infrastructure

Protocols Driving Smart Grid Interoperability

Posted by Derek on October 24, 2011
News / Comments Off

Efforts are underway to create a smarter grid by adding intelligence to the electrical infrastructure. According to calculations by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the electrical grid consists of 10,000 generating units with a generation capacity in excess of 1 million MW and more than 300,000 miles of transmission lines. With a growing environmentally Continue reading →

Tags: , , , ,

Energy spending in rural US focuses on basic services

Posted by Derek on October 20, 2011
News / Comments Off

A $2.1-billion program to improve electricity service in rural parts of the US includes only around $40 million in investment in smart-grid technologies. Rather than smart technologies, new transmission and distribution lines dominate the improvements being funded. It’s a noticeable shift in priorities from previous infrastructure investments supported by the 2009 economic stimulus bill, which put Continue reading →

Tags: ,

Infrastructure Upgrades, Time-of-Use Pricing Offer Best Ramp-Up Opportunity For Smart Grid

Posted by Derek on September 20, 2011
News / Comments Off

Those three hurdles are on the agenda of just about every utility, vendor and consultant vying to enable the Smart Grid’s potential in the U.S. and to capitalize on its ability to help consumers save energy and understand how much they waste it. But regulators are the gatekeepers and will have the final say. Therein Continue reading →

Tags: , ,

Telvent and Schneider promise more efficient infrastructures

Posted by Derek on September 13, 2011
News / Comments Off

Manufacturers are being promised improved efficiencies on their critical network infrastructures, following the acquisition of Telvent by Schneider Electric. Michel Crochon, executive vice president of Schneider’s energy business, says that Telvent’s world class infrastructure technology and Schneider’s energy and process management expertise make a powerful combination. via Telvent and Schneider promise more efficient infrastructures.

Tags: ,

Major Power Outage Shows Weakness of Aging Electric Infrastructure

Posted by Derek on September 12, 2011
News / Comments Off

Right around the time when President Obama started talking about ways to revive the economy, nearly five million televisions across Southern California and Arizona went black. It was ironic that while the president lamented the state of American infrastructure, including roads, bridges, and schools, that the U.S. electric grid gave out, an equally aging piece Continue reading →

Tags: , ,

Silver Spring Networks Putting the Smart in Smart Grids

Posted by Derek on August 10, 2011
News / Comments Off

For anybody who follows the push to find more efficient ways to power the United States’ infrastructure, one of the many political buzzwords is “smart grid.” Silver Spring Networks is one of those businesses working on smart grid technology and like many, this business started as a small startup with an idea and an uncertain Continue reading →

Tags: ,

Regional Grid Operator Warns of Greater Risk of Brownouts Next Summer

Posted by Derek on June 21, 2011
News / Comments Off

The risks of brownouts next summer are growing, because of delays in building a high-voltage power line in northern New Jersey. Still, they remain a “very low probability,” executives of the regional power grid told state officials last week. “As we go into 2012, the risks are increasing,” Michael Kormos, senior vice president of operations Continue reading →

Tags: , ,

The Potential of Smart Grid Security & SCADA security

Posted by Derek on May 18, 2011
News / Comments Off

As Governments and utilities around the world continue to work on the deployment of the Smart Grid initiative, cyber security issues around such an infrastructure are now top priority in relation to national security and investment. Smart Grid operators must guard against international security threats from hackers, cyber terrorists, and rogue states, etc. SCADA systems Continue reading →

Tags: , ,

Infrastructure under attack

Posted by Derek on May 17, 2011
News / Comments Off

Most critical infrastructure companies in India are government-run organisations with few private enterprises owning this space. A quick look at security attacks reveals that critical infrastructure across the globe has been under attack the last one year. Is India geared to tackle a security attack? via Business Line : Features / eWorld : Infrastructure under Continue reading →

Tags: , ,

Utilities face rising costs of infrastructure security

Posted by Derek on April 06, 2011
News / Comments Off

In February, the nation’s top intelligence officials from the Homeland Security Department, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, CIA, FBI and other agencies expressed their concerns about the threat of cyberattacks on our nation. One official said it would be hard to overstate the implications of such an event. At the same time, cybersecurity Continue reading →

Tags: , , ,

Clean Energy Investment Reached Record High in 2010

Posted by Derek on January 26, 2011
News / Comments Off

The world invested a record-high $243 billion in clean energy last year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. This amounts to an annual increase of nearly one-third over the total amount invested in clean energy in 2009 ($186.5 billion) – and nearly five times the total amount invested in 2004 ($51.7 billion). via Clean Energy Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Logica and Cisco partner for smart grids

Posted by Derek on January 13, 2011
News / Comments Off

IT services provider Logica has partnered with Cisco to resell smart grid IP network design and infrastructure services to Australia’s energy and utilities companies. As a Cisco authorised technology provider for Connected Grid, Logica planned to target energy and utilities that were planning network upgrades. via Logica and Cisco partner for smart grids – Networking Continue reading →

Tags: , ,

Smart grid raises the stakes on security for critical infrastructure

Posted by Derek on December 15, 2010
News / Comments Off

The United States could be creating a smart grid power distribution system with a false sense of the threats it will face and of its ability to secure it, a panel of security professionals said Tuesday. The nation’s critical infrastructure has been identified as a high-value target, and the Homeland Security Department has been given the responsibility for Continue reading →

Tags: , ,

Network Resilience Necessary for Smart Meter Future

Posted by Derek on December 13, 2010
News / Comments Off

Participants at an IET communications policy panel at the House of Lords stressed the importance of network resilience as more utilities introduce smart meters.  Dr. Martyn Thomas, IET’s IT policy panel chairperson, reported that as much as 47 million UK gas and electricity meters will be replaced with smart meters by 2020 at the latest. Continue reading →

Tags: , , ,

Powering Europe, the better way

Posted by Derek on November 30, 2010
News / Comments Off

Integrating 265GW of wind into Europe’s grids by 2020 would slash €41.7 billion off the cost of electricity each year, according to a report published by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA). “The EU pays the price for its outdated and poorly interconnected energy infrastructure,” the European Commission said last week. via Powering Europe, the Continue reading →

Tags: , ,

Rulemaking for Smart Grid Standards

Posted by Derek on November 03, 2010
News / Comments Off

The EISA states that it is “the policy of the United States to support the modernization of the nation’s electricity transmission and distribution system to maintain a reliable and secure electricity infrastructure.” This effectively means that the federal government will take a number of actions to encourage and regulate development of a smart grid. via Continue reading →

Tags: , , , ,

Utility veterans: Smart grid investment helps utilities ‘beat the peak’

Posted by Derek on October 20, 2010
News / Comments Off

Investment in smarter infrastructure for the nation’s power grid is not only justified, but critical to halting system-wide failures, said veterans of the utility industry on Tuesday. Retired NVEnergy CEO Walter Higgins and former Consolidated Edison CEO Eugene McGrath took to the stage with Braemar Energy Ventures partner Neil Suslak at the Cleantech Group’s Forum New York Continue reading →

Tags: , ,

Freescale Technology Across the Grid

Posted by Derek on October 08, 2010
News / Comments Off

Freescale is powering innovation for a more sustainable, greener world by enabling smart energy across the grid. Our solutions optimize power consumption, conserve energy and help eliminate waste. At the heart of the worldwide rollout of a smart grid network infrastructure lies the goal of energy efficiency from the generation, transmission and distribution to the Continue reading →

Tags: ,

Stronger Firewall Protections for Critical Control & Power Infrastructures

Posted by Derek on October 03, 2010
News / Comments Off

Building on its portfolio of products being deployed in U.S. and foreign markets, PCN Technology (PCN) today announces available product technology that prevents computer worm attacks on large communication and energy management networks. Structured to be periodically updated to counter new attempts at mission critical communication system intrusion and damage, the company is presenting its Continue reading →

Tags: , , , ,

Where Patents and Standards Collide in Smart Grid

Posted by Derek on September 30, 2010
News / Comments Off

Private standard-setting organizations, through which industry competitors gather together and agree on standardized methods and manufactures, are considered to promote a pro-competitive activity.  Indeed, private standard setting is essential to our commercial infrastructure; in the absence of such standards, much of the technology we have come to depend on would be reduced to marginal usefulness, Continue reading →

Tags: , ,