks to support a new generation of meters and applications behind the meter.

Here is a diagram that depicts the grid edge, its opportunities and market segments. Click to enlarge.

Dive Insight: 

Greentech is launching a Grid Edge Executive Council, which includes Pacific Gas & Electric, San Diego Gas & Electric, IBM, GE Energy and Intel, that will meet several times a year on critical technologies and market developments. Only time will tell whether the grid edge will catch fire.