Smart Grid Update - End Use

Jumbled regulation at heart of Australian smart grid market dip

Susan Kraemer — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 15:43:17 +0000

Précis:

A new Frost & Sullivan study predicts that Australian smart grid revenues will actually shrink by more than a third over the next few years. We look at the reasons why and if there is a chance for smart grid recovery.

By Susan Kraemer

According to the research report, Frost & Sullivan: High Costs, Uncertain Returns Curb Utilities' Investments in Australian Smart Grid Market, a lack of specific payback periods is stalling potential smart grid deployments.

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2nd Annual Smart Grid Distribution Automation 2013

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Intelligence Brief – 17 – 30 January 2013

Heba Hashem — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 14:51:53 +0000

Précis:

OATI completes phase one of Smart House

Companies mentioned: Atmel Corporation, Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative, Exegin Technologies Ltd, Atlantic Wind Connection, Trans-Elect, Atlantic Grid Development, Google, Bregal Energy, Marubeni Corp., Elia, EnVerv, Bechtel, Alstom, Open Access Technology International, Silver Spring Networks, Oklahoma Gas & Electric, Smarter Grid Solutions, Capgemini.

Intelligence Brief – 17 – 30 January 2013

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2nd Annual Smart Grid Distribution Automation 2013

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Weekly Intelligence Brief 8 – 16 January 2013

ksdicks — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 05:59:16 +0000

Précis:

Asia: DA to attract highest investment

Companies and organisations mentioned: Zpryme, The State Grid Corporation of China, Kahramaa Renewable Energy, Iberdola, Tatung, Arkados, Sensus, LGrange, Survalent Technology, Greenfield Power & Light

Weekly Intelligence Brief 8 – 16 January 2013

Asia: Distribution automation to attract highest investment

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2nd Annual Smart Grid Distribution Automation 2013

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Weekly Intelligence Brief 12 – 18 December 2012

Katherine Steiner-Dicks — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 14:59:40 +0000

Précis:

EU funds €8.2m for Belgian smart grid Companies and organisations mentioned: EU NER 300 Scheme, Oracle, DataRaker, SAP, GE Energy Financial Services, Linden Variable Frequency Transformer (VFT), Elster, Alstom Grid, SICAE

Weekly Intelligence Brief 12 – 18 December 2012

EU funds €8.2m for Belgian smart grid

The European Union will be funding more than €1.2bn (US$1.6bn) to accelerate renewable generation projects, including €8.2m for a smart grid scheme in Belgium, and more than €200m for concentrated solar power (CSP) projects in Greece and Cyprus.

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2nd Annual Smart Grid Distribution Automation 2013

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Weekly Intelligence Brief 28 November – 5 December 2012

ksdicks — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 16:39:46 +0000

Précis:

Verdeeco to raise second round of funding Companies and organisations mentioned: Verdeeco, Atlanta Technology Angels, Auburn Angel Network, Upper Carolina Angel Network, Iberdola, Kahramaa, Itron, Deutsche Telekom, Clean Energy Trust, Argonne National Laboratory

Other companies and organisations mentioned: US Department of Energy, Dell Pecan Street, The Joint Center for Energy Storage and Research

Weekly Intelligence Brief 28 November – 5 December 2012

Verdeeco to raise second round of funding

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2nd Annual Smart Grid Distribution Automation 2013

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Weekly Intelligence Brief 22 – 28 November 2012

Katherine Steiner-Dicks — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:33:51 +0000

Précis:

Consert on selling block Companies and organisations mentioned: Consert, Siemens Infrastructure & Cities, SWK, Baltimore Gas and Electricity, Dong Energy, SEV, Energinet.dk, Frauenhofer IWES, Red Eléctrica de España, Twenties Project

Weekly Intelligence Brief 22 – 28 November 2012

Consert on selling block

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Social housing smart meter project to test behavioural change

Elisabeth Jeffries — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 11:56:53 +0000

Précis:

If it could be proved that users could slash their monthly bills without spending a cent, energy efficiency might become the next big thing to consumer energy and power efficiency. An EU project known as ICE-WISH focusing on user behaviour is investigating precisely this issue.

Running in social housing developments in ten European countries, the EU-led ICE-WISH project will test how far the use of smart meters and ICT alone (as opposed to installing insulation or double glazing) will cut bills. The aim is to reduce energy and water consumption by no less than 15% without making living conditions uncomfortable.

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Weekly Intelligence Brief 14 – 21 November 2012

ksdicks — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 11:32:56 +0000

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Itron names Philip Mezey new CEO; MD software Companies and organisations mentioned: Itron, Percepscion, Florida Power and Light, Panasonic

Weekly Intelligence Brief 14 – 21 November 2012

Itron names Philip Mezey CEO

Itron has appointed Philip Mezey as the company’s president and chief executive officer and has been named to Itron’s board of directors, succeeding LeRoy Nosbaum. Mezey will assume his new role January 1, 2013.

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Weekly Intelligence Brief 8 – 15 November 2012

Katherine Steiner-Dicks — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 03:38:48 +0000

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SDG&E launches nation’s largest smart grid OMS Companies and organisations mentioned: San Diego Gas & Electric, Telvent, Swedish Energy Agency, Vattenfall, BC Hydro

Other companies mentioned: B.C. Utilities Commission, RF Micro Devices, Continental Automated Buildings Association, EnTouch, Green Mountain Energy, NV Energy, EcoFactor, Reliant, Comcast

Weekly Intelligence Brief 8 – 15 November 2012

SDG&E launches nation’s largest smart grid OMS

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Weekly Intelligence Brief 25 October – 1 November 2012

Susan Kraemer — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 06:16:15 +0000

Précis:

China to lead world’s demand for energy storage Companies and organisations mentioned: GTM research, Azure International, IBM, Duke Energy, Bidgely, Mercom Capital Group, Stem

Weekly Intelligence Brief 25 October – 1 November 2012

China to lead world’s demand for energy storage

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DOE says consumer engagement 'top priority' for utilities

John Johnson — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 16:38:22 +0000

Précis:

Utilities are spending billions on technology infrastructure and smart grid systems. But unless consumers engage with the new programmes offered by utilities, the investments will be for naught.

To fully gain the benefits of smart grid tools like smart meters, consumer’s must embrace new billing methods and new data on usage designed to help them use less energy and to use it during non-peak hours.

Role of DOE as Educator

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Weekly Intelligence Brief 17 October – 24 October 2012

ksdicks — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 12:05:08 +0000

Précis:

Siemens first to surgically target demand reductions Companies and organisations mentioned: Siemens Smart Grid, U-dub, US Department of Energy, University of Washington, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority

Other companies and organisations mentioned: Kansas State University, NEC, Enel, PowerSecure, Telvent, Unison Networks, Entegrus Powerlines

Weekly Intelligence Brief 17 October – 24 October 2012

Siemens Smart Grid first to ‘surgically’ target demand reductions

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Weekly Intelligence Brief 9 October – 17 October 2012

ksdicks — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 09:10:42 +0000

Précis:

EPB Chattanooga sees $1.4m smart grid ROI Companies and organisations mentioned: EPB Chattanooga, Itron C3 Energy, Navasota Valley Electric Cooperative (NVEC), Sensus, Duke Energy, Consolidated Edison, Vermont Electric Cooperative, Apex, Siemens Industry, Hewitt, Pedal Valves

Weekly Intelligence Brief 9 October – 17 October 2012

EPB Chattanooga sees $1.4m smart grid ROI

Tennessee utility EPB Chattanooga has reported monetary savings on its smart grid investment, according a Greentechmedia report.

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Weekly Intelligence Brief 27 September – 10 October 2012

ksdicks — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 10:53:43 +0000

Précis:

Chevy Volt owners to test energy comparison app Companies and organisations mentioned: OnStar, General Motors, Pecan Street Smart Grid Demo Project, Echelon, Zhejiang Echelon Holley Technology, China State Grid, Luxoft, Ambient, Aricent Group, Texas Instruments

Weekly Intelligence Brief 27 September – 10 October 2012

Chevy Volt owners get killer energy comparison app

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Latin America: How could this market's peculiarities impact smart meter and grid growth?

Jason Deign — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 07:44:08 +0000

Précis:

Smart grids are taking off in a big way in Latin America. Do not expect users to be aware of it yet, though.

Not going far enough: that was the analyst view in August when Brazil’s energy regulator announced measures to create a USD$670m-a-year smart meter market.

The Agencia Nacional de Energia Electrica ordained the introduction of smart meters, but only for new installations from February 2014, and not at all for low-income households.

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Case Study : New Jersey’s Atlantic City Electric $37.4m distribution automation project

John Johnson — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 02:01:25 +0000

Précis:

Atlantic City Electric's $37.4m DA project is set to help customers conserve energy. Part of that plan includes deploying 25,000 power demand-limiting devices, intelligent grid sensors, distribution automation technology and other grid communication infrastructure.

A rough estimate for residential, commercial, and industrial worldwide consumption of air conditioning is at the very least one trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity per annum, according to research conducted by Stan Cox, a senior scientist at the US non-profit Land Institute in Salina, Kansas and author of Losing Our Cool: Uncomfortable Truths About Our Air-Conditioned World (and Finding New Ways To Get Through the Summer).

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Weekly Intelligence Brief 13 – 19 September 2012

ksdicks — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 07:36:36 +0000

Précis:

Data Analytics spend to hit $34bn by 2020 Companies and organisations mentioned: Pike Research, Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, ComEd, Metadigm Services, Georgia Power, Nighthawk, McWane

Weekly Intelligence Brief 13 – 19 September 2012

Data Analytics spend to hit $34bn by 2020

The worldwide market for smart grid data analytics is expected to grow steadily through 2020, with cumulative worldwide spending from 2012 through 2020 totaling just over $34bn, said a new report from Pike Research.

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Weekly Intelligence Brief 19 August –26 August 2012

ksdicks — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 09:42:01 +0000

Précis:

Cisco brings smart grid technology to Philippines Companies mentioned: Meralco, Cisco, Alstom Grid, Toshiba, Sensus, Texas Instruments, ComEd, Exelon, Maryland Public Service Commission, Peco Energy, Baltimore Gas and Electric, ABB, Tropos

Weekly Intelligence Brief 19 August – 5 September 2012

Cisco brings smart grid technology to Philippines

Manila Electric Company (Meralco), the Philippines' largest distributor of electrical power, and Cisco are collaborating to provide reliable computing and networking infrastructure as a foundation for operations on a smart grid.

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Weekly Intelligence Brief 9 – 15 August 2012

Susan Kraemer — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 10:04:40 +0000

Précis:

FortisBC look to Cisco GridBlocks to smarten grid Companies mentioned: FortisBC, Itron, Cisco, Petra Solar, Mitsui, Viridity Energy, Saft S.A., GridSense

Weekly Intelligence Brief 9 – 15 August 2012

FortisBC look to Cisco GridBlocks to smarten grid

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Weekly Intelligence Brief 26 July – 1 August 2012

Susan Kraemer — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 07:47:04 +0000

Précis:

China, UK team up on next gen energy storage Companies mentioned: University of Leeds, Chinese Academy of Sciences, BMW i Ventures, Coulomb Technologies, Azure, GTM Research, GM, OnStar, A123 Systems, ERCOT

Weekly Intelligence Brief 26 July – 1 August 2012

China, UK team up on next gen energy storage

The University of Leeds and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have teamed up to create a joint research institute to develop next generation energy storage systems.To overcome the drawbacks of current energy storage options, the new institute will focus on thermal and mechanical based energy storage technologies.

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Wind power storage keeps Alaska out of the cold

Susan Kraemer — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 07:27:38 +0000

Précis:

Alaskans could get used to local wind power and smart distributed storage if it means finding a cheaper and cleaner alternative to expensive diesel oil.

Paying over the odds

Alaskans living in four isolated villages will soon be heating their homes with local wind power using smart distributed storage. The power will be stored in grid-interactive thermal energy storage devices funded by a grant from Alaska’s Emerging Energy Technology Grant Fund to the Chaninik Wind Group.

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Weekly Intelligence Brief 11 – 18 July 2012

ksdicks — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 05:49:14 +0000

Précis:

Smart storage maker Silent Power offers twofer with SolarOne PV Mentioned: Silent Power, Hanwa SolarOne, U.S. Department of Energy, General Compression, Conoco Phillips, ARPA-E, Eos Energy Storage, Pike Research, Central Power Distribution Company

Weekly Intelligence Brief 11 – 18 July 2012

Silent Power offers twofer with SolarOne PV

Minnesota-based energy storage manufacturer Silent Power will team up with Korea’s Hanwha SolarOne, bundling the SolarOne PV panels together with Silent Power’s distributed smart-grid-enabled energy storage device as a bundled option for consumers, for the residential, commercial and industrial markets.

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Commercial roofs reduce peak demand with “nega-watt” peaker plant made of ice

Susan Kraemer — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 05:26:45 +0000

Précis:

We look into US-based Ice Energy's technology which is offering a simple and effective way to reduce peak demand electricity use and just with a click of a mouse and a block of ice.

Imagine if a utility could control a small army of rooftop load-shaving units, reducing peak demand at the click of a mouse. That is what Ice Energy offers, with an elegantly simple idea. Boxes of ice on commercial roofs, frozen at night using off-peak power, can be unleashed in droves by utilities to cool buildings throughout a district during the hottest part of the day, cutting peak load.

Big deal

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Weekly Intelligence Brief 5 - 11 July 2012

ksdicks — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 10:29:11 +0000

Précis:

OECD urges utilities to change tariffs to support smart grids Companies mentioned: Smart Grid Billing, Greenstart Incubator Program, EPB, Zpryme, DECC, GlobalData, and American Reinvestment and Recovery Act

Weekly Intelligence Brief 5 - 11 July 2012

OECD urges utilities to change tariffs to support smart grids

The OECD's International Transport Forum has published a report that recommends that governments or network controllers change the tariff pattern of electricity pricing to encourage the take-up of smart grid technologies and the use of electric vehicles for supplying power to the grid.

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The Innovators' Roundtable

Elisabeth Jeffries — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 11:33:08 +0000

Précis:

Smart Grid Update asks three innovators about how they envisage things could be changed to improve grid capacity, consumer engagement and energy efficiency and pricing.

As defensive as a hilltop fortress, the typical utility is under attack by a nimble group of raiders challenging prejudice about grid capacity, consumer engagement and energy. Convinced business growth cannot be achieved without new grid capacity? Talk to Alan Gooding, MD of Scottish company Smarter Grid Solutions, who says “we’ve solved the technical problems of getting more power through the wires.”

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Weekly Intelligence Brief 20 – 27 June 2012

ksdicks — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 13:42:15 +0000

Précis:

ERCOT board approves DR pilot programme Companies mentioned: ERCOT, NetComm, Grid Net, ENBALA, Illinois Commerce Commission, Commonwealth Edison, Association for Demand Response & Smart Grid, EnerNOC, SecureState and Mouser Electronics

Weekly Intelligence Brief 20 – 27 June 2012

ERCOT board approves DR pilot

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) board of directors at its June meeting approved a new pilot project to help reduce demand on the electric grid when electric use is high and power supplies are tight.

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Data Management and Analytics for Utilities

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Texas heats up EV viability for utilities

Susan Kraemer — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 11:50:21 +0000

Précis:

SmartGridUpdate speaks to ECOtality’s Dave Aasheim, who is managing a free EV charging station rollout in Texas, following up on news we covered about an electricity plan being tried in Texas to encourage EV adoption, offering free night time electricity.

The US Department of Energy is testing smart grid technology on an array of responsive assets like electric vehicle chargers to assess how to improve future grid efficiency and reliability. With the EV Project, ECOTality has been partly federally funded to install free electric vehicle chargers at workplaces, if employees want them, in return for gathering data to find out how best to rollout the electric vehicle infrastructure.

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Data Management and Analytics for Utilities

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Weekly Intelligence Brief 13 – 20 June 2012

ksdicks — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 11:18:15 +0000

Précis:

Private equity firm makes play for Elster Companies mentioned: Elster, Bayard Capital, Melrose, Nation-E, LS Group, Ultra Electronics, 3eTI, NuEnergen, US Navy, GTM Research, Cognyst Advisors, Landis+Gyr and GTM Research

Weekly Intelligence Brief 13 – 20 June 2012

Private equity firm makes play for Elster

German smart meter manufacturer, Elster Group, has confirmed that it is discussing an acquisition offer made British manufacturing sector buy-out firm, Melrose.

The initial bid is for £1.27bn, however, the company is undergoing due diligence.

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Data Management and Analytics for Utilities

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Weekly Intelligence Brief 31 May – 6 June 2012

ksdicks — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 13:27:50 +0000

Précis:

Echelon launches smart meter enabled grid sensor Companies mentioned: Echelon, Pike Research, Northeast Group, GRID 20/20, GRIDiant, Trilliant, Comintel, Tenaga Nasional Berhad Research, Telvent, Microsoft, and National Oil and Gas Authority of Bahrain

Weekly Intelligence Brief 31 May – 6 June 2012

Echelon launches smart meter enabled grid sensor

Echelon, a specialist company in energy control networking for smart grid, smart city and smart building applications, has launched a new Control Operating System (COS) software for its smart meter portfolio.

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Data Management and Analytics for Utilities

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