San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) is installing a number of several smart grid technologies on the electric grid, including wireless sensors that automatically detect outages and other problems on the electric grid and devices that integrate environmentally beneficial renewable energy. The new technologies are enabling SDG&E to create a more automated electric grid that Continue reading →
With Super Bowl-scale grid failure making headlines in the U.S. this week, attention has turned to smart grid technologies that offer electric utilities greater reliability, efficiency and predictability. While the cause of the Super Bowl outage continues to be debated, GTM Research today publishes its latest smart grid market report on transformer monitoring; the smart Continue reading →
San Diego Gas & Electric, or SDG&E, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy, has announced that it is installing smart grid technologies on the electric grid in the San Diego region. The technologies include wireless sensors that automatically detect outages and other problems on the electric grid, and devices that smoothly integrate environmentally beneficial renewable energy, Continue reading →
San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) says it is installing several smart grid technologies on the electric grid in the San Diego region in order to create a more resilient and responsive energy network for local residents. These technologies include wireless sensors that automatically detect outages and other problems on the electric grid, as well Continue reading →
Our phones are getting smarter, and so are our cars, appliances and homes. Now it’s time for the electric grid to smarten up, too. The electric grid is the vast network of transmission lines, substations and power plants that deliver electric power to our homes and business. It is one of the great engineering feats Continue reading →
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) has provided an annual update to state regulators showing the utility’s progress on its smart grid plan for modernizing the electric grid to deliver a host of reliability, energy and cost savings to customers. The progress report covers projects within the utility’s Smart Grid Deployment Plan submitted to the California Continue reading →
After a full week of triple digit temperatures in central Texas, the forecast this weekend for highs in the mid-90’s seems like a blessing both for our thermostat and for the unending topic of this blog series: our electric grid. Officials from the Public Utility Commission (PUC) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) Continue reading →
Big Data is a big catch phrase. Suddenly the world is focused on the massive amounts of data being created by social networks – interesting stuff. But the Internet of Things (IoT) will create at least an order of magnitude more data than social networks currently do. What will we do with this data? Maybe Continue reading →
The Beltway is always obsessed with power, but these days it’s particularly obsessed with power—not the power that gets wielded and exercised, but the power that gets generated and distributed, because it’s currently in short supply in Washington after a nasty storm. Suddenly, commentators on the right as well as the left are sounding alarms Continue reading →
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) has unveiled a ground-breaking recycled energy and optimization project whereby the braking energy of trains will be integrated into the regional electric grid. When trains brake at each stop, the kinetic energy of the train is converted into electricity. For the first time, that energy can be stored for Continue reading →
The continued push to bolster the nation’s energy supplies is having unintended consequences on electric grid operators, according to experts. Federal tax incentives and subsidies have helped prop up the alternative energy sector over the past decade, with firms and private households utilizing such credits to install wind and solar panel systems. The precipitous uptick Continue reading →
Per a provision in the Recovery Act, the Department of Energy has begun the long process of modernizing the nation’s 110-year-old electric grid. Expected to take possibly two decades to complete, the building of the so-called “Smart Grid” is a federal government partnership with utility companies, which are adding approximately $5 billion for the initial Continue reading →
The GridWise Alliance, a coalition advocating for the optimization of the nation’s electric system, released a report detailing the current state of the nation’s power grid and quantifying the benefits of a modernized electric system. via GridWise outlines benefits of optimized electric grid – POWERGRID International/Electric Light & Power.
Cisco this week expanded its smart grid portfolio for utilities with a reference architecture, products and services intended to modernize the electric grid. Cisco unveiled the GridBlocks Architecture, a blueprint for integrating digital communications and the electric grid, including support for legacy utility communications networks. Cisco also rolled out field area network (FAN) equipment and Continue reading →
As part of the Department of Energy’s Recovery-funded efforts to accelerate the modernization of the country’s electric grid, approximately nine million smart meters have already been installed in homes and businesses nationwide. Ultimately, DOE’s goal is to have 15.5 million installed. via Nine Million Smart Meters Installed Nationwide « Recovery Blog.
An advanced energy storage system will be installed at the Maui Electric Company substation in Wailea as part of the Maui Smart Grid Project. Led by MECO and the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, the Maui Smart Grid Project is designed to demonstrate and evaluate new technologies for operating the electric grid more efficiently. via Wailea Continue reading →
The U.S. electric grid is not crumbling. The regulatory structure that supports it, however, is showing its age. Those are just two of the findings from a new study about the electric grid published by the Massachusetts Institute for Technology. via Smart Grid: Dynamic Pricing and AMI for All by 2030? : Greentech Media.
Efforts to modernize the U.S. electric grid in recent years have emerged in the form of a hodgepodge of pilot projects, the installation of new technology and hefty financial backing from the U.S. government and private investors. How to plan for such a big change is a daunting task. MIT released a report on Monday Continue reading →
Detroit Edison (DTE Energy), which services more than two million electric customers in Southeastern Michigan, has selected solutions from Itron and Tropos for its $168 million SmartCurrents project, the utility’s first smart grid program designed to modernize the electric grid, improving distribution system reliability and efficiency, and empowering electric customers with more information about their Continue reading →
You may already know this, but our power grid system has been largely left alone for half a century. We’re using inefficient grid technology to try to thread power across our country and in the process are losing precious energy and a lot of cash. As part of the infamous American Reinvestment and Recovery Act–or Continue reading →
