Computer-operated energy networks or “smart grids” are meant to cleverly coordinate energy generation and consumption and reduce fluctuations in supply. But can they really do that? And how feasible is the technology? Jhoy Lavenga can hardly imagine a life without power outages. She sells sardines at the Coron market on the Philippine’s Visayan Islands, and Continue reading →
With electricity consumption climbing steadily higher as American homes and businesses rely more and more on an array of new gadgets, utilities have been looking into ways to meet the growing demand. A lot of the attention has focused on the green energy business, or sometimes the booming natural gas industry, but GreentechMedia notes that Continue reading →
Securing the new IT infrastructure of the power grid against cyber-attack is going to be big business, but that’s not because it makes money for the utilities that are buying it. Instead, today’s smart grid cybersecurity investments are mostly about meeting regulations, satisfying shareholders, and trying to justify the costs based on what it’s trying Continue reading →
With nearly two-thirds of DOE AMI grant projects complete as of Dec 31, 2012, utilities who adopted a wait-and-see attitude are anxiously awaiting the business cases that will get them off the dime one way or another. While most are looking for the bottom-line ROI associated with smart grid investment (and rightly so, as any Continue reading →
The utility industry is being disrupted on every side, prompting worries about its stability. A new policy paper from the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), an association of shareholder-owned U.S. electric companies, details the “disruptive challenges” the sector faces. These private, for-profit companies, also known as investor-owned utilities or IOUs, serve about 70 percent of the Continue reading →
Kansas City manufacturer Milbank has set up a European hub in Cambridge UK to explore smart energy market opportunities in partnership with Cambridge-based technology design innovator Sentec. Sentec is already a leading provider of smart grid and energy technologies. It believes the strategic partnership to research and develop new products and business ideas could prove Continue reading →
With nearly two-thirds of DOE AMI grant projects complete as of Dec 31, 2012, utilities who adopted a wait-and-see attitude are anxiously awaiting the business cases that will get them off the dime one way or another. While most are looking for the bottom-line ROI associated with smart grid investment (and rightly so, as any Continue reading →
If the demand response market overwhelms you, you’re not alone. Mike Gordon, CEO of Joule Assets and formerly of Cpower, which was sold to Constellation, has been in the business for years, and sees confusion everywhere. “There wasn’t transparent and easily accessible information on the market,” he said. via Joule Assets Makes Sense of the Continue reading →
A Montana electric cooperative is helping a commercial customer test energy storage by installing a large battery at co-op headquarters. According to Electric Co-op Today, Flathead Electric Cooperative sees the tests as an economic development project. And as a way to research battery storage for use at other sites. The co-op will house battery storage Continue reading →
SmartGridiX (SGiX), an alliance of professionals working together to accelerate the adoption of Smart Grid 2.0 systems within our electricity, gas and water infrastructures (iX), today announced the launch of its new website at www.SmartGridiX.com. The SGiX website will provide industry professionals with curated information, tools and an online platform for collaboration — all intended Continue reading →
U.S. Ambassador Anthony Wayne joined Energy Secretary Pedro Joaquin Coldwell, CFE Director General Francisco Rojas, and a 17-company U.S. business delegation representing the smart grid sector to open the second annual forum promoting Smart Grid technology in Mexico as a way to bolster U.S.-Mexican connectivity and competitiveness. Director General Rojas and CFE hosted the forum Continue reading →
This next Wednesday, you will see a press release trumpeting the latest cutting-edge project from CenterPoint Energy. The Houston-based utility is one of the world’s true smart grid leaders, as we have documented previously in articles and webinars. So when CenterPoint makes a move, I pay attention… and so should you. This time, they are launching Continue reading →
Some 110,000 new jobs could result from the more than 300 clean energy and clean transportation projects announced in the US in 2012, according to a new report from Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2), “a national community of individual business leaders who advocate for good environmental policy while building economic prosperity.” Job creation in the clean energy Continue reading →
The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland’s (SEAI) Energy Show 2013, themed ‘Open up to Smart Energy Solutions’, is to focus on the range of opportunities for businesses in energy efficient and renewable energy solutions. Taking place at the RDS in Dublin on Wednesday, 10 and Thursday, 11 April, the annual two-day business event will feature Continue reading →
The Climate Change Business Journal (CCBJ) is honoring Tendril with the 2012 Award for Technology Merit: Smart Grid and Energy Management. CCBJ is a business research publication that covers the climate change industry. CCBJ reports it selected Tendril based on its “pioneering technology for the home energy management (HEM) market and the ability of its Continue reading →
Zpryme forecasts the smart grid related cloud services market to reach $4 billion by 2020. Global smart grid technology deployments are not only re-shaping the global energy landscape, but they are also poised to challenge the traditional business, IT, operations, and management structures that utilities have grown accustomed to over the past 50 years. To Continue reading →
Out of the hundreds of energy innovations on display this week at the annual ARPA-E Summit just outside of Washington D.C., it’s been rare to find a group actually selling and shipping products. But a startup out of Oakland, Calif. called Smart Wire Grid has quietly begun delivering devices that clamp onto transmission lines and Continue reading →
Which metering company announced an AMI contract in San Diego and an AMR contract in Pakistan this week? Which utilities ranked highest in the annual J.D. Power and Associates’ study of business customer satisfaction? via Smart Grid: Smart grid wins: We’ve got all kinds of contract wins (and some kudos) this week.
EnerNOC, the country’s biggest demand response provider, has built a solid business helping commercial and industrial customers turn down power to meet grid needs. With 5,900 customers and about 8,300 megawatts of commercial and industrial load under management, or about 2 percent of the country’s C&I base, it’s also got a lot of data on Continue reading →
The so-called “Internet of everything,” the rapidly approaching world where objects from refrigerators to factory robots can talk to people and other machines, will create a massive business opportunity worth US$14.4 trillion over the next decade, according to a new study from Cisco Systems. The Internet of everything, a phrase coined by Cisco to describe Continue reading →
