Asia’s burgeoning smart-grid market is expected to generate $15.83 billion in revenue in 2018, up from just $5.4 billion in 2012, as demand response and energy management systems grow in popularity.

The forecast comes from Frost & Sullivan, which also believes that “Southeast Asia’s desire to switch to smart grids” will fuel smart-grid sales over the next six years.

The market-research company says Asia’s smart-grid market has already been given a huge boost from the rollouts of advanced metering infrastructure in Australasia and smart city projects in North Asia.

via Asia smart-grid revenues to grow threefold by 2018: Frost & Sullivan | TelecomEngine.com.

Few Americans worry about emergency situations occurring in their community; only one in three have an emergency plan; 70% support infrastructure ‘investment’ for national security

One in four Americans and less are concerned that an emergency situation like a terrorist attack, natural disaster, or health pandemic will affect their community, according to a new SUNYIT/Zogby Analytics Poll released today at “Safety and Security in the Global Age,” a two-day conference on the SUNYIT campus for academics and professionals concerned with safety and security issues.

via Smart Grid: Smart grid success tactics: 70% of Americans favor infrastructure investments for security.

Jane and Robert Brown sat down side by side, gazing at the computer screen.

“We spent more money on electricity last month than we did on car payments, and I want to find out why and what we can do about it,” Jane said. “This portal is handy, but I went on and put our usage into a spreadsheet and correlated it to activities I was able to pull from our combined Outlook calendars and dropped it into this presentation,” and cut.

via Green Button GROWS – Electric Light & Power.

Grid2Home, a leader in Smart Energy Profile 2.0 (SEP 2.0) communication technologies, today announced that they have achieved ZigBee IP certification, a new standard that will enable the Internet of Things on low powered mesh wireless networks.

“The availability of the ZigBee IP standard is a major milestone in development of the Internet of Things as it leverages standard Internet protocols such as IPv6, 6LoWPAN, PANA, TCP, TLS, and UDP,” said Don Sturek, Grid2Home’s CTO and Chair of the ZigBee IP Working Group. “ZigBee IP, also called ZIP, is a foundational element of the newly released SEP 2.0 specification for 802.15.4 radio interfaces.”

via Grid2Home Certified ZigBee IP Implementation Available for Product Integration – WSJ.com.

Zpryme’s May 2013 U.S. Electricity Monitoring survey found that that 7.0% of adults use a mobile device (smartphone and/or tablet) to monitor their electricity usage. This is the same percentage that used a mobile device in the April survey. Among for those who do monitor their electricity, 9.0% use a mobile device. The May survey also found that 4.3% of adults manage their electricity usage on a smartphone, while 3.1% manage their usage on a tablet. This month’s Zpryme survey for mobile device use represents a slight shift from April’s results: April (smartphone, 3.7%; tablet, 3.8%), May (smartphone, 4.3%; tablet 3.1%). Whether the rising popularity of the smartphone is sustained remains to be seen.

via 4.3% of Americans Monitor Electricity on a Smartphone, Zpryme Smart Grid Insights Reports.

The smart energy sector is evolving rapidly, expanding from a collection of niche markets into a standardized part of the global energy portfolio. In the same fashion that the Internet has produced a democratization of information and knowledge, the availability of small, distributed generation technologies, such as solar panels, small wind turbines and residential combined heat and power systems, enables people to produce and even sell their own power.

via Smart energy sector will transition to more diverse energy mix – Electric Light & Power.

One of the main tasks in delivering a smart grid will be to install and bring together smart grid systems such as AMI and automated demand response with distributed energy and smart buildings to win negawatts. This will go a long way to achieving the main aim of smart grid, which has to be to accommodate the maximum amount of renewable energy on the grid and to reduce carbon emissions.

The smart grid manufacturer, installer, and supply business underwent a massive consolidation in 2012. Investment through venture capital amounted to $779 million after adjusting for senior debt finance transactions.

via Germany takes distributed power seriously – Electric Light & Power.

Tesla Motors might have scored its first-ever profit during the first quarter, but sales of plug-in vehicles are lagging below expectations, which analysts blame on the high price of battery-based vehicles as well as their limited range.

But the nascent electric vehicle market may get a big boost if a new study from IMS Research proves on target. It predicts the number of EV charging stations will grow from a mere 135,000 worldwide in 2011 to as many as 10.7 million in 2020, with the fastest growth likely to occur in the U.S., China, Japan and Germany.

via Expect millions of electric car charging stations by 2020 – NBC News.com.

Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI) announced today a strategic alliance with Choice, a Brazilian technology company, to integrate and jointly market a non-technical loss (NTL) solution to utilities around the world, with a strong focus in Brazil. The joint solution will help utilities quickly identify areas of non-technical loss in their service territory, delivering a high return on investment.

via Itron Expands Smart Grid Capabilities with Choice Collaboration | Fort Mill Times – Fort Mill, SC.

A new 12.5 million euro research center in Cumbernauld Scotland will investigate smart grid enhancements to help carry renewable power more efficiently. Among other things, the Power Networks Demonstration Centre (PNDC) will seek to reduce transmission losses. Today, up to a tenth of electricity can be lost as it is transmitted along the network. The Centre will aim to improve on this.

via Smart Grid: Why Scotland may be the smart grid’s next center of gravity.

The supply chain is not the sexiest subject when it comes to important technologies, but like many industries the less sexy the business the more important its relevance.

Speaking of less sexy, David Cameron alluded to the supply chain when he revealed at Davos that the UK presidency of G8 will focus on greater business transparency and the way that open data can boost the UK economy.

via Open energy data isn’t sexy, but it’s very important – Telegraph.

Smart grid development in China will generate $127bn in cumulative revenue from now to 2020, according to a new report.

The Chinese government’s current energy strategy calls for “strengthening the construction of the smart grid” and this is resulting in considerable investment and development in the country’s power infrastructure.

via China’s smart grid revenue to hit $127bn by 2020 – Power Engineering International.

For the majority of the general public to consider purchasing a fully electric car, they first want accessible public charge points located at or near places they frequent in their daily life.

It’s also clear that most people won’t end up using them nearly as much as they think they will. However, having them in place and available is necessary to ease the concern that charging has to be there when it may be needed.

via Public Charging Stations For Electric Cars: Who Leads The Way?.

NextEra Energy Resources has acquired Smart Energy Capital, a commercial solar project developer with more than 75 megawatts of PV deployed across a number of states, according to sources close to the deal. Smart Energy Capital and NextEra have confirmed the transaction. Financial details were not disclosed.

via Wind and Gas Giant NextEra Goes Solar, Buys Smart Energy Capital : Greentech Media.

In order to meet high electricity demand this summer, PJM Interconnection says it will rely on nearly 185 GW of available installed generation capacity and 11.2 GW of demand response and energy efficiency resources.

via Renew Grid: Content / New & Noteworthy / PJM Has Gigawatts Of Demand Response To Lean On This Summer.

Troops in a tactical environment have unique challenges with efficient energy use that are uncommon to the rest of the fighting forces.

One is that a Soldier positioned to stand guard at an outpost, or forward operating base, should not have to think about energy — a distraction from the strategy and Soldier protection.

In a recent panel discussion in Washington, D.C., April 10, Katherine Hammack, the Army’s assistant secretary for installations, energy and environment, said that “energy is mission critical. It is vulnerability. It is a risk.”

via Army Lab engineers want ‘smart energy’ for warfighters | Article | The United States Army.

At the heart of every utility is the customer — not regulators, not governments and not even shareholders. Without a happy customer, shareholder value is hard to sustain. And yet with so much change on the agenda at most utility companies, it is easy to lose sight of the ultimate impact on the customer.

We all know that it is easier to retain a customer than it is to acquire a new one — this holds true even for utilities where infrastructure can hamper real customer choice. But with governments and regulators promoting open competition between utility suppliers, providing a satisfying customer experience has to be high on the agenda. If not, customers will be exercising their right to get supply elsewhere.

via Smart Metering: The customer experience – FierceEnergy.

Cisco has long said that it wants to network the world’s electricity grids much like it has networked the internet at large. But connecting computers, smartphones and other Internet Protocol (IP)-capable devices is a bit simpler than connecting power grid equipment that’s built around decades-old technology, as Cisco and other smart grid networking contenders have learned.

Indeed, connecting old grid gear via cutting-edge IP-based networks is a lot trickier than it sounds, requiring both the specialized chops to “translate” all those old utility technologies into a common framework, and the core networking skills to keep all that data traffic and control capability running smoothly — and securely.

via Cisco’s IP-Everywhere, Substation-Plus-Security Smart Grid Suite : Greentech Media.

The number of devices defined as part of the “Internet of Things” continues to grow quickly as individuals and industries alike find innovative ways to utilize connected devices and networks. Enabling machine-to-machine (M2M) communication has endless possibilities, and is one of the more prominent technology areas in the emergence of smart energy. As home meters, personal devices and appliances begin to connect to each other, a bigger and far more comprehensive picture emerges on how to make smarter energy consumption decisions. Connecting devices in the home and local Internet networks to a smart grid enables two-way communication between homeowner and the power company and is becoming more of a reality with each passing day

via An overview of ZigBee’s Smart Energy Profile 2.0 standard.

New research is indicating the advantages that intelligent lighting and ubiquitous wireless sensors could bring to Smart Cities

The idea of ‘Smart Cities’ is one that’s becoming familiar to engineers. Partly an adaptation to more diverse sources of electricity, including small-scale renewables, partly a development of the so-called ‘Internet of Things’, allowing household appliances to adjust their electricity consumption to take account of fluctuations in prices, the concept is being trialled in many cities around the world and is of particular interest to countries building new cities, such as those in the Middle East and China.

via Brilliant design: intelligent lighting and sensors in Smart Cities | In-depth | The Engineer.