Smart Grid Blog

ComEd said will letters go out this week to single family homeowners in the innovation corridor along I-290 – which includes 130,000 customers in Melrose Park, Bellwood, Maywood, River Forest, Oak Park, Forest Park, Broadview, Hillside, Berwyn and the Humboldt Park section of Chicago – asking for single-family homeowners to test solar panels.

The three-year photovoltaic pilot is partially funded by a $5 million U.S. Department of Energy grant and allows ComEd to install 100 solar arrays on residential homes in the corridor. The arrays produce enough electricity to power a small home and at the end of the pilot, the homeowners keep the panels, said Maryl Freestone, senior engineer and project manager for the PV pilot.

via ComEd seeks homes for solar panel test | Chicago Breaking Business.

After weeks of testimony and 11th-hour changes to its big smart meter project, Baltimore Gas & Electric has gotten itself back into the good graces of Maryland state regulators. The utility announced Monday (PDF) that the Maryland Public Service Commission approved the redrawn project on Friday, meaning BG&E won’t have to return a $200 million Department of Energy stimulus grant for it.

via Baltimore’s Smart Meter Project Is Back On Track.

Oregon’s power grid will need to be improved in the coming years as more wind and solar power comes online. The U.S. Department of Energy will help that happen with a $178 million project to test smart grid technologies in five Northwestern states, including Oregon.

via $178M project to test smart grid technology « Daily Journal of Commerce – Building and Construction News in Portland, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.

Kahuku Wind Power, the developer of a planned 30 megawatt (MW) wind power plant that is expected to supply electricity to about 7,700 households per year and create over 200 jobs on the island of Oahu, has obtained a $117 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy.

via Kahuku Wind Gets $117M DOE Loan Guarantee.

The Department of Energy launched a new blog this week, the aptly named (yet uninspiring) Energy Blog. Among other announcements and musings (OK, really more statements than deep thoughts) is a call to develop three Energy Innovation Hubs, one of which will drive research to turn sunlight into fuels.

via DOE Awards $122M for Fuel From Sunlight : Greentech Media.

Beacon Power Corporation (Nasdaq: BCON) has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy to negotiate a $2.25 million award in support of developing a next-generation flywheel energy storage system. The goal would be to store four times the energy at one-eighth the cost, versus Beacon's current Smart Energy 25 (Gen 4) flywheel system.

via Beacon Power Receives $2.25M From U.S. Department of Energy | Benzinga.com.

The development of offshore wind and linked infrastructure is vital to the UK meeting its EU 2020 renewable energy targets, the country’s Department of Energy and Climate Change said in a 2009 Renewable Energy Strategy report handed to the European Commission late Monday.

Up to 33 GW of offshore renewable generation may be developed and most of this would be connected to the onshore electricity grid through offshore transmission cables costing around GBP15 billion ($22.8 billion), DECC said.

via Platts: RSS Feed Detailed News.

Ohio-based FirstEnergy is on its way to make a transition over to smart grid and the company has signed an agreement with Department of Energy for a huge grant.

In a recent press release, FirstEnergy Corp. announced that it has been awarded $57.4 million grant by the Department of Energy (DOE) as a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The money will be expended on the introduction of “smart grid” technologies to improve the reliability and interactivity of the electric distribution infrastructure in targeted areas of its Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Jersey service territories.

via FirstEnergy Awarded DOE Grants to Initiate Smart Grid Transition in Select Pennsylvania Regions.

Ever wished you could find out whether your eco-obsessed neighbor is really an energy hog? Enter Microsoft’s Hohm Scores, an online tool that allows you to view energy efficiency data about a specific home address. There are already 60 million homes listed in the database, and results can be compared to averages of other homes in the neighborhood and across the U.S.

Hohm Scores gets its information from a mashup of public records, including information about a home’s size, age, location, and average utility bills. Add in data about local weather patterns and some advanced analytics from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy, and voila, the tool can tell you just how energy efficient your home is–and how efficient it could be with a few home improvements.

via Snoop on Your Neighbors’ Energy Use With Microsoft Hohm Scores | Fast Company.

National Technical Systems (NTS) Completes ZigBee Smart Energy Certification Testing for SimpleHomeNet Appliance
Rapidly Expanding Smart Grid Compliance Testing Market Is Key NTS Initiative

National Technical Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTSC) (NTS), a leading provider of engineering services, announced today that it recently completed ZigBee Smart Energy certification testing for a feature-rich, wireless electric load controller manufactured by SimpleHomeNet, a division of Compacta International. The tests were run at the NTS laboratory in Culver City, CA. Following completion of the certification tests, the ZigBee Alliance reviewed the test results submitted by NTS and the application submitted by SimpleHomeNet and certified the load controller.

NTS is the market leader in ZigBee smart energy certification testing and one of only three companies worldwidewith rights designated by the ZigBee Alliance to test wireless products for ZigBee Smart Energy certification. Completion of the certification tests for SimpleHomeNet is another example of NTS' expanding leadership in the burgeoning testing market for ZigBee Smart Energy.

ZigBee Smart Energy is the market leading wireless home area network (HAN) standard with more than 40 million smart meters being installed around the world. Last year, it was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as an initial interoperable standard for HAN devices. ZigBee has also been adopted by over 350 global manufacturers andthere is a large total potential market of 1.5 billion devices that could be installed in homes worldwide for energy management and demand response, according to a recently published report by ON World.

Smart energy device testing is a rapidly expanding global industry and a growing market for NTS,said NTS Chief Executive Office William McGinnis. The U.S. Department of Energy has allocated $30 billion as part of a national energy initiative backed by national utility companies, which is expected toencourage the development and certification of a broad range of smart energy products McGinnis said.

ZigBee Smart Energy certification demonstrates that a wireless product such as a load controller, or other wireless device, is compliant with the ZigBee Smart Energy standard that was created by energy experts and ZigBee Alliance members. ZigBee members include Ember, Freescale, Texas Instruments, Landis & Gyr, Itron, Cisco, General Electric, Honeywell, Intel, Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Philips, Samsung Electronics, Siemens, Sony and many other leading corporations around the world.

“This is already a large, rapidly growing market and an expanding list of companies is committed to the smart energy path, which we believe is a good opportunity for us,” McGinnis added. “We not only provide the test services, but we also design the test tools to simulate the functions of the appliances that allow our clients to do self-testing. We have a full solution for our clients with software testing and validation and multiple engineering services.”

Remotely controlled, wireless appliances such as thermostats, meters, load controllers, pool pumps, water heaters and display units designed for homeowners as part of a HAN are key components of a smart grid created to reduce energy usage, increase reliability and cut costs for consumers, said NTS Chief Technology Officer Osman Sakr. The NTS testing demonstrates that the appliances work together properly and can accurately show how much energy is being used, thereby allowing a consumer to manage energy efficiently.

Al Choperena, President and CEO of Compacta International, said the NTS testing and ZigBee Smart Energy certification of its load controller “is a key milestone in our ZigBee product roadmap and signals our strong commitment to the future of the smart grid. To date, our certification efforts have been on track thanks to our ongoing partnership with NTS.”

via NTS – National Technical Systems, Inc. – Investors – Financial News.

Central Electric Cooperative will receive $4.65 million in matching funds from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to deploy smart grid technologies.

The grant, provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, will enable CEC to replace more than 30,000 existing meters with advanced metering technology.

via Central Electric to Deploy Smart Grid Technologies – myCentralOregon.com.

PPL Electric Utilities has finalized a contract with the U.S. Department of Energy for a $19 million matching smart grid grant that will help the company improve electric service reliability for more than 60,000 Harrisburg area customers.

It’s a key step in the company’s $38 million PPL Smart Grid project. PPL Electric Utilities is partnering with Drexel University and technology leaders GE Energy, Lockheed Martin and Alcatel-Lucent on the two-year project.

via PPL Electric Utilities Signs Contract for Federal Smart Grid Grant – Yahoo! Finance.

Thanks to a $30 million matching grant from the Department of Energy, South Mississippi Electric Power Association and two local distribution cooperatives will make upgrades to their systems.

The Smart Grid grant was awarded last October to SMEPA and five of its members, including Pearl River Valley and Southern Pine electric power associations.

The $61 million project application was submitted in August 2009.

via Grant helps power plants | hattiesburgamerican.com | Hattiesburg American.

General Electric researchers are working with Arizona Public Service to determine the best way to integrate large amounts of solar power into the current grid, funded by a $3.3 million High Penetration Solar Deployment grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. The team will identify systems and technologies that optimize grid reliability and efficiency with high concentrations of distributed solar generation.

via Integrating Solar Power into the Grid.

Progress follows a simple mathematical equation: smart people + money = advancement. Follow that, and you’re golden. Of course, there are plenty of people with great ideas, but money is typically a bigger hurdle. Michigan-based DTE Energy has been given a boost over that hurdle courtesy of the Department of Energy (DOE), who has provided DTE with an $84-million grant to push smart grid adoption.

via U.S. DOE Gives DTE Energy $84 Million For Local Smart Grid Adoption | EarthTechling.

The Department of Energy (DOE) selected a Pacific Northwest team including information services company 3TIER to conduct a regional smart-grid demonstration. The project will test new smart grid technologies including devices, software, and advanced analytical and forecasting tools that enhance the power grid’s reliability and performance. The Northwest study will involve more than 60,000 metered customers in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming.

via DOE selects partners for $178M smart grid demo : Wind power design, wind turbine construction, renewable energy news | Windpower Engineering.

NYSE-listed energy efficiency company Progress Energy has received a $200m grant from the US Department of Energy (DOE) under the 2009 federal stimulus package for smart grid projects.

via NewNet News – Progress Energy receives $200m federal smart grid grant.

If you thought Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s announcement Wednesday of an offshore wind farm was big news for alternative-energy investing, then you must have missed the far bigger news from his Cabinet colleague, Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

While Salazar was standing behind a rostrum touting a 130-turbine wind-energy project in Nantucket Sound, Chu was quietly testifying before the Senate Energy and Water Subcommittee. This testimony did not make the front page, but its impact will prove to be far more important.

via Two Turbine Makers Dominate this High-Growth Market | StreetAuthority.com.

U.S. Rep. Peter Welch recently announced a $450,000 federal grant for Vermont Law School’s Institute for Energy and the Environment to conduct smart-grid research and analysis aimed at updating the U.S. power grid.

The Department of Energy grant, which was secured by Welch, will strengthen the Institute’s reputation as a national leader in smart-grid implementation standards and its efforts to address the reliability, cost and environmental impacts of the nation’s energy policy.

via E-Vermont aims at state’s rural towns: Times Argus Online.

Naperville takes another step towards going “green” and helping its residents save on their energy bills.

The city will work with the U.S. Energy Department to install 57,000 so-called “smart meters” in homes.

The meters will allow the city and its residents to monitor and control power useage.

via Smart Meters: Naperville Installing 57,000 “smart Meters” In Homes – WGN.