Smart Grid Blog

ComEd said will letters go out this week to single family homeowners in the innovation corridor along I-290 – which includes 130,000 customers in Melrose Park, Bellwood, Maywood, River Forest, Oak Park, Forest Park, Broadview, Hillside, Berwyn and the Humboldt Park section of Chicago – asking for single-family homeowners to test solar panels.

The three-year photovoltaic pilot is partially funded by a $5 million U.S. Department of Energy grant and allows ComEd to install 100 solar arrays on residential homes in the corridor. The arrays produce enough electricity to power a small home and at the end of the pilot, the homeowners keep the panels, said Maryl Freestone, senior engineer and project manager for the PV pilot.

via ComEd seeks homes for solar panel test | Chicago Breaking Business.

ComEd plans to propose an innovative approach to modernize the Illinois electricity system, stimulate economic development and create jobs.

In a proposal expected to be filed later today with the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC), ComEd will propose a pilot program that would allow for accelerated modernization of the distribution system, increased assistance to low-income households and the purchase of state-of-the-art electric vehicles to service the electric system.

via ComEd Proposes Innovative Plan to Modernize the Illinois Electric System and Assist Low-Income Households — CHICAGO, Aug. 31 /PRNewswire/ –.

The Bonneville Power Administration and Mason County Public Utility District Number 3 announced today that they are partnering on a smart grid pilot project to help manage the electricity grid and use wind power more effectively.

The project address two fundamental bottlenecks in the power grid; congestion during times of high power use and the imbalance created when more wind-powered energy is being generated than is being used.

via 100 Mason County Homes to Get “Smart” Power – Local News – KBKW Newsroom -.

Tennessee-based utility Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW) has selected SmartSynch Inc. as its technology partner for a three-year smart grid pilot program that will cover about 1,000 households.

via Renew Grid: Content / Projects & Contracts / Tennessee Utility Partners With SmartSynch On Smart Grid Pilot Project.

American Electric Power (AEP) says it is bringing its gridSMART program to the territory of its Public Service Co. of Oklahoma (PSO) subsidiary. The pilot project will extend to more than 13,000 customers in Owasso, Okla.

PSO says the project includes the installation of smart meters, a two-way wireless communications network and automated power-restoration equipment on its distribution system.

via Renew Grid: Content / Projects & Contracts / AEP Subsidiary Set To Deploy Smart Grid In Oklahoma.

eMeter, the global leader in Smart Grid Management software, today announced that The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), a Taiwanese research organization that serves to strengthen the technological competitiveness of Taiwan, has selected eMeter’s EnergyIP information platform and customer Web portal for use in its upcoming Smart Grid pilot program.

Energy IP was chosen for its reliability and scalability, and proven success in the market. “eMeter is definitely one of the global leaders in providing information management software for the Smart Grid and that’s why ITRI invites eMeter to join this pilot project”, said the project leader, Dr. Eager Huang, of ITRI.

via eMeter Establishes Its Smart Grid Presence in Asia with… — SAN MATEO, Calif. and TAIPEI, Taiwan, Aug. 12 /PRNewswire/ –.

In an initiative that is untried in the country as yet, the state government will soon start a pilot project using smart grids produced by a company supported by the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad in a city’s neighbourhood.

Ecolibrium Energy, an Ahmedabad-based company, “is in the process of implementing the first smart grid pilot in India,” a release from the Center for Innovation Incubation and Entreneurship (CIIE) at IIM-A said.

via Ahmedabad ready to test smart grid.

Global warming has raised the demand for reduction in carbon emission. Electric vehicles help in reduction of carbon emission as well as elevate gasoline savings. This has captured the attention of consumers, thereby increasing the adoption of electric vehicles.

However, adoption of electric vehicles will increase the demand for electricity. Even low levels of electric vehicle adoption can overburden local areas of the current electricity grid.

via Silver Spring Networks, ClipperCreek to Participate in Electric Vehicle Smart Charging Pilot Program.

Itron, Inc. (ITRI 63.08, +5.20, +8.98%) announced today that Gaz reseau Distribution France (GrDF), the main gas utility in France and 100% owned subsidiary of GdF Suez, has chosen Itron to deploy its EverBlu(TM) fixed data collection system to 5,000 residential customers in Saint-Omer, North of France.

As part of the European Energy Directives and following recommendations from the CRE* (Commission de Regulation de l’Energie) to begin testing smart meters in France, GrDF decided to set up various pilot programs, in four different towns, for residential gas meters over a period of one year. The objective of this experiment is to study the possibility of a future mass deployment for France’s 11 million residential gas consumers.

via GrDF Selects Itron to Deploy Smart Metering System in France – MarketWatch.

Consumers across the United States say they want installation of so-called smart meters to go slow, saying the devices are raising, not lowering, their bills.

States across the country have been tinkering with smart utility use meters on a pilot basis for the several years, but only recently have allowed utilities to roll them out en masse, Stateline.org reported.

via Consumers say ‘smart meters’ raise bills – UPI.com.

Gateway Power Services will initiate a three-month smart grid pilot program this summer for its customers in the service area of Texas utility Oncor.

Gateway, based in Montebello, N.Y., is one of the largest independent retail energy suppliers in North America, providing natural gas and electricity to thousands of residential and business customers in 35 deregulated energy markets across eight states, the District of Columbia and Ontario, Canada.

via Gateway Launches Smart Grid Pilot in Oncor Service Area.

FirstEnergy Corp. pulled the plug Wednesday — at least temporarily — on a “smart grid” pilot project for its customers in Greater Cleveland.

The program would credit participating customers for power they did not use during times of high demand for two weeks in the summer. The credits would be calculated at electric rates up to seven times higher than standard rates.

via FirstEnergy pulls plug — for now — on ‘smart grid’ pilot project | cleveland.com.

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) and Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) have signed an agreement to pilot and further develop a smart grid-enabled home energy management solution to provide Duke Energy customers with home energy use information.

The announcement corresponds with the unveiling this week of Cisco’s Home Energy Management Solution, which features a proprietary Home Energy Controller (CGH-100) designed to work in concert with Cisco Energy Management Services, a platform whereby utilities can manage and integrate data from homes with their back-end applications.

via Duke Energy Chooses Cisco for Smart Grid Pilots.

Worried that this summer is going to cost you in energy bills?  ComEd has just rolled out a pilot program to help you with that in the future – or if you’re in one of the test communities, you could start seeing benefits now.

Starting today, ComEd customers in nine Chicago-area communities will be able to more closely monitor their energy use using the new smart meter.  Once the digital smart meter is installed, customers can track their energy use online so that they can better manage their use.  The smart meter passes information along to the site every 30-minutes so that customers can get an updated look at how much energy they’re using throughout the day.

via Saving Energy: ComEd introduces smart meters – HomesPlus.

NSTAR’s innovative new Smart Energy Pilot, a Smart Grid program, puts the control in your hands. We provide you with leading-edge home energy management tools that allow you to see in real-time how you're consuming energy. These tools will help you make informed decisions that can add up to real savings.

Participation will also help NSTAR to better understand how customers consume energy now and for years to come.

via NSTAR: Smart Energy Pilot.

The Hawaiian Electric Company is going back to the drawing board on their advanced metering deployment. HECO has requested a follow-up pilot on Oahu after they encountered communications problems with their first pilot of 9,400 Sensus meters.

HECO “encountered a number of significant issues,” according to a document filed with the Hawaiian Public Utility Commission in May. “We have identified certain performance issues, including data anomalies, billing read performance, network performance and the ability of the technology to integrate with our future smart grid initiatives,” said Darren P. Pai, the Senior Communications Consultant for HECO. “The purpose of this expanded pilot is to evaluate the technology and determine how well these issues can be addressed.”

via HECO Requests Second Pilot of Sensus Meters : Greentech Media.

As Hydro-Québec considers replacing 3.6 million electro-magnetic meters with “smart” meters, there are concerns that the initiative won't be practical – or popular – in a jurisdiction that has low electricity rates.

The utility has asked the Régie de l'énergie for the okay to spend $42 million to study smart meters and run pilot projects.

“We are really at the beginning of the process,” spokesman Guy Litalien said.

via Hydro-Québec seeks to study the use of smart meters.

EnergyICT, a provider of Smart Metering and Smart Grid solutions to utilities in all markets engaging in Smart Metering projects and a company of the Elster Group, announced that Eandis, a large electricity and gas grid company in Belgium, has deployed components of Elster’s EnergyAxis portfolio of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) solutions successfully to power a large integrated Smart Metering pilot in Belgium.

via Elster Powers Smart Metering Pilot in Belgium.

In recent months 131,000 households and businesses in nine near west suburbs and in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood have received new Smart Meters in preparation for a pilot program to examine the impact of new technology on electricity use.

This week, ComEd kicked off a public education campaign about the program with its first informational meeting for Oak Park residents at the village's public library.

via Western suburbs learning what impact Smart Meters will have on electricity use – chicagotribune.com.

News last week that some of PG&E’s SmartMeters do have a flaw – some of the wireless units fail to transmit use data, so the utility uses estimates to prepare the electric bill – continues to cast doubts on how PG&E is handling the rollout of the new Smart Grid technology.

More fundamentally, it raises these questions: Why didn’t PG&E conduct a more thorough pilot test before installing 5 million SmartMeters in California? What was the oversight role of the California Public Utilities Commission?

via State needs to keep closer eye on SmartMeters.