The literal meaning of the expression “The King is Dead – Long Live the King is that the king has died, and it is hoped that the new king will live a long time. But the reasoning for the statement goes deeper. A speedy succession, to the throne was needed to avoid a power vacuum and prevent chaos and social unrest so the moment one king died; the next-in-line was declared king instantly. Reflecting on what has happened in the Smart Grid business over the last two years this expression does strike a chord, the business is of course not dead, but it clearly has not yet fully delivered against expectations and is stagnating. It is vital that a practical solution is found. There is a major dilemma out there because the “King” substitute for Utilities now needs to operate within a distributed framework losing some authority, whilst at the same time being expected to […]