Smart Grid Blog

The electric power system in the U.S. is dirty, antiquated, stupid, unstable, and a security nightmare. After years of discussion and debate, consensus now holds that the generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure will need hundreds of billions in new investment to reduce emissions, improve reliability, minimize waste and inefficiency, improve security, and facilitate the integration of wind, solar and other emerging alternative energy technologies. Commonly cited capital spending estimates range from $200 billion globally by 2015 to $2 trillion overall. In his November 2008 report, “The Sixth Industrial Revolution: The Coming of Cleantech,” Merrill Lynch strategist Steven Millunovich observed that cleantech markets will dwarf IT to the tune of two orders of magnitude. While there’s plenty of room to debate how the future will unfold, there’s little question that we’re watching the emergence of an investment mega-trend that will endure for decades.

via Will Surging Smart Grid Investments Result in Surging Electric Prices? | Alternative Energy Stocks.

The ins and outs of tomorrow’s energy grid will be tested on an unprecedented scale in Chicago. Local utility ComEd, a subsidiary of Exelon Corporation, will use $5 million in Recovery Act funding to institute the program, which will initially outfit 8,000 homes with advanced smart meters in order to test how well consumers manage their energy consumption when monitoring and programming are available. The project will also include outfitting 100 homes with distributed solar power systems, creating “mini-utilities” through which ComEd can glimpse the smart home of the future.

via Chicago to Launch Largest Smart Grid Energy.

Toshiba Corp. it will make its full-scale entry into the residential solar photovoltaic systems business in Japan on April 1, with the goal of winning a 10 percent share of the Japan market by fiscal year 2012.

Toshiba's residential solar PV systems comprise PV modules, power conditioners and color LCD that displays the overall system status.

via Toshiba ventures into residential solar PV market.

Creating a revolution in the way energy is produced and shared, distributed solar energy is one of the top clean energy topics of the day.

Chicago utility company ComEd (an arm of the energy giant Exelon Corporation) has a new pilot project in this field that will outfit 100 Chicago-area homes with solar photovoltaic panels and “at least 50 of those with ’smart’ meters, net metering, battery backup and a grid-tied status that enables them to send unused electricity from their solar energy systems back to the grid.”

via Chicago’s New Distributed Solar Energy Pilot Project : CleanTechnica.

California seems determined to maintain its lead as the country’s top solar energy producer with a new law that will make rooftop solar more attractive in many ways. And this time around, solar advocates and investor-owned utilities both seem to support it. After the variety of setbacks we’ve been reporting on recently, it’s good to see a step forward for the Smart Grid.

New California legislation expected to be signed into law today will double the amount of electricity the state’s investor-owned utilities (IOUs) will be required to buy back from customers with rooftop solar arrays. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to sign the bill which will raise the rooftop solar cap from 2.5% to 5%.

via Smart Grid: California Powers Up Solar, Doubles Rooftop Array Buy Back Cap.

Since Texas was the USA energy capitol of the 20th century, it is not surprising to see Texas lead the USA to more renewable fuel production uses. There are areas in West Texas that receive high amounts of sunshine and high wind activity. To harness these bountiful, inexpensive and renewable energy sources, the Texas State legislature passed legislation that created competitive renewable energy zones (crez) to research and develop wind and sun power. Just 5 of these zones will double the USA wind power capacity. Combine this with the solar power these CREZ could harness and transmit to Texas urban areas, energy self sufficiency becomes less a dream and more a reachable and attainable goal for the foreseeable future.

via NewsWire – Farouk Shami “improving the Texas electric grid is key to our new energy economy”.

The Business Spectator has a look at some of Google’s initiatives to transform the way we produce energy – Google’s search for smart power.

Most people expect there to be a transformation of the energy industry, but what if it turns out to be a total revolution?

Most talk focuses on a possible move to distributed rather than centralised power supplies, the introduction of smart grids and the replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy supplies such as wind, solar, marine and geothermal.

via Peak Energy: Google’s search for smart power.

Internet search engine and global tech giant, Google Inc., has officially entered the electric utility game, although don’t expect to be writing a monthly check to Google for your electric bill any time soon.

In a unanimous vote the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved a request by Google to buy and sell electricity, granting Google “market based rate authority.” But like many new ventures the Mountain View, California-based tech giant embarks on, they don’t exactly know where they’re going with it, or what they’ll do with their newfound authority. But not knowing where things are heading has never stopped Google before.

via Google Electric Co? Search Giant OK’d to Sell Electricity.

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/ –.

Since diving into the deep end when it comes to energy issues, almost every day sees new fascinating concepts, approaches, and technologies. Fascinating … exciting … even hope inspiring at times. And, as well, as the passion builds, so many of these are truly Energy COOL.

via Energy COOL: Solar Powered Farming.

Distributed ICT [information and communication technologies] will organize distributed energies. Renewables like wind, solar, geothermal and biomass are found in some proportion everywhere, in people’s backyards. As people begin to harvest these renewable energies they can share electricity peer-to-peer across an internet-like smart energy grid that extends across nations and even continents. We see buildings as the new power plants. Buildings are the number one source of C02 emmissions, but they might also be the solution if they can harness renewables to produce their own energy on site. People will also need new energy storage technologies like hydrogen. The EU has committed 8 billion Euros to hydrogen storage technologies. Those technologies will give us dependable distributed energy.

via The Oil Drum: Australia/New Zealand | Mythological thinking, the de-industrialisation of the West and the New World Order.

Building a smart energy grid will empower consumers with information and tools to control their energy bills while providing a platform for wind, solar and geothermal energy to reach more families. $3.4 billion in grants have been awarded to small businesses, utilities, manufacturers and towns to fund smart energy grid projects that will support tens of thousands of jobs and benefit consumers in 49 states.

The Recovery Act not only invests in our communities, it reshapes how we travel between them. Investing $16 billion in high speed rail and mass transit projects will not only create jobs, it will reduce the amount of oil we import and minimize traffic congestion by taking cars off the highway.

via On the one year anniversary of the Recovery Act, clean energy leaders celebrate jobs and savings | Grist.

Digi International (DGII 9.56, +0.11, +1.16%) and SolarEdge today announced their collaboration on full connectivity solutions for photovoltaic (PV) systems, including data harvesting from revenue-grade power meters, PV inverter mesh networking and future interaction with the Smart Grid.

via SolarEdge and Digi International Collaborate on a Full Connectivity Solution for Photovoltaic Systems – MarketWatch.

Bids are out for construction of the second phase of St. George’s SunSmart solar facility, which could more than double the output of the 100-kilowatt facility.

Using $190,000 allocated to the city as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the plan is to build up to another 150 kilowatts of capacity at SunSmart, which has been recognized as a unique attempt to help the public get involved with renewable energy. The solar farm, developed as a way to take advantage of the area’s average of more than 310 days of sunlight per year, produces only a fraction of the power used in the city, but received much acclaim over the past year from groups pursuing more renewable energy options.

via Solar farm to double in size | thespectrum.com | The Spectrum.

A passing cloud can be curtains for a solar-electric system, suddenly cutting generation dramatically. Production shoots back up as soon as the cloud is past. Then it ends at sundown, only to resume at dawn. Wind energy is also intermittent.

Electric utilities can accommodate these fluctuations in modest amounts, but adding lots of distributed solar generation on rooftops and in backyards could complicate a system designed to keep electrical current flowing steadily.

via California Project to Demonstrate Use of Batteries to Store Solar, Wind Power.