|
Current News
Georgia Power Adds New Biomass Capacity
May 22, 2013
Georgia Power recently announced that it has added 53.5 megawatts of new biomass capacity to the company's generation portfolio. The addition of the biomass capacity is made possible through a 20-year purchase power agreement with Rollcast Energy, Inc., under which Georgia Power will receive all generation output of the newly completed Piedmont Green Power plant, located in Barnesville, Ga.
[ more ]
AT&T To Provide Duck River Electric with Smart Grid Package
May 22, 2013
Duck River Electric Membership Corporation (DREMC) is the fourth largest electric cooperative in Tennessee, serving approximately 71,000 members, and is among the top 5% of electric cooperatives in the United States.
[ more ]
Report Examines Smart Grid Cloud Solutions
May 21, 2013
According to a new report from Zpryme Research, the market for cloud solutions for utilities will experience dynamic growth over the next 8-10 years, with an average annual growth rate of 25%. Growth will be moderate in the short-term, primarily led by North America and Europe, and accelerated later by Asia Pacific, which has been slower to adopt cloud services.
[ more ]
Mitsubishi Electric to Enhance Global Smart Meter Business through Collaboration with Echelon
May 21, 2013
Mitsubishi's new smart meters will incorporate grid-sensing and communication technologies based on Echelon's OGSP and its Networked Energy Services (NES) software as well as Mitsubishi Electric's proprietary sensing and metering technologies.
[ more ]
Eos Energy Storage Raises $15 Million
May 21, 2013
Eos’s Aurora energy storage product is designed to help utilities operate more efficiently and create savings for consumers by time-shifting peak energy demand while providing greater resilience to the electricity grid. Eos will begin deploying the Aurora in 2014.
[ more ]
Renewable Energy Generation In Texas Up 7 Percent From 2011
May 20, 2013
At more than 32.5 million MWh in total generation, wind power continued to lead the pack, with solar generation representing the largest rate of growth, nearly quadrupling last year’s output, and energy from biomass sources more than doubling the 2011 total.
[ more ]
National Grid Unveils Future Home Of Sustainability Hub
May 20, 2013
The Hub is considered an integral part of the company’s smart grid pilot -- known as the Smart Energy Solutions Program -- for 15,000 customers who choose to participate.
[ more ]
U.S. Army and Lockheed Martin Commission Microgrid at Fort Bliss
May 17, 2013
The microgrid consists of onsite backup generation, a 120 kilowatt solar array, a 300 kilowatt energy storage system, utility grid interconnection and Lockheed Martin's Intelligent Microgrid Control System. The program now enters its demonstration phase, which is slated to continue through July.
[ more ]
More Than 1,300 Demand Response Programs Underway Worldwide
May 16, 2013
According to a new report from Navigant Research, at least 1,342 DR programs are now underway worldwide -- 95 percent of them in North America. Outside of the United States, there are only a few dozen of such schemes altogether, offered in just a few countries in Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East & Africa. However, access to DR resources is improving as a growing number of utilities and grid operators from around the globe adopt a demand management strategy.
[ more ]
ANSI Issues Standardization Roadmap for U.S. Electric Vehicle Deployment
May 15, 2013
Developed by representatives from more than 100 private- and public-sector organizations, the Standardization Roadmap aspires to maximize coordination among those developing standards for electric vehicles -- primarily plug-in electric vehicles (both battery-powered all-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids) -- and the charging infrastructure needed to support them.
[ more ]
Growth Forecast for BRICS Smart Grid Communications Market
May 15, 2013
In 2012, the combined smart grid communications market for BRICS nations reached $1.5 billion, according to a recent report by Zpryme Research. By 2020, the market among BRICS nations will reach $9.5 billion.
[ more ]
Itron Collaborates with Choice to Address Non-Technical Loss in Latin America
May 14, 2013
The joint solution is designed to help utilities quickly identify areas of non-technical loss in their service territory, delivering a high return on investment.
[ more ]
Largest Federal Wind Farm to Be Built by Siemens
May 14, 2013
The Pantex wind farm is expected to save an average of $2.9 million annually over the 20-year contract term. The installation will consist of five 2.3 megawatt turbines located on 1,500 acres of government-owned property east of the Pantex plant in Amarillo.
[ more ]
Distributed Generation to Drive Smart Grid Installation in Asia-Pacific
May 13, 2013
The smart grid market in Asia-Pacific has received a huge boost from the roll-out of advanced metering infrastructure in Australasia and smart city projects in North Asia. New analysis from Frost & Sullivan finds that the market earned approximately US$5.40 billion in 2012 and estimates this to reach US$15.83 billion in 2018.
[ more ]
Opower Launches Statewide Behavioral Energy Efficiency Program in Rhode Island
May 13, 2013
Based on behavioral science and data analytics, the program is designed to give customers tips and insight on how their energy usage compares to their neighbors, and how to increase energy efficiency. National Grid is the first utility to provide the program statewide.
[ more ]
Germany Taking Distributed Power Seriously
May 10, 2013
According to Memoori Research, a good example of a utility company taking the initiative on distributed power is RWE. The virtual power plant operated by Siemens and RWE, which went online in October 2008 as a pilot project, has been expanded with the merging of approximately 20MW of electrical generating capacity planned for the first year of operation (2012); which is to be increased tenfold to about 200 MW by the year 2015.
[ visit memoori blog ]
Microgrids for Military Bases to Surpass $377 Million in Annual Market Value by 2018
May 10, 2013
According to Navigant Research, U.S. military operations represent the largest consumer of all forms of
energy globally. Efforts by the U.S. DOD may be the most crucial push for the overall microgrid
market today, especially in terms of control approaches for these smart grid networks based on
a bottoms-up distributed model for its operational and tactical deployments of microgrid
technology.
[ more ]
New Alliance Launches Focused on Solar Choice
May 10, 2013
Most immediately, The Alliance for Solar Choice (TASC) will focus on ensuring the continuation of net energy metering (NEM). Currently in place in 43 states, NEM provides solar consumers with credit for the energy they put back on the grid, which utilities then sell to other customers.
[ more ]
Black & Veatch Report: Anxiety Levels Rising For Electric Industry Leaders
May 9, 2013
According to the annual study, most utilities are planning to start or expand smart grid programs in 2013. However, the industry continues to struggle with justifying program costs to regulators. Competing capital investment programs also represent a major challenge.
[ more ]
Tendril Selects National Technical Systems for Certification Test Lab
May 9, 2013
NTS will execute testing of smart energy devices from various third-party manufacturers to verify they function correctly with the Tendril Connect platform.
[ more ]
Ventyx Signs New Projects in Ecuador
May 7, 2013
TRANSELECTRIC, the utility operating Ecuador's transmission grid, and Ecuador's National Energy Control Center (CENACE), which manages the Ecuadorian wholesale electricity market, will upgrade to the latest Ventyx solution for energy management and wide-area monitoring to optimize the utilization of the country's generation and transmission network assets.
[ more ]
A123 Systems LLC Introduces A123 Energy Solutions
May 7, 2013
A123 Systems, LLC announced recently that its businesses focused on advanced batteries for electric grid, backup power and lead-acid replacements for commercial applications will be branded A123 Energy Solutions, combining the activities of several previous groups of A123 Systems.
[ more ]
Toshiba Selected as Supplier for TEPCO's Smart Meter Communication System
May 6, 2013
Toshiba will work as a prime contractor and system integrator, supplying the head end system, a management system for smart meter data communication, as well as concentrators. The company will incorporate global standards together with smart meter technology from Landis+Gyr AG, a subsidiary of Toshiba. It also will work closely together with NTT Group and NEC Corporation on the project.
[ more ]
Energy Department Offers $13 Million to Advance Ocean Energy Technologies
May 6, 2013
The Energy Department plans to select up to 10 awards aimed at developing advanced controls, power systems, and device structures specifically for marine and hydrokinetic (MHK) applications, which harness energy from waves, tides, or currents.
[ more ]
ComEd Makes Progress in Distribution Automation Deployment
May 1, 2013
ComEd installed more than 470 DA devices in 2012. Over the course of the 10-year grid modernization program, ComEd plans to increase the number of customers served by DA from 55 to nearly 90 percent. The utility invested a total of $32 million in the installation of DA in 2012 and is increasing the investment to over $44 million this year.
[ more ]
Smart Grid Deployment Handbook Released
April 30, 2013
The recently published handbook is a guide to increasing consumer confidence in smart meter deployments using an approach that has been developed and tested at several utilities including SDG&E, ComEd, and NV Energy. Developed by NV Energy under a grant with the U.S. Department of Energy's Smart Grid Investment Grant program, the handbook is designed to share some of the lessons learned by NV Energy about customer education, messaging, and marketing strategies related to large-scale smart meter deployments.
[ download publication ]
Eastern Interconnection Grid Planning Completes Transmission Analyses and Initiates Study of Gas-Electric Interface
April 30, 2013
The effort to analyze the interface between the natural gas delivery system and the electric transmission system has just begun and supplements the ongoing work of the EIPC. The natural gas study contemplates investigating the increasing reliance on natural gas for generating electricity. FERC, independent system operators, regional transmission organizations, market participants and several state regulatory commissions have raised concerns regarding the future ability of the natural gas infrastructure to meet the coincidental requirements of gas utilities and generators under various conditions, especially during the winter heating season.
[ more ]
Vehicle-to-Grid Technology Sells Power to PJM Grid
April 29, 2013
The University and NRG began work in September 2011 to move from research results to prepare to commercialize the technology, which provides a two-way interface between EVs and the power grid that enables vehicle owners to sell electricity back to the grid while they are charging their EVs. On Feb. 27, the project took a big step forward when it became an official participant in the PJM's frequency regulation market. Since then, the project has been selling power services from a fleet of EVs to PJM, whose territory has 60 million people in the 13 mid-Atlantic states.
[ more ]
ZigBee Alliance Completes Smart Energy Profile 2 Standard
April 29, 2013
SEP 2 is designed to provide IP-based information and control for energy management in Home Area Networks (HANs), for both wired and wireless networks. The standard is intended to support new capabilities such as control of plug-in and hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) charging, deployments in multi-dwelling units such as apartment buildings, support for multiple energy service interfaces into a single premises and support for any transport based on IETF IP compliant protocols such as the recently announced ZigBee IP.
[ more ]
Local Governments Support PSE&G's Proposed Upgrades
April 26, 2013
PSE&G's "Energy Strong" proposal would invest $3.9 billion in the utility's distribution system over 10 years to reduce the number and duration of power outages caused by severe weather. The proposal includes protecting more than 40 utility installations that were impacted by storm surges, adding backup distribution lines, making the electric grid smarter to help identify problems and facilitate service restoration, strategically burying some wires underground and modernizing the gas distribution system.
[ more ]
Toronto Hydro To Embrace Next-Generation Energy Management System
April 26, 2013
National Instruments has partnered with Prolucid LocalGrid Technologies to build a next-generation energy management system for Toronto Hydro-Electric System. Funded by nearly $2.5 million in grants from Canada's ecoENERGY Innovation Initiative and Ontario's Smart Grid Fund, the project takes advantage of distributed intelligence technology to manage renewable energy generated by the community onto the power grid.
[ more ]
|
|
|
|
|