Presentation for a training contract interview with Vinson & Elkins, a US law firm in London, UK.

1. Smart meters and smart grids
THIS IS AN EXAMPLE PRESENTATION FROM A
SECOND ROUND TRAINING CONTRACT INTERVIEW
WITH A LEADING US LAW FIRM
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2.  Smart energy is about enabling
consumers to use energy more
efficiently, through smart meters
and smart buildings.
 Making smarter use of energy
infrastructure (so-called smart
grids and smart cities)
 Smart meters and smart grids are
components of smart energy
concept.
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3.  reduce emissions;
 produce, distribute and use energy
as efficiently and economically as
possible
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4.  The roll out of smart meters will
play an important role in Britain’s
transition to a low-carbon
economy.
 Consumers will have real time
information on their energy
consumption to help them control
and manage their energy use, save
money and reduce emissions.
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5.  In Great Britain, the rollout of
smart meters will be a stepping
stone to the development of local
smart grids.
 The consumption of electricity
varies considerably from hour to
hour, with peaks at certain times of
day. Network capacity needs to be
available to accommodate energy
flows at these peak times.
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6.  By monitoring energy consumption
in real-time, utilities will be able to
even out the flow of energy and
reduce the peaks.
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7.  Enel manages 32 million
customers.
 Supply is by-the-hour tariff and
allows customers to tailor the
contract to suit the way they use
electricity.
 Enel reported:
 about Euro 500m in savings per
year with a 5 year payback period
and a 16 per cent internal rate of
return.
 The pioneering Enel programme is
a great benchmark.
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8.  Integrating renewable energy
(which has a less predictable
output than fossil fuel)
 A more reliable and secure supply
(greater cross-border flows of
electricity will be possible over
longer distances)
 Reduce overall emissions
 Improve competition
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9.  Energy smart meters are a threat
to privacy.
 Smart meters will be used to track
much more than energy
consumption unless proper
safeguards are introduced. (‘spies
in home’)
 Some countries are proposing to
centralise data collection in a
specialist body, anticipating the
sheer complexity of the task
ahead.
 The UK government, for example,
proposes a single provider to take
on the role, overseen by the
independent industry regulator.
‘gold standard’
 A new EU update of the 1995 Data
Protection Directive is expected. It
is already clear that a tougher data
privacy regime is on the way.
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10.  Technology companies that want
to move into smart energy will
rightly wish to protect their own
intellectual property.
 There is a risk that ‘patent thickets’
(overlapping patents) will spring up
and choke the landscape.
 In patent thickets, the number and
scope of patents owned by all the
players in the industry increase
transaction costs and barriers to
entry for everyone.
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11.  There is concern that ‘patent wars’
may break out and that
opportunistic companies are sitting
on patents they have no intention
of using themselves, but will
license them.
 The courts have become
increasingly willing to recognise
and help to address patent
thickets. They are now beginning
to address questions of when
licensing is mandatory and how to
fix-whole portfolio royalties in
these circumstances.
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