Sierra Middle School on Thursday unveiled its $200,000 solar power system courtesy of a PG&E grant that will power about 20 classrooms, lower the campus’ overall energy bill and will be used as a catalyst for “green” education. The school also celebrated its new title — “California Solar Schools Model” — the first in PG&E’s Continue reading →
value
According to Greenbiz’s Michael Ellis, the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) featured a wide assortment of home energy management systems. As Ellis put it, “the home energy management ecosystem is rife with competition across the entire value chain, creating a range of viable solutions for consumers”. Savant Systems is just one company among many to Continue reading →
Demand Response is evolving and, as markets continue to change across the United States, it will evolve from a resource of last resort to one with market value, just like generation. In the past, demand response has been used as an emergency response for reliability by electric utilities. Today, though, it has the ability to Continue reading →
Eyeing the global market for smart grids that will hit US$183.6 billion in the next 20 years, Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs has drafted a 20-year industrial development project with a huge investment of up to NT$150 billion, aiming to build a smart-grid industry on the island with annual output value of over NT$1 trillion Continue reading →
As utilities roll out Smart Grids, they are working more closely with telecommunication providers than ever before. For many in the energy industry, however, that relationship begins and ends with communications. In fact, communications is just one small part of the story. As the Smart Grid evolves—and as utilities’ data center and security requirements evolve Continue reading →
You can generally break the smart grid companies below into three groups – device connectivity, smart grid system architecture, and intelligence driven value. A couple are trying to do it all. Those with focus are moving faster and may provide for sector consolidation in the future. The real “smart” in the grid only comes after Continue reading →
A wide-ranging conversation yesterday with IBM’s Jeff Katz, chief technology officer for energy and utilities, produced a few nuggets I thought I’d share today. One of the themes of the conversation was that technology and systems implementations need to be fully exploited for their value, value that’s not always originally anticipated. Conversely, without a holistic Continue reading →
The bad news is smart grids could open up utilities to a whole host of new threats. The good news is they already know that, and may even be able to turn security into a value add. via Smart Grid: Are utilities preparing for the security threats? | Smart Grid Update.
AFL has entered into a marketing agreement with LightRiver Technologies to be a value-add partner with utilities in North America and to offer a complete communications network solution for the growing Smart Grid market. via AFL Partners with LightRiver Technologies.
Demand response (DR) continues to evolve as the smart grid’s “killer application”, leveraging technology infrastructure to deliver measurable value to utilities, grid operators, and customers alike. The demand response market encompasses hardware, software, and services, but it is the services sector that is defining the future direction of the business, both within the United States Continue reading →
Energy storage is generally considered a critical tool for integrating intermittent renewables into the electric grid and maximizing their value. The wind doesn’t blow constantly and the sun doesn’t shine all the time, and neither cooperates with peak demand. As a result, the quest for reliable, practical solutions has boomed and grid-scale storage is coming 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.
