The smart grid is leading the power industry into a data and analytics boom as its implementation phase gives way to its value phase, according to Christine Richards, senior analyst with Energy Central's Utility Analytics Institute.

Richards defined the decade from 2000 to 2010 as the smart grid's development phase, the five-year period from 2007 to 2012 as the infrastructure, or implementation phase and the decade from 2010 to 2020 as the value phase.

In the value phase, grid…