Maybe.

On 60 Minutes last night, Bloombox described a fantastic new fuel cell powered generator that could be installed potentially in every home. If their claims are true and they achieve their price and performance targets, then Bloombox will result in a vast expansion of distributed generation. This substantially increases the need for and value of smart grid data management and transaction management software to monitor, manage, and control the grid. This is because utility planners will have much more difficulty in planning and operating the grid.

However, this is just as likely not to occur. The reason is basic economics. Even if Bloombox can achieve their price target of $3,000, that price is still higher than the cost for a utility to provide the same power plant using today’s technology (assuming a 3 kW Bloombox, the cost is $1,000 per kW; this is more than a Combined Cycle Combustion Turbine natural gas-fired power plant). If the Bloombox actually converts natural gas to electricity more efficiently than existing technology, there will still be scale economies by having larger units constructed and operated by utilities.

Finally, reliability is much higher for electricity from the grid. If I have a Bloombox in my basement and it fails, I am both out of power and faced with the need to get it fixed. My life is simply much easier, less expensive, and more reliable by taking power from the grid.

But they do have a great vision.