One of the important motivating factors for building the Smart Grid is improving Demand Response. This is also related to the goal of reducing peak demand. But why is it important to reduce peak demand? And what does it mean to have ‘Demand Response’? The fundamental problem with electricity is that we do not have Continue reading →
peak demand
Throughout the U.S. and in many parts of the world, there is a significant delta between energy consumed during on peak times and off peak times. Because there has traditionally been no effective way to store electricity, it must be generated, distributed and used in sync in real time. Upgrades to the generation and distribution Continue reading →
Effective management of peak energy demand from the electrical grid holds considerable promise to improve efficiency and reliability and is a key goal and driver for Smart Grid developments. Utilities have to build their capacity to meet the peak demand loads in the system – which may only occur a few days per year. To Continue reading →
Last week’s events in Texas help illustrate that building an ever-expanding fleet of gas-fired peaking plants may not solve all our electricity needs. Instead, smart homes may be key to our rational energy future. Texas power demand set a winter record last week as a cold snap drove temperatures into the single digits. Between 7 Continue reading →
A new bill in the California Assembly would mandate that electricity utilities store 2.25% of peak demand load by 2014 and 5% by 2020. AB 2514 was introduced by Attorney General Jerry Brown and Assemblymember Nancy Skinner. If it passes, energy storage will become common in California and this will help create a smart grid. Continue reading →
In the telecommunications business most telephone calling and Internet surfing is done at fixed prices; the trend favors flat rates. But, there’s no flat rate for electricity, where, to an increasing extent, the ground rule is “use more, pay more.” That rule is likely to be applied even more stringently in the future. With time-of-use Continue reading →
Itron Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI) announced today its partnership with EnergyHub, a leading home energy solutions provider, for integration of Itron`s industry-leading ERT reading technology with EnergyHub`s in-home energy management devices. Combining the technologies will allow electric, gas and water utilities to engage their customers as stewards in solving the peak-demand problem. Itron is the first advanced Continue reading →
Telvent (TLVT 25.74, +0.02, +0.07%) , the IT company for a sustainable and secure world, announced today that the Company will be in charge of project design, development and start-up of the Smart Meter Management system (SMM), a component of Telvent’s comprehensive Smart Grid Solution, for the Finnish utility Fortum. The project, which is valued Continue reading →
