The fundamental shift that has taken place in environmental policies since 2007 will have a huge effect on the utilities market. Energy policies that were developed prior to this now need to be considered in relation to the new climate change and environmental realities - and for the ICT and energy industries this will involve checking government initiatives such as smart meters and national fibre telecoms networks against the new directions.
By 2009 some of CO2 policies such as the Cap and Trade system as well as policies in relation to renewable energy started to become clearer. Intensive lobbying aimed at risk aversion rather than at looking towards new opportunities, is making it more difficult to drive changes more through new technologies for renewable energy and for smart grids. It could well be that in the end clean energy policies driven by photovoltaics are going the be the catalyst for the development of smart grids
