If you attended last week’s Smart Grid Summit in Miami, I hope this article captures the essence of what you saw, and for everyone else, what you missed. The weather wasn’t the only factor keeping people away, but for those who made the trip, the warm sun made up for the mess some of you endured to get there. What are the odds that getting to Miami in February from Dallas would be tougher (impossible, actually) than Toronto? But, that’s exactly what happened. Too bad I didn’t follow that logic and put my money on Green Bay, but as a Pats fan, let’s just say I’m happy with the outcome.

Back to the summit. Everyone at the ITEXPO had to deal with a drop in attendance due to the weather, but we also had our share of last-minute speaker cancellations for the same reason. However the show must go on, and I ended up fronting several presentations on behalf the missing speakers. Starting the summit with an opening keynote was Mark Armentrout, president of the Texas Institute. Mark prepared a strong overview of the Internet’s evolution, and how it is poised to drive growth with smart grid. More important, though, was his cautionary message about the hype leading up to the Internet bubble and subsequent crash, and how that pattern could repeat itself with smart grid. Point taken.

Our morning panels were built around a big theme in smart grid – security. First was a session on cybersecurity, followed by a panel on personal privacy. Pretty strong stuff here, and the gravity of these topics was matched by our speakers. Leading the cybersecurity session was all-around good guy Larry Karisny of WirelessWall, along with speakers Tony Flick of FYRM Associates and Christopher Gorog of Atmel (News - Alert) Corp. Karisny has a strong background in this space, and cited extensive sources to document the threats, all of which were reinforced by Flick and Gorog’s technical expertise.

Equally interesting was personal privacy, a topic I feel especially strong about. I think utilities have a long way to go, not just to educate customers about how privacy and smart grid intersect, but also to develop clear policies and transparent boundaries for both sides of the equation. Karisny moderated this session, and was joined by the esteemed Cullen Jennings from Cisco (News - Alert), return speaker, Ward Pyles, from Southern Company (they definitely get it) and another turn from Gorog.

The afternoon continued at this high level with a keynote from Dr. Massoud Amin from the University of Minnesota (where the weather was clear and sunny – go figure). As noted in previous postings, Dr. Amin is known as the “father of smart grid,” and his keynote made a clear case for the need to build a stronger and more secure national grid. The cost for this infrastructure is pretty modest considering the future benefits, as well as the current state of the grid.

His research estimates the investment level needed is about $10 billion a year over 10+ years. However, he also estimates savings at comparable levels based on improved efficiencies, making this a cost-neutral program. Added to this are considerable savings from reduced outages along with lower carbon emissions. As strong as this story is, he concluded with a more sobering message about the need for leadership to make it happen, which we all know is the biggest challenge facing smart grid.

Following Dr. Amin was our session on transmission and distribution (T&D). We could easily build a whole track around this, so we just scratched the surface here. Joining me was Rudi Schubert of EnerNex, Tom Mazzone of Telcordia (News - Alert) (both companies spoke at our last summit) and a reprise from Christopher Gorog. This session was followed by two keynotes, each with a pair of speakers. First was a presentation featuring an emerging technology – an open source platform to securely manage smart grid applications such as meter data management, SCADA, outage management, etc. This topic was covered by Roxy Podlogar of Green Energy Corp. and Doug DePeppe of i2IS.

Changing gears, the next keynote featured an update on NARUC’s Smart Grid Working Group. We were fortunate to have two high profile public officials on hand for this: Maureen Harris of the New York State Public Service Commission and Orjiakor Isiogu, NARUC Commissioner. If you wanted to hear about the need for utilities to work together on an industry-wide basis to facilitate consumer adoption of smart grid, this was the place to be.

Day one wrapped up with a session on Green IT and data centers. The focus here was to explore some of the key issues facing enterprises, especially around energy-intensive data centers. Leading this session was Joy Rychlik of Nokia Siemens, who is based in Toronto with me. Her speakers were Charles O’Donnell of Liebert AC Power, Kyle McNamara of Verizon (News - Alert) Business and Henry Bailey of SAP America.  A diverse mix for a diverse topic, and as you must know, the challenges here for utilities are much different than those for their residential customers.

As you can see, we covered a lot of ground in day one, and I’ll continue the thread tomorrow with a recap of day two. If any of you attended, you’re welcome to share your thoughts with us in the Comments section below.