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Current News
Home Energy Management Moving Past Early Phase
May 16, 2012
To date, the HEM market has been stuck in
near neutral as both skittish utilities and a glut of vendor solutions have failed to convince
unmotivated consumers. There have been numerous trials but only a few cases of
industry-led deployments or consumers voluntarily taking up the cause. Today, however, that view is
starting to change. Over the next 8 years, this nascent market will move past its early
phase and witness significant growth.
[ more ]
McAfee Collaborates with Intel to Protect Critical Infrastructure
May 16, 2012
The two companies have provided a blueprint for a comprehensive solution of multiple products that are intended to create layers of security and operate together without great complexity or without impacting availability.
[ more ]
Delta Products Corporation Awarded Grant for EV Charging Infrastructure
May 16, 2012
The research project will develop smart-grid enabled residential electric vehicle chargers over the next 3 years that will allow the quick deployment of charging infrastructure for plug-in electric vehicles. Delta will work in conjunction with their partners The Detroit Edison Company, Mercedes Benz R&D North America, and kVA to develop a working demonstration system.
[ more ]
Metadigm Services Upgrades Meter Reprogramming
May 16, 2012
"Most of today's early generation smart meters can be upgraded if you have the right systems in place," says Matt Heath, Area Vice President at Metadigm's testing and warehouse operations facility in Covington, Ga.
[ more ]
Smart Grid Security: Bolted On, Not Baked In
May 15, 2012
"It is far too expensive to entirely replace the legacy grid components with the newer 'smarter' elements, so there will still be a fairly substantial base of analog, electromechanical and 'old' or 'dumb' devices in the grid," says Patrick Miller, president and CEO of EnergySec. "Securing this breadth of historic and future technology will be our greatest challenge for the security profession in the electric sector."
[ more ]
Hertz On Demand and IBM Lead On Smart Charging Initiative For Electric Vehicles
May 15, 2012
Initially the electric cars provided by Hertz will be charged using decentralized generation of electricity on the IBM campus. The charging stations will be operated with IBM software that optimizes the usage of generated power by renewable energies. Furthermore, the software is designed to balance demand and availability of electricity power to prevent load peaks.
[ more ]
WPPI Energy Selects Elster's Advanced Metering Solution
May 15, 2012
WPPI Energy will deploy Elster's EnergyAxis solution to create a hosted advanced metering infrastructure system designed to improve customer service and meter reading for participating member utilities.
[ more ]
Capacity of Planned or Operating Microgrids Now Totals More Than 2.5 Gigawatts Worldwide
May 10, 2012
In the past, it was safe to say that the majority of microgrid projects were pilot projects and/or research-related experiments. This perception
is slowly fading away. With the adoption of the
IEEE islanding standards P1547.4 in July 2011, the shift from pilot validation projects to
fully commercial projects accelerated, as evidenced by the large jump in planned,
proposed and operating grid-tied microgrids in North America.
[ more ]
NTS Creates Smart Suite Certification Testing for Smart Energy Devices
May 9, 2012
NTS has worked with numerous utilities in the validation of smart energy devices, such as in-home displays, smart thermostats, and energy service portals. NTS, during its testing of various devices, has identified specific areas in which standard smart energy certification testing is lacking, but which utilities deem vital to products rolled out in their smart grid networks.
[ more ]
Research To Examine Impact of the Smart Grid on the Connected Home
May 9, 2012
The Continental Automated Buildings Association's (CABA's) Smart Grid Working Group, under the Connected Home Council (CHC), is currently examining the deployment of the residential smart grid, and the implications on market prospects for connected home solutions.
[ more ]
S&C Works With McAffee to Enhance Security of Smart Grid Controls
May 9, 2012
S&C Electric Company recently announced an agreement to bundle application control software from McAfee into S&C's PC-based control platforms. The bundling is intended to allow S&C to enhance the security and protection of its control platforms that use commercial, off-the-shelf operating systems.
[ more ]
Ventyx Closes Network Control Deals in Latin America
May 8, 2012
Ventyx recently announced it has signed multimillion dollar deals with two leading Latin American power companies -- CDEC-SIC in Chile and UTE in Uruguay. At each utility, Ventyx will provide a control center solution for the management of electric networks using the company's SCADA/Energy Management System (EMS) solution.
[ more ]
Global Smart Cities Market worth $1 Trillion by 2016
May 7, 2012
The overall smart cities market -- valued at $526.3 billion in 2011 -- is forecasted to grow double-fold to $1,023.4 billion by 2016, at a CAGR of 14.2% for the period 2011 to 2016. Among all application segments, smart energy or energy management is seen as the fastest growing market with an impressive CAGR of 28.7%, expanding to $80.7 billion by 2016.
[ more ]
Elster, Itron, Landis+Gyr, NICT and Silver Spring Networks Drive Adoption of IEEE 802.15.4g
May 7, 2012
The standard, published on April 28, 2012 is considered to be an important fundamental standard for the large-scale networks that characterize the smart grid. The standard's baseline specifications for wireless communications are intended to allow millions of devices to interoperate with each other in mesh, star, point-to-point, or any other topology.
[ more ]
G3-PLC Alliance Gains Momentum in Smart Grid Arena
May 7, 2012
The ITU recently approved the G3-PLC protocol as a low-frequency, OFDM-based narrowband powerline communications (NB-PLC) standard. The G3-PLC is the first NB-PLC standard that supports the IPv6 Internet protocol, and is intended to allow new internet-based energy management systems for use by utilities and grid operators.
[ more ]
Mahindra Satyam Enhances Relationship with Symantec to Collaborate on Security Solutions for Smart Grid
May 4, 2012
The relationship is intended to leverage Symantec's smart grid solutions for control center security, data control and management, as well as system and device security, while utilizing Mahindra Satyam's experience in deploying and managing smart grid solutions.
[ more ]
FERC-NERC Staff Report on September 2011 Blackout Calls for Improved Planning
May 3, 2012
A joint FERC-NERC staff report on the Sept. 8 blackout, issued after a nearly eight-month inquiry,
recommends that transmission operators and balancing authorities improve how they plan for operations to
account for the status of facilities outside their individual systems, the effect of external operations on their own
systems and how operation of transmission facilities under 100 kiloVolts (kV) can affect the reliability of the bulk
power system.
[ more ]
WEL Networks Selects Silver Spring Networks for Next-Generation Smart Grid Deployment
May 2, 2012
Silver Spring will provide its smart grid platform - including advanced metering, distribution automation and deployment. The first deployment phase of 10,000 customers has now been extended to 45,000 for the coming year.
[ more ]
Itron Finalizes Strategic Acquisition of SmartSynch
May 2, 2012
The acquisition is intended to strengthen Itron's cellular communications offering and bring greater choice to utility customers across the spectrum of smart metering deployments.
[ more ]
Marked by Volatility, Concentrated Solar Power Market To More Than Double by 2020
May 2, 2012
The sector has been marked by volatility since the technology began to experience a revival in 2004, and that up-and-down movement is likely to persist through the remainder of the decade as the price of rival photovoltaic modules continues its dramatic decline.
[ more ]
PwC Outlines Key Strategies to Drive Customer Adoption of Smart Grid
April 30, 2012
PricewaterhouseCoopers today released the findings from a survey of 900 utility customers in the Midwest as well as follow up focus groups, which explores how customers use energy, how smart grid technology will affect their everyday lives and how much they expect to embrace products and services related to the smart grid in the next few years. One key take away: customers are not mandated to use smart grid products, and therefore the success of a utility company's smart grid program depends on the customers' willingness to participate. To help generate that interest, utilities must become more effective marketers.
[ view press release ]
Online Conference To Examine Communication and Network Management Advances for the Smart Grid
April 30, 2012
Organized by The Smart Grid Observer, the one-day online event is set to examine communication technology advances and network management applications
for the smart grid. Presenting organizations include OG&E, Capgemini, IBM, Cisco Systems, Illinois Rural Electric Cooperative, EPRI, and others.
[ more ]
Wiznucleus Collaborates with Microsoft for Critical Infrastructure Cyber Security Software
April 30, 2012
Through its commitment to the Microsoft Smart Energy Reference Architecture (SERA), Wiznucleus has developed advanced software for tracking complex cyber security compliance requirements in nuclear power plants, distributed control systems (DCS), power generation plants, and utilities.
[ more ]
GSGF Report Examines Key Challenges and Opportunities for the Smart Grid
April 27, 2012
According to a new report from the Global Smart Grid Federation (GSGF), the most difficult challenge to a successful smart grid lies in winning consumer support. Without it, the smart grid cannot exist and it cannot deliver its promised benefits. The smart grid does yield important benefits for consumers, but they come at a significant cost and, at
the individual level, the need for these benefits may feel less immediate.
[ download report ]
Aclara Demand Response Management System Selected By Twin Valleys Public Power District
April 27, 2012
This is the second public power district to commit to Aclara's DRMS since the solution was launched earlier this year. Three weeks ago, Cuming County Public Power District (CCPPD), also in Nebraska, announced plans to roll out the Aclara DRMS. The DRMS serves municipal, cooperative and investor-owned utilities.
[ more ]
Essent and Tendril Partner on Smart Energy Crowdsourcing Project
April 27, 2012
The project will use the Tendril Connect cloud platform to link some of Essent's smart meter-enabled residential customers with web and mobile application developers from around the world. The app developers will use Tendril APIs to access rich interval usage data from energy meters and create innovative consumer apps for the program participants.
[ more ]
Energy and Environment: The Big Three Predictions by Frost & Sullivan
April 26, 2012
Based on a survey of several thousand companies conducted in December 2011, Frost & Sullivan has released its three big predictions for 2012 for the global energy and environment market: Industrial convergence, smart technology and distributed generation will be the key topics in 2012 and beyond.
[ more ]
G3-PLC Recommended as Communication Standard for Japanese Smart Meter to HEMS
April 26, 2012
G3-PLC was recently established as an ITU communications standard and used as the basis for the IEEE 1901.2 PLC standard. The protocol is already approved for use in neighborhood area network (NAN) and HAN applications in various countries, including the U.S., France, Spain, Taiwan, and the Netherlands.
[ more ]
Opelika Partners With The Motive Group for Deployment of Smart Grid and Broadband Services
April 26, 2012
The city of Opelika recently announced it has chosen to partner with The Motive Group to build what it sees as an advanced and future proof smart grid infrastructure by deploying an all-fiber network. The intention is to enable very low latency for smart grid applications now and in the future, and benefitting Opelika Power Services electric customers beyond the foreseeable future.
[ more ]
Report Examines Growth in Enterprise Smart Grid Sector
April 25, 2012
Enterprise smart grid is the integration of submetering, hardware and software by organizations that seek visibility, control and management of their energy consumption. According to Groom Energy's research, the new market represents a $5.2B industry within the U.S., and is growing at 40 percent per year.
[ more ]
Neul Launches World's First City-Wide White Space Network
April 25, 2012
Neul's network builds upon the successful completion of the first phase of the Cambridge White Space Consortium's network, also announced today. The Consortium's phase one network used Neul's equipment and cloud interface, together with the Weightless communications standard, to demonstrate that its white space network co-exists with televisions and wireless microphones without causing interference or disruption.
[ more ]
Alstom's Integrated DMS Selected for Maui Smart Grid Project
April 25, 2012
Alstom's integrated distribution management system will be integrated with smart grid data to provide Maui Electric Company's dispatchers with enhanced visibility into their distribution grid operations and control over distributed energy resources.
[ more ]
New IEEE Standard and Development Activities For Smart Grid
April 24, 2012
IEEE recently announced the publication of a new standard -- as well as the launch of three new standards-development activities -- designed to enhance the communications and distribution-automation capabilities of the smart grid globally.
[ more ]
E.ON UK Chooses Elster For Gas and Electricity Smart Metering Deployment
April 24, 2012
E.ON will deploy up to 100,000 Elster smart meters in residential properties by the end of 2012, with up to 200,000 more being installed in 2013 under the terms of a two-year contract.
[ more ]
Arista Power Selects GE's Nickel Salt Battery for Power On Demand System
April 24, 2012
The system is designed to reduce electricity demand charges, which are based on a customer's peak power demand and can account for up to 30% to 70% of a commercial electric bill. The system utilizes energy generated by wind turbines, solar PV, the electric grid, and other power sources in conjunction with a custom-designed battery storage system and proprietary real-time demand monitoring technology.
[ more ]
GE Energy Launches Complete Electric Vehicle Charging Platform
April 24, 2012
The solution is designed to allow WattStation owners to manage charging stations remotely, giving them the ability to manage and set customer pricing for EV charging, provide access control at their facilities, generate reports and engage with customers in new ways.
[ more ]
Southern California Edison Supports CPUC Decision on Smart Meters
April 20, 2012
The CPUC's final decision requires customers who opt out of the program to pay a $75 one-time set-up fee and a $10 recurring monthly charge. The cost covers manual meter-reading and associated operational and billing activities.
[ more ]
Aclara Selected for MDM and Consumer Engagement Projects
April 20, 2012
Lafayette Utilities System, which provides electric, water, wastewater, and telecommunications services to approximately 62,000 electric customers and 52,000 water customers in Lafayette, La., will implement the Aclara meter data management system, while Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation in Lenoir, N.C., will deploy the company's consumer engagement and its MDM platforms.
[ more ]
Energy Department Report Finds Major Potential to Increase Hydroelectric Power
April 20, 2012
The report analyzes more than 54,000 specific sites that could be developed to generate additional hydroelectric power. The results indicate that, if fully developed, the nation's non-powered dams could provide enough energy to power over four million households.
[ more ]
Revenue from Virtual Power Plants To Reach $5.3 Billion by 2017
April 19, 2012
VPP capacity will increase by 65% between 2011 and 2017, rising from 55.6 gigawatts (GW) to 91.7 GW worldwide during that period, according to a recent report from Pike Research. Under a more aggressive forecast scenario, worldwide revenue for VPPs could reach $6.5 billion in 2017.
[ more ]
Record-High Customer Satisfaction for Energy Utilities
April 18, 2012
Six consecutive years of customer satisfaction improvement for electric and natural gas service providers make 2012 a record breaker for the energy utility sector, according to a report released recently by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Energy utilities jump 2.7% to an ACSI score of 76.7 on a scale of 0 to 100, the highest level seen since inaugural measurement in 1994.
[ more ]
PG&E Ranked as Nation's Top Utility for Solar Installations
April 18, 2012
Overall, utilities interconnected more than 62,000 photovoltaic (PV) systems of all sizes last year, according to SEPA's 2011 Utility Solar Rankings survey. These new systems resulted in almost 1,500 megawatts of new utility solar capacity, more than twice as much as was added in 2010. Both the number of systems and the amount of new capacity make solar electricity the fastest growing electric source in the U.S. in 2011.
[ more ]
Global Vendors To Account for a Growing Share of the Demand Response Market Over the Next Five Years
April 17, 2012
Large and global players -- including power product, equipment, and enterprise energy management vendors like ABB, Honeywell, Itron, Johnson Controls, Schneider Electric, and Siemens -- will play a growing and important role in this dynamic sector over the next five years. Addtionally, energy services companies like Constellation Energy, and major curtailment service providers like EnerNOC, will also gain increasing market share.
[ more ]
Stem Enters Energy Optimization Market with $10.2M in Venture Financing
April 17, 2012
Stem will use the funding to market a cloud-based energy optimization solution that it sees as radically transforming the economics of energy consumption in commercial businesses.
[ more ]
Trends in Americas Smart Grid Market Through 2020
April 16, 2012
U.S. to witness encouraging growth in smart meters, synchrophasors, and in-home displays markets according to a new report from GBI Research; downgrading of U.S. credit rating may hurt financing options for smart grid.
[ more ]
Ontario Launches Clean Energy Economic Development Strategy
April 16, 2012
The initiative will include establishing an Ontario Clean Energy Task Force to help broaden the province's energy focus by facilitating collaboration within Ontario's clean energy industry to identify export markets, marketing opportunities and approaches to demonstrate advanced clean energy systems.
[ more ]
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