A neighborhood in Austin, Texas, is going “Back to the Future,” as it moves forward on plans to completely redevelop a 700-acre former municipal airport site into a leading-edge, mix-used, sustainable urban test bed. The development — a part of the Pecan Street Inc. demonstration project launched in 2009 by the University of Texas at Continue reading →
texas
Austin-based research group Pecan Street Inc. has started working with several new partner companies to test smart-grid consumer products and advance development of the Texas city’s smart-grid demonstration project. Based at the University of Texas (UT), Pecan Street researchers will be working with Best Buy, Check-It, Chevrolet, Freescale, Intel, Landis+Gyr, Sony, SunEdison and Whirlpool. via Continue reading →
Sony Corporation announced Monday that it will join an international consortium of companies participating in a smart grid demonstration project in the United States built around houses and consumer electronics. via Sony joins smart grid market, testing devices in Texas – Business – Ecoseed Information Network.
There has been a lot of attention paid to electric utility consumer engagement of late. A few weeks ago, I participated in a conference panel discussing this topic, as well as ideas about what it will take to move less-engaged customers closer to adoption. via Electric consumer engagement lessons from Texas | Intelligent Utility.
Texas-New Mexico Power (TNMP) has unveiled its five-year plan for deploying nearly a quarter million smart meters in homes and businesses across its Texas service area, with a price tage of $113 million. The installation in League City, which has already started and is scheduled to be completed in the second quarter of 2012, is Continue reading →
Ever wonder exactly how much energy is wasted when you stand in front of your open refrigerator, deciding which leftovers to have for dinner? What if you could tell whether your DVD player is adding to your power bill, even when you aren’t using it? That sort of knowledge about your home’s energy usage isn’t Continue reading →
Two of the four Texas power plants that are being brought out of mothballs to handle the state’s record-breaking summer electric demand are online today, ready to backstop a grid that was stretched nearly to its breaking point this month. via Fuel Fix » Help for Texas power grid comes online.
The sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow, but guess what? Coal plants don’t work all the time, either. Advanced grid management practices proved effective in easing power shortages twice this year in Texas with wind energy-generated electricity, according to Michael Goggin, the electric industry analyst for the American Wind Energy Association Continue reading →
When it comes to smart meters in Texas, Centerpoint Energy and Oncor are two names you may have seen before. Now these utilities are teaming up with non-profit Grid 21 to kick off The Biggest Energy Saver Consumer Contest, which will challenge households and businesses to reduce their energy usage with the help of (you guessed it) smart meter Continue reading →
Hot summers are certainly not novel in Texas, but for the electric grid, the triple digits recently pushed capacity to new levels. Texas’ power grid set record level power use for three consecutive days last week. The high demand topped off at 68,294 megawatts on Wednesday. The near-peak electricity use continued through the end of Continue reading →
HD Supply Utilities and Trilliant are collaborating on a Smart Grid communications pilot program with Victoria Electric Cooperative. The pilot program, taking place in Victoria, Texas, deploys Trilliant’s multi-tier SecureMesh Smart Grid solution to deliver advanced utility services. Victoria Electric Cooperative covers 1,800 square miles located in Southeastern Texas and serves six counties with approximately Continue reading →
Verizon (News – Alert) Wireless and Consert Inc., an intelligent energy load management company, have helped members of two Texas utilities—Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative and Pedernales Electric Cooperative—to save as much as 17 percent on their power bills, according to early results of a pilot test. The two cooperatives, in partnership with the Lower Colorado River Authority, Continue reading →
TXU Energy plans to distribute 100,000 smart energy efficiency devices like high-tech thermostats in homes and businesses in Texas by 2012. To date, TXU has installed roughly 20,000 smart energy efficiency devices like the TXU Energy iThermostat, the first and only Web-enabled programmable thermostat in the Texas retail electric market. TXU said its online Energy Continue reading →
TXU Energy has announced a new multi-year purchase, installation, and service agreement with Comverge, Inc. The exclusive agreement enables TXU Energy to expand, with plans to deploy 100,000 smart energy efficiency devices such as TXU Energy iThermostats and TXU Energy PowerMonitors in homes and businesses throughout Texas by 2012. via TXU Signs Agreement with Comverge.
The Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC) announced on Thursday its plan to carry out a multi-pronged evaluation process for the independent testing of smart meters installed in the Texas competitive retail electric market. This action follows Oncor Electric Delivery’s announcement last week that it had incorrectly installed more than a thousand smart meters in central Continue reading →
CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric, LLC, a subsidiary of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE: CNP), joined other electric transmission and distribution utilities (TDUs) in Texas to launch the Smart Meter Texas common portal and data repository, which will give consumers in Texas with smart meters more control over their electricity use. CenterPoint Energy has installed and tested Continue reading →
KEMA (www.kema.com) completed its analysis of the smart energy market in Texas. Sponsored by many leading energy and technology companies in the US, the study examined residential customer awareness, acceptance and value of smart grid enabled electricity offers, home energy technologies and rate plans (“smart energy”). via KEMA Completes Study of Smart Energy Market.
