Smart Grid Blog

Appliance manufacturer Whirlpool has received $19.3 million in U.S. Department of Energy funding as part of its Smart Grid Investment Grant program, the company announced Thursday.

Whirlpool, which markets appliances under the brand names Whirlpool, Maytag, KitchenAid, Jenn-Air, Amana, Brastemp, Consul, and Bauknecht, joins General Electric in what seems to be a quest for designing the most well-behaved appliances.

via Whirlpool wants to pull plug on ‘dumb’ appliances | Appliances & Kitchen Gadgets – CNET Blogs.

Could Smart Grid, the Obama Administration’s effort to modernize the nation’s electric grid, be the killer app for IPv6?

Q&A: Why IP is the right choice for Smart Grid

That’s what Internet engineers are asking as they see billions of dollars in stimulus funds pumped into smart electric meters, automated utility substations and new sensors networks – all of which could take advantage of the abundant address space and built-in security offered by IPv6, the long-anticipated upgrade to the Internet’s main communications protocol.

via Will Smart Grid power IPv6? – Network World.

Viridity Energy, a virtual power generation company that transforms large energy consumers into 24/7 virtual power plants, issued a statement around today`s visit by U.S. Secretary of Energy Chu to PECO headquarters following Tuesday`s U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announcement of smart grid investment grant awards via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). As part of the $200 million grant awarded to PECO for “integrating and crosscutting across different `smart` components of the smart grid,” Viridity Energy as a project partner will receive $1.179 million to support the implementation of smart grid technologies through its partnership with Drexel University.

via Viridity Energy Congratulates PECO on Smart Grid Advances and ARRA Stimulus Funding | Reuters.

Leaders in the energy and utility industries are coming together at a Spatial Roundtable to discuss the smart grid. Hosted by ESRI, the online discussion features timely topics as they relate to geographic information system (GIS) technology. ESRI’s director of utility solutions, Bill Meehan, kicks off the smart grid conversation by posing important logistical questions and sharing practical answers.

via Spatial Roundtable Opens Smart Grid Questions to Energy and GIS Communities | Reuters.

The economic impact of nearly $170 million spent to bring high tech energy service to Michigan over the next two years will provide jobs and needed spending in Michigan’s economy, said Anthony F. Earley, Jr., DTE Energy chairman and CEO.

Earley was joined at a news conference today by Edward Montgomery, executive director, White House Council on Auto Communities and Workers, who touted the latest round of grants under the federal economic stimulus program. DTE Energy will receive $83 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to accelerate its SmartCurrents program over the next two years. The grant will be matched by DTE Energy and its technology partners.

via DTE Energy, White House Tout Economic Impact of Smart Grid Grants | Reuters.

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the “U.S. Smart Grid: Market Layers/Technologies/Players, 18 Demonstration Projects and Future Outlook” report to their offering. The U.S. electric power grid is a heavily regulated and largely utility-owned infrastructure carrying electricity from power plants to homes and businesses.

via Research and Markets: U.S. Smart Grid: Market Layers/Technologies/Players, 18 Demonstration Projects and Future Outlook Includes Capsule Profiles of More Than 70 Companies | Reuters.

Proposals from chip designer Intellon Corp. and white goods giant Whirlpool were among the 100 selected Tuesday (Oct 27) to share $34 billion in federal funds to accelerate deployment of smart electric grids.

Intellon will receive nearly $5 million to help fund the design of a low cost powerline networking chip for use in smart meters and in-home devices. Whirlpool will get $19 million to design and deploy a million networked clothes dryers that can respond to fluctuations in grid demand and pricing.

via Embedded.com – NEWS – Intellon, Whirlpool snag smart grid grants.

OG&E announced today it has entered into agreements with General Electric Energy (GE) and Silver Spring Networks to handle key aspects of its Positive Energy®( )Smart Grid Program to begin with full deployment in Norman, Okla. next year. The program is the next step in OG&E’s initiative to use smart grid technology to provide customers with more information to help manage their energy use and save money, without compromising their lifestyles. It also will help OG&E maintain reasonable electricity rates and continue highly reliable delivery of electricity to its customers.

via OG&E Selects GE Energy and Silver Spring Networks for Smart Grid Program | Reuters.

On Nov. 18 and 19, VentureBeat will be hosting its inaugural GreenBeat conference, the premier executive summit on the Smart Grid this season. One of its major goals: To spotlight the brilliant technology only now emerging to mold a cleaner, more efficient electrical grid on the global level. And that’s what the GreenBeat 2009 Innovation Competition is all about.

Right now, we’re still calling for applications — from startups, big business and research institutions. If you are working on an idea that could disrupt the way we think about the grid today, then we want you in the running. The deadline to submit an application is Nov. 4. There’s still plenty of time.

via GreenBeat Innovation Competition: Calling all killer Smart Grid apps! | VentureBeat.

The ZigBee® Alliance, a global ecosystem of companies creating wireless solutions for use in energy management, commercial and consumer applications, congratulates its members who were selected to receive funding for their Smart Grid efforts as part of the United States American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. ZigBee Alliance members received a total of $478,823,415, representing a total investment of more than $1.2 billion in smart grid programs with ZigBee Smart Energy as the standard for home area networks.

Individual ZigBee members received between $4 million and $200 million dollars for their Smart Grid projects.

via ZigBee Alliance Members Awarded Nearly $500 Million From U.S. Smart Grid.

Landis+Gyr today announced the commercial availability of its next generation ecoMeter(TM) energy monitor for the North American market. The ecoMeter P250 is a pocket-sized display that connects wirelessly to the consumer’s electric meter to continuously report energy use and cost.

Designed for convenient placement anywhere in the home, the ecoMeter uses short-range radio signals to communicate with qualified advanced meters using the ZigBee Smart Energy Profile. In addition to current energy consumption, the monitor stores and reports historical energy use, cost of power — including up to four time-of-use cost tiers — and uses color coded alerts when energy use goes above average (or “normal”) consumption.

via Landis+Gyr Releases Next Generation ecoMeter In-Home Energy Monitor | Reuters.

The Mid-Columbia’s future could be as a smart energy center, says the first public look at plans being developed by a coalition of area business leaders led by the Tri-City Development Council.

One opportunity to do that may be by launching a carbon-friendly project to reduce the 45,000 gallons of diesel that the Hanford vitrification plant could require per day when it begins treating radioactive waste, said Gary Petersen, TRIDEC vice president of Hanford programs.

via Mid-Columbia could be smart energy center.

The US$3.4 billion in grant awards are part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, and will be matched by industry funding for a total public-private investment worth over $8 billion.

Speaking at Florida Power and Light’s (FPL) DeSoto next generation solar energy center, Obama’s announcement will set in motion the largest single energy grid modernisation investment in US history – in the form of 100 Smart Grid Grant awards funding a broad range of technologies in multiple States that will “spur the nation’s [USA] transition to a smarter, stronger, more efficient and reliable electric system”.

via Renewable Energy Focus – Obama announces US$3.4 billion to spur transition to US smart energy grid.

Secretary of Energy Steven Chu awarded $200 million to PECO and its project partners as part of a stimulus grant in order to develop smart grid technology in the Philadelphia area. Drexel University and Viridity Energy, partners in PECO’s smart grid initiatives, were also recognized in the grant.

According to Dennis O’Brien, president and CEO of PECO, the energy company plans to install smart meters for its 1.6 million customers in order to better manage energy resources and curtail energy production in accordance with Pennsylvania’s Act 129, which requires energy companies to reduce their customers’ consumption by 1 percent in 2011 and by 3 percent in 2013.

via PECO receives $200 mil. – News.

Alliant Energy Corporation’s (NYSE: LNT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) Wisconsin Power and Light Company subsidiary (WPL) has been awarded an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Smart Grid Investment Grant Program.

The announced $3.2 million Distribution Automation grant involves WPL’s implementation of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) technology throughout its service territory. Specifically, this grant will allow WPL to make its existing infrastructure more efficient and reduce the need for equipment upgrades as the company continues its Smart Grid efforts.

via LNT Alliant Energy: Alliant Energy receives federal stimulus money to further Smart Grid efforts in Wisconsin.