Smart Grid Blog

Solar power has always had a reputation for being expensive, but not for much longer. In India, electricity from solar is now cheaper than that from diesel generators. The news – which will boost India’s “Solar Mission” to install 20,000 megawatts of solar power by 2022 – could have implications for other developing nations too. Continue reading →

The combination of green roofs with rooftop solar panels can provide a quick and easy way to boost solar cell efficiency right now, making it more cost effective for property owners to invest in a rooftop solar installation without waiting for new technology breakthroughs to hit the market. Though at first glance it may seem Continue reading →

The Z-Wave Alliance and the OpenADR Alliance are collaborating on compliance and interoperability programs to support the successful market deployment of the OpenADR 2.0 standard.  OpenADR Alliance executive director Barry Haaser says the successful adoption of the OpenADR standard in the consumer market “requires a pervasive adoption of high speed Internet and residential energy management. Continue reading →

I am not a fan of the power grid as it currently exists. I’m looking forward to a day when it has been phased out, and replaced with decentralized free energy devices that power every home and business as well as powering transportation, appliances and wireless devices at the point of use, drawing energy from Continue reading →

The Z-Wave Alliance and the OpenADR Alliance have signed a liaison agreement to collaborate on compliance and interoperability programs to ensure the successful market deployment of the open automated demand response (OpenADR) 2.0 standard. via Renew Grid: Content / New & Noteworthy / Z-Wave, OpenADR Partner To Speed Adoption Of OpenADR Standard.

Included in Zpryme’s Smart Grid Insights new report, Telecom and the Smart Grid, the total Smart Grid Communications market is slated to experience tremendous market growth through 2015, projected to reach almost $1.6 Billion (the market is divided between wired and wireless communications). Currently the market size of wired communications is larger; however wireless communications Continue reading →

Three Colorado roofing contractors will be the first in the nation to sell a new solar panel that’s also a roof shingle made by Dow Chemical Co. In October, Colorado was named the first market in the country where the shingles, called the Dow Powerhouse Solar Shingle, would be sold. via 3 Colorado roofers to Continue reading →

Oracle announced general availability of its Big Data Appliance Tuesday. The integrated full rack of hardware and software is meant to work in concert with customers’ existing data warehousing solutions to store and analyze – for business intelligence purposes – new types of data that have become available only recently. …“In the utilities industry you Continue reading →

Global smart grid market to invest $2 trillion by 2030 – POWERGRID International/Electric Light & Power.

GTM Research is pleased to unveil our latest research report, The Networked Grid 150: The End-to-End Smart Grid Vendor Ecosystem Profiles and Rankings. This report represents the culmination of a GTM Research effort to profile the leading players in the emerging smart grid market. This work was originally compiled solely for internal research purposes. Later, Continue reading →

Toshiba, armed with its acquisition of Swiss smart metering giant Landis+Gyr, is turning its eyes on cracking the U.S. smart grid market, including the “smart home energy” market. But look to cities and other large-scale entities for its first moves in linking smart grid and building energy efficiency. The Japanese industrial giant on Monday announced Continue reading →

Big box retailer Lowe’s has jumped into the smart energy home biz, an overcrowded market that has already seen failed efforts by Microsoft, Google and Cisco. But Lowe’s entry into home energy management, which follows Best Buy’s move into the sector last November, might prove more meaningful and ultimately more successful than the Internet and networking Continue reading →

Japan’s Toshiba Corp said on Monday it plans to enter the smart home energy market in the United States at the end of this year and generate 10 billion yen ($129.68 million) in revenue by the fiscal year ending March, 2016. via Toshiba to enter U.S. smart home energy market | Technology | Reuters.

It’s that time of the year when pundits and prognosticators begin to opine about what will happen in 2012.   Frankly, I don’t like this game.  In mid-2001, I worked for a technology “futurist” firm and wrote a piece predicting that CD-R/W music players would continue to dominate in the year ahead.  That was a couple Continue reading →

An untimely snap of extreme weather next summer could lead to serious problems in the Texas energy market, the state’s grid operator says. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the wholesale market in the state, cautioned that power reserves used to avoid rotating blackouts will be at a dangerously low level by summer. Continue reading →

The global microgrid market is growing up, according to cleantech research firm Pike Research. According to its new tracker report, pilot projects are fading and deployment of full-scale  commercial microgrids is accelerating quickly – so much so that three subsegments in the remote microgrid market (village power systems, weak grid island systems and industrial mine Continue reading →

We brought you some predictions about the smart grid market in 2012, but what are some of the startups you should be keeping an eye on next year? You know you were about to ask me that. via 12 smart grid startups to watch in 2012 — Cleantech News and Analysis.

The global smart grid market has experienced double-digit growth rates over the last five years and is expected to continue its growth momentum, reaching approximately US $57 billion by 2016 with a CAGR of 13% over the next five years. Lucintel, a leading global management consulting and market research firm, has analyzed the global smart Continue reading →

Because of their capability to save energy and to improve the efficiency of electrical grids, power utilities are expected to rapidly adopt smart electricity meters, causing global shipments to triple from 2011 to 2016—and spurring the doubling of the associated semiconductor market during the same period. via Surging Smart Meter Shipments Spur Soaring Chip Sales Continue reading →

The IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA), the standards development body of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, predicts India would emerge as the world’s third largest smart grid market after the United States and China. via Business Line : Industry & Economy News : India to emerge 3rd largest smart grid market.