FreeWave Technologies has announced that its wireless I/O radios are enabling real-time automated monitoring and control of circuit breaker technology in Smart Grid systems. FreeWave Technologies chief marketing officer Ashish Sharma, “We are finding new exciting uses for our wireless I/O radios across multiple industries. For example, utility operators and technicians at electric power plants Continue reading →
smart grid
Three Minnesota electric cooperatives said Tuesday that they hope to flatten some of ups and downs of power demand with “smart grid” technology. A $5 million demonstration project, funded half by the co-ops and half by the U.S. Energy Department, will pay for software to better track and manage demand. In about 130 households, co-ops Continue reading →
Investing in a smart grid sooner rather than later will benefit the UK, according to a report out last week commissioned by 23 leading companies as part of SmartGrid GB. The report, Smart Grid: a race worth winning?, says it is clear that if the UK takes a global lead in smart grid development it Continue reading →
Once seemingly distant from consumers, utilities are now fighting for customers’ attention and developing business models to improve engagement. Increasingly aware that they need customers on their side to deploy smart meters and other infrastructural upgrades, utilities are expanding their marketing programs, signaling a fundamental shift in the way utilities have traditionally done business. Despite Continue reading →
At the Clean Energy Ministerial meeting in London last week ministers from 23 economies – representing 90 percent of global renewables and efficiency investment, heard from the International Energy Agency that under current policies, carbon dioxide emissions will nearly double by 2050. “This would likely boost global temperatures by at least 6 degrees Celsius,” IEA Continue reading →
Utility companies have invested billions of dollars in new smart grid program rollouts, but so far, customer adoption has been slow. A new PwC U.S. survey and report titled Listening to the Heartland: Insights into a Customer-Centric Strategy for the Smart Grid found that most (58 percent) customers have not even heard of smart grid Continue reading →
I recently overheard a prominent industry analyst use the expression “Smart Grid Hangover” in a conversation. What an interesting description for the state of grid transformation in our industry today. Clearly in the US, the last of the DOE/ARRA stimulus monies are waning, and there has not been a whole lot of new procurement activity Continue reading →
As utilities know all too well, much of today’s electricity infrastructure is old, inefficient and unreliable. And while many utilities are putting off investments in upgrading this infrastructure, many more are driving smart grid technologies, as evidenced by new analysis from ABI Research. Although the most visible of the smart grid technology being deployed, smart Continue reading →
One of the nation’s only gigabit networks is now the communications force behind a new smart grid completed last week in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The utility company EPB installed its last IntelliRupter last Tuesday to finish automating its power distribution network. That means if the community suffers a power outage anywhere, EPB can re-route power automatically Continue reading →
Today at the Energy Networks 2012 conference, Silver Spring Networks, a leading provider of the networking platform and solutions for the smart grid, announced it has been selected by WEL Networks for an innovative smart grid deployment in the Waikato region of New Zealand. Silver Spring will provide its smart grid platform – including advanced Continue reading →
The complexity of Smart Grid and Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) implementations present a challenge for most of the nation’s electric utilities. From skilled resource availability to the operational complexities of installing and maintaining these systems, utilities have often struggled with achieving success. SAIC’s cloud-based Smart Grid as a Service (SGS) solution was developed to address Continue reading →
Using the energy from your electric car to power your house during a blackout is an advancement that could be just around the corner, thanks to new technology that General Electric and Nissan showed off at the SAE 2012 World Congress in Detroit. Keeping with the “Get Connected” theme of the event in Detroit, Nissan Continue reading →
Remember a couple of years ago when you couldn’t get away from reading about the smart grid or what some others refer to as the Enernet? Today in the news it’s almost as if production on the first great infrastructure project of the twenty-first century has all but stopped. via The Smart Grid Enernet Initiative.
UK energy regulator Ofgem has published a framework to help energy companies evaluate smart grid solutions. The Smart Grid Evaluation Framework, which has been developed by EA Technology and Frontier Economics, provides a methodology for assessing the likely value of smart grids under different scenarios and over different time frames. UK electricity distribution networks will Continue reading →
Distribution Utility Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) aims to have its entire franchise area covered by a “smart grid” by 2021 for finer tracking of power consumption, the firm said in a briefing Friday. Such technology will allow Meralco to offer prepaid schemes for consumers as well as provide real time information on power demand to Continue reading →
Regulatory oversight of the smart grid is a very real and very large challenge — and energy security professionals are split over the solution. When asked, “Should regulatory oversight for smart grid distribution be transitioned to the Federal government,” 40 percent responded “yes,” 60 percent responded “no.” via Who should have regulatory oversight of the Continue reading →
EPB couldn’t have paid for a better backdrop than sunny East Ridge to install the last piece of its Smart Grid. Workers hoisted the 1,170th Intellirupter to the top of a new pole Tuesday, as officials praised EPB’s effort to advance the science of 21st-century power delivery. More than 700 of the Intellirupters, which automatically Continue reading →
The OpenADR Alliance, a nonprofit corporation created to foster the development, adoption and compliance of a Smart Grid standard known as Open Automated Demand Response (OpenADR), today announced the successful testing of the first servers and clients based on the OpenADR 2.0a profile standard. Using the new OpenADR Test Tool developed by QualityLogic, OpenADR members Continue reading →
Great River Energy and two of its member cooperatives are partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy in a $5 million smart-grid experiment that it hopes will allow homeowners to save money and utilities to operate more efficiently. The four-year project involves everything from installing energy-management software at utility headquarters to using smart meters to Continue reading →
Chattanooga is claiming the title of “the country’s most automated smart grid of its size” for EPB’s smart grid project with S&C Electric Company. EPB is one of the largest publicly-owned providers of electric power in the country. via Chattanooga claims “most automated smart grid” title – FierceSmartGrid.
