Smart Grid Blog

Echoflex Solutions is proud to introduce the EEK200C Evaluation Kit. For only $149, integrators and OEMs can explore the breadth and performance of EnOcean wireless energy harvesting technologies within the context of their own buildings. Encapsulated in the kit are the building blocks critical to fully-integrated systems: energy generation, energy conditioning and storage, sensor power balance, low power timers and also a microprocessor for OEM custom development. These are the same components that have enabled automated energy management in more than 100,000 buildings worldwide. System integrators can simulate sensor applications in any environment without any programming or configuration.

via Echoflex.

The Business Spectator has a look at some of Google’s initiatives to transform the way we produce energy – Google’s search for smart power.

Most people expect there to be a transformation of the energy industry, but what if it turns out to be a total revolution?

Most talk focuses on a possible move to distributed rather than centralised power supplies, the introduction of smart grids and the replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy supplies such as wind, solar, marine and geothermal.

via Peak Energy: Google’s search for smart power.

China, one of the most polluted countries on Earth, “is already beating the U.S. to clean energy jobs,” gushes Tony Kreindler of the Environmental Defense Fund, and “is quickly becoming the global powerhouse in clean energy manufacturing and innovation, dwarfing the efforts of America.”

Guess whose fault that is?

via China: Bigger, badder and greener than the U.S.? | Washington Examiner.

Have you ever wondered what’s inside one of those gigantic wind turbines? Ever wondered how it works? First Wind, a North American wind energy company, has put together a video doing just that (and sent it to the Smart Energy Blog to share with our readers). Find out how wind energy works.

Click here to see the video on First Wind’s website.

They also have a great 360-degree visual from the top of one of these wind turbines overlooking the Maine countryside. Beautiful.

Click here to see this video.

Thanks First Wind and Captains of Industry for the videos!

A few years from now and the world might experience a change in the ways energy is being used and controlled. Thanks to the Bluetooth Special Interest Group’s (SIG) latest initiatives wireless technology is all set to expand its reach into the arena of smart electric grids to pave the way for clean energy.

via SIG’s Clean Energy Initiatives through Application of Bluetooth Technology to Smart Grid.

Most communications service providers (CSPs) are currently focused on offering backhaul communication solutions to utilities looking to delve into the smart grid, but that doesn’t mean they’re not equipped to offer more. According to Bill Ablondi, Parks Associates’ director of home systems, there’s room for telcos – amongst the IT companies and home-area network vendors – to carve a niche in remote energy management (REM), with or without the help of a utility.

via Defining telcos role in remote energy management.

Smart energy meters, which accurately track energy consumption, offer major benefits to both customers and companies: they can detect service outage, the unauthorized use of electricity and change the maximum amount of electricity that a customer can demand.

TechNavio Insights announces this week the launch of the report ‘Smart Energy Meters Market in Germany 2009-2013.’

via Smart Energy Meters Market in Germany 2009-2013.

• How will the Smart Grid be integrated to facilitate effective cooperation, and two-way communication among the many interconnected elements?
• How is the unifying framework of interfaces, protocols, and the other consensus standards being established?
• How will utilities mix and manage varying renewable energy sources with legacy power generation and better respond to changing demand?
• Given that the Smart Grid is almost entirely owned and operated by industry, will Smart Grid interoperability and cybersecurity standards reflect industry consensus, with active participation, and where required, leadership and coordination by government?

via Smart Grid Interoperability – 33629.

Utility Partners of America (UPA), one of the nation’s largest utility services contractors, today announced it has been awarded a contract by Glendale Water and Power (GWP) to replace electric and water meters with smart meters in the city of Glendale, CA. The installation will give 84,500 electric and 33,400 water customers access to advanced metering technologies that generate a two-way communication network.

via Greenville-based UPA awarded major Smart Meter contract | greenvilleonline.com | The Greenville News.

The government must provide better strategic leadership to encourage the rollout of smart grid technologies in the UK, according to a critical new report from the cross-party energy and climate change committee MPs, which recommends an urgent upgrade of the UK’s transmission network.

Paddy Tipping MP, who sits on the committee, said the existing grid had been developed to serve an outdated fossil fuel economy. “The future looks very different,” he said. “By 2020 the UK electricity network will need to accommodate a far more diverse energy mix that includes a much higher proportion of renewables that cannot respond so easily to fluctuating demand.”

via Government must accelerate smart grid rollout, say MPs – 24 Feb 2010 – BusinessGreen.com.

The much-talked-about smart grid is finally preparing to enter the home. And Samsung C&T, a leading innovator in the construction and housing industry, is offering a picture of what the intelligent, energy-efficient houses of the near future may look like.

The possibilities enabled by the smart grid, which is achieved by giving the current analog electricity network a jolt of information technology, seem limitless. The sophisticated power network will allow electricity to flow out from homes and offices as well as into them, better balancing the supply and demand for power, while the batteries of electric cars will serve as backup power supplies when needed.

via Samsung Presents Smart, Low-Power House of Future.

The Project Grey Goose Report on Critical Infrastructure says attacks against the power grid are expected to increase over the next year. GreyLogic CEO Jeffrey Carr, who authored the report, says since 2001 there has been “at least 120 instances” where utilities have already been the target of cyber hackers. The report warns that number may increase as the transition from isolated, closed energy-generation and transmission networks to IP-based and wireless ones increases as more smart grid projects are undertaken.

via New Reports Suggests Smart Grid Attack Likely.

After years of secrecy, Bloom Energy today finally unveiled the Bloom Energy Server, better known as the Bloom Box. It uses novel fuel cell technology to produce electricity from a combination of oxygen, heat and a fuel source like natural gas or biogas, and it is small enough to sit relatively inconspicuously on company property.

via Does Bloom Box Signal a Shift Toward Decentralized Electricity Generation? | SolveClimate.com.

World Energy Solutions has set out to put a market price on nothing.

The company — which provides services for auctions of carbon certificates and energy — has formally launched the World DR Exchange, an online auction sites for selling and buying capacity for demand response networks.

via An Auction House For Smart Grid Services : Greentech Media.

Harris M. Warsaw, Vice President, General Business of the Americas for IBM, announced today that IBM will be a title sponsor of the Rural Smart Grid Summit (RSGS) beginning April 26th in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

“The Rural Smart Grid Summit is a proven and successful format that creates lasting partnerships and enables ongoing collaboration,” said Warsaw. “Based on my experience at similar events, IBM has the opportunity to understand the current and future needs and wants of the electric coop sector in a unique and productive environment that is not at all like a traditional trade show or expo.”

via IBM Sponsors Rural Smart Grid Summit — ATLANTA, Feb. 24 /PRNewswire/ –.