Smart Grid Blog

The White House is fanning out in force.

Last week, President Barack Obama visited Michigan, for the groundbreaking of a battery manufacturing plant; Labor Secretary Hilda Solis spoke at Celgard, a North Carolina lithium battery-parts producer, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan traveled to an electric vehicle recharging station project in New York; and other administration officials went to Vermont, Maryland and Pennsylvania. This was just weeks after the assistant energy secretary testified before Congress that the administration supported legislation to jump-start electrification of the nation’s transportation sector.

via Opinion: Electricity drives our energy future – David Crane and Adm. Timothy J. Keating – POLITICO.com.

“Trilliant and competitors such as Itron Inc., the largest U.S. maker of utility meters, are beginning to benefit from the $4.5 billion in stimulus funds the Obama administration directed toward smart grids to improve efficiency and accommodate electric vehicles and rooftop solar panels,” reports the Washington Post in a July 15th article. Trilliant Chief Executive Officer Andrew White told the Washington Post, “There’s been an avalanche of requests from utilities; we’re getting about one a week.”

via PR-USA.net – Smart Meter Manufacturers and Utilities Reap Benefits of U.S. Stimulus Package.

The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama is planning to launch an international entity to be tasked with developing a smart grid, a next-generation power transmission network, U.S. government sources said Friday.

With the launch of the envisioned international body, the U.S. government aims to expand the energy market through smart grid standardization and take the lead in the new energy business, the sources said.

via LEAD: U.S. eyes launching int’l entity for next-generation power grid+.

According to government sources, the United States plans to announce the formation of the International Smart Grid Action Network, or ISGAN, to expand the U.S. energy market through smart grid standardization and take the lead in the new energy business. The Obama administration is expected to make the announcement at the first ministerial meeting on clean energy to take place in Washington, D.C. on July 19-20.

via US Planning International Smart Grid Network.

Today, Itron Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI) president and CEO Malcolm Unsworth, and two workers representing Itron’s U.S.-based manufacturing, joined President Obama at the White House for a press event highlighting successful American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) investments.

Itron manufactures its industry-leading smart grid and smart metering technology in two of its four U.S.-based facilities – in Oconee, S.C., and Waseca, Minn. Both locations are benefiting from the administration’s economic recovery efforts, including expanded production capacity and more domestic jobs.

via Itron Joins President Obama in the Rose Garden as Part of Recovery Act Investment Update on Environmental Expert.

Following the commitment made by President Obama last year in Cairo to support broader economic development in Muslim-majority communities, USTDA’s project opportunities include gas-fired combined cycle, cogeneration, solar, wind, hydro and biomass power generation, rural electrification, transmission and distribution upgrades, smart grid technologies, and regional interconnections. Delegations from Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, the Palestinian Territories, and Yemen will present their projects during the two-and-a-half-day event organized by the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA).

via Upcoming Power Project Opportunities Totaling More Than $30 Billion to Be Presented in Cairo.

Smart energy grids—the term used to describe the upgrade of 20th century power grids to become intelligent and networked, reducing costs and increasing efficiency and reliability—have long been discussed, and early versions of smart meters in the form of Advanced Meter Reading (AMR) devices have been in use for several years with limited success. These early versions, which tended to be experimental or focused on only large commercial customers, had low levels of functionality and were proprietary in nature, making them less conducive to industry-wide economies of scale.

Today, however, we find ourselves on the verge of a perfect combination of technical innovation, increased demand, resource scarcity and government intervention that promises to take smart grids from vision to reality. For example, in the U.S. under the Obama administration, billions of stimulus dollars are flowing into smart grid efforts, and the initial tranches of investment have been recently deployed with the aim of viability testing. Morgan Stanley estimates that smart grid market spending could reach up to $100 billion in 2030, up from the $20 billion spent on it today (its numbers include AMR devices, demand response and advanced transmission but omit operational cost line items such as network outsourcing). Yankee Group’s own internal estimates find the number of smart meters deployed in the U.S. will increase from 13.6 million in 2010 to 52 million in 2013.

via Smart Grids: Not a Smart Business for Telcos—Yet – market research report on Reportlinker.

Deloitte today released results of a survey of 70 clean tech, high tech and energy industry executives which finds that a majority of industry leaders believe President Obama's $787 billion stimulus bill (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) will foster technology and innovation, stimulate economic growth and create jobs. However, the survey also shows that the majority of respondents have not or do not plan to apply for stimulus funding in the foreseeable future.

The survey, conducted in conjunction with Cleantech Group on the eve of the one-year anniversary of President Obama’s stimulus package, targeted key leaders in the clean tech sector to get insights on how the stimulus bill has impacted the economy and what the future might hold for the clean tech industry.

via PR-CANADA.net – Deloitte/Cleantech Group Survey: Clean Tech Executives Believe Stimulus Package Will Foster Innovati.

Michigan will receive just more than $5 million for two programs to train workers for jobs in electric utilities, the Obama administration said today.

The administration will provide $4.4 million to the state’s Electric Power Workforce Training Strategy, which aims to train 588 workers for electric sector jobs. Northern Michigan University will get $670,000 for another program that trains about 40 entry-level electrical technicians a year.

via Michigan gets $5M for smart grid job training | freep.com | Detroit Free Press.

In a letter to President Barack Obama, top-echelon companies involved in energy management technology urge the administration to help give Americans access to information about their energy consumption through the use of connected technology.

The letter—written by such influential companies as Google Inc., www.google.com, Mountain View, Calif., General Electric, www.ge.com, Fairfield, Conn., and Best Buy, www.bestbuy.com, Minneapolis, Minn., among dozens of others—states, “By giving people the ability to monitor and manage their energy consumption … via their computers, phones, or other devices, we can unleash the forces of innovation in homes and businesses. At the same time, we can harness the power of millions of people to reduce greenhouse gas emissions—and save consumers billions of dollars.”

via M2M magazine | Mr. President, Information is Power.

President Barack Obama should set a goal of giving every U.S. home and business the ability to “monitor and manage” energy consumption over the Internet, a group of companies and advocates including Hewlett-Packard Co. and Google Inc. said today.

Providing consumers with “direct feedback” on their electricity use “via their computers, phones or other devices” could save them $46 billion a year by 2020, the group said in a letter to Obama.

via Google, HP Want Internet Controls for Electricity Use (Update2) – BusinessWeek.

In 1977 during a televised speech, Jimmy Carter, the then President of the United States said: “Because we are now running out of gas and oil, we must prepare quickly for a third change, to strict conservation and to the use of coal and permanent renewable energy sources, like solar power.”

That was 33 years ago. Today, would we be shocked if we saw the same message conveyed by Barack Obama? It represents a startling lack of progress in the fields of renewable energy and solar power. In the Middle East we have an unlimited amount of sun, yet still this region is not at the forefront of the solar power industry. Something is holding it back, whether it is politically or financially motivated.

via Here comes the sun? – Energy – ArabianBusiness.com.

Senate Commerce Communications, Technology, and the Internet Subcommittee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., expressed “frustration” Tuesday that the Obama administration has not moved fast enough to build out the country’s electricity infrastructure. “I don’t often express frustrations publicly about things on the administration, but this is one … I don’t get it. I don’t understand … why this wasn’t issue almost number one,” Kerry said during a subcommittee hearing. “[If] you want to get the economy moving, you've got to build out America’s grid.”

via Kerry Frustrated By Pace Of Smart Grid – Tech Daily Dose – Tech Daily Dose.

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 Stimulus–Obama smartly set aside 3.4 billion dollars to invest in smart grid technology in 2010 and beyond. That block of funding was matched by industry money and private investment to total over $8 billion in funding for everything from installation of smart meters to funding for manufacturing processes.

via 8 Billion Dollars in Stimulus Funds to Jump Start “Power Grid 2.0″ in US | Inhabitat.

Pennsylvania is strengthening its position as a leader in solar energy with new investments of more than $5 million in 13 new projects, Governor Edward G. Rendell said today.

“We have made remarkable progress in making Pennsylvania a leader in renewable energy in a very short period of time,” said Governor Rendell. “We’ve invested nearly $1 billion in projects that put more than 8,300 people to work. And now, with the federal Recovery funds President Obama and Congress wisely dedicated to the renewable sector, we’re able to achieve even more growth.”

via Governor Rendell: New Solar Energy Investments to Help Businesses, Municipalities Conserve Energy, Cut Expenses — HARRISBURG, Pa., Feb. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ –.

Whenever we hear the word “nuclear,” we think of a tremendous mushroom cloud in a gloomy sky, followed by images of a desolate, uninhabitable, and barren land. For many of us, “nuclear” translates directly into “nuclear weapons.” We should not, however write off “nuclear” so easily, as the same technology used in such devastating weapons offers much potential for positive growth in the energy sector.

via The Truth About Nukes | The Harvard Crimson.

The Department of Energy is offering $8 billion in loan guarantees to break ground on a new nuclear power plant in Maryland. Will this be the start of a nuclear building boom?

Speaking in Lanham, Maryland, President Obama outlined a simple objective: Jump start nuclear power plant construction in the U.S., which hasn’t built a new plant in three decades.

via Obama’s nuclear power plant push: Is there a building boom ahead? – SmartPlanet.

The United States is in the midst of the largest energy grid modernization in its history. Last June, as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, President Obama announced the availability of $3.4 billion in grants to invest in smart grid technologies and the nation’s electric transmission infrastructure. Since then, 100 grant awards have been announced, ranging from $400,000 to $200 million. When combined with matching private investments, more than $8 billion will be spent in the next several years to start modernizing the U.S. energy grid.

via POWERING UP BPL Global Unleashes Smart Energy Grid Management Platform; is positioned for Continued Growth | ETEQ.

Last week, the Obama administration introduced a proposal that every college student in the country should know about. It represents the nation’s first comprehensive federal program for clean energy education, and it is a critical step toward regaining American leadership in one of the most important industries of our time.

via Innovate America: Educating the Energy Generation | Stanford Daily.

Consumers do not know how much energy they have been using until they get the bill that usually surprises them at the end of every month. Although a bit expensive, smart meters can be one of the answers to this problem and to the energy capacity distribution.

via Smart Grid and the Future of Energy Consumption.