CL&P and UI play a major role in
renewables, but technological advances
have threatened their business models
By Norman Bell
D
isruptive technology has become a fact
of life in business.
When technology changed the way
we watched TV and listened to music, Hollywood
sued and then adjusted its business model.
When mobile phones reshaped the market,
phone companies complained to regulators, shed
a lot of jobs, and adjusted their business model.
Now technological advances in distributed
energy have put long-time customers into com-
petition with utilities as they generate their
own power and redistribute it via the grid. It's a
whole new game.
vs.
Utilities
Renewables
Controller Julie
Leondaro and
co-owner Fred
Hunt use solar
panels to provide
all of Shagbark
Lumber's electric-
ity needs, but
the East Haddam
company still
needs the main
electric grid to buy
the firm's excess
renewable energy.
PhoTo | Pablo robles
24 CoNNECTICUT GREEN GUIDE • WinTer 2014 www.CTGreenGuide.com
