Grid Optimization

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A Synchrophasor Boom

It’s not just a cool word—synchrophasors are key to optimizing grid automation.

Five years ago, Roy Moxley could barely get anyone to listen as he preached about synchrophasors. Today, Moxley, a marketing manager for synchrophasors at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, can barely keep up with installation inquiries.

Integrating synchrophasor devices, a.k.a. phasor measurement units, is one focal point of updating high voltage substations into dynamic centers of real-time information. The devices, which sit in electrical… Read More ›

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How EVs Will Save the Smart Grid

Gimme my sports car and you can have all the upgrades you want.

What will happen if consumers in a particular geographic area like Berkeley, California and Marin County flock to electric cars -- and area utilities haven't really prepared for the exigencies of mass smart charging?

"Fireworks," said Andres Carvallo, chief strategy officer at Grid Net. Transformers could blow and start fires all over town. The ability to maintain power at hospitals and other mission-critical facilities could be… Read More ›

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Cisco’s Smart Grid Team Adds SCE Utility Exec

Utility execs and policy wonks are now a hot commodity at energy companies.

Paul De Martini joined the Cisco Smart Grid team as Chief Technology Officer in late April.  He left his position as VP Of Advanced Technology at Southern California Edison (SCE), where he led the utility's smart grid strategy, policy and technology development. 

It's a tipping point of sorts.

Utility executives, not known as the most adventuresome demographic, are now in demand and are moving into the private sector where they can leverage their… Read More ›

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The Networked Grid 2010: Speaker Lineup

Duke Energy, LADWP, PG&E, SCE, SDG&E, SMUD and more to speak at The Networked Grid 2010 on May 18th & 19th

Join industry visionaries from Accenture, Aclara, Balance Energy, Battery Ventures, Best Buy, Better Place, Cisco, Comverge, Control4, Coulomb Technologies, CPower, CPUC, The Demand Response & Smart Grid Coalition, Duke Energy, EcoFactor, EDSA, eMeter, EnergyHub, EnerNOC, Foundation Capital, Full Spectrum, GridPoint, Grid Net, The GridWise Alliance, IBM, Itron, Johnson Controls, LADWP, Marvell, MMB Research, Metrum Technologies, North Highland,… Read More ›

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Motorola Takes Minimalist Approach to Smart Grid

Rip out the floorboards and the passenger seat: how telecom equipment gets into smart grid.

It's like a WiMax router with all the extras stripped out.

Motorola is trying to gain ground in the smart grid market with a broadband access point -- and likely other pieces of equipment -- that is retrofitted for utility applications that, ideally, will make it less expensive for them to build and run their own networks.

The CAP 36320 is based around the 802.16e protocol, the same one used in WiMax equipment. But unlike WiMax equipment made… Read More ›

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Linking Smart Meters and Social Networks

Finland’s vision for the consumer smart grid treads where few countries dare to go: to micro grids and social networks

Finland has long been a leader with smart meters and smart grids. It is no surprise then the small Scandinavian country has big plans for its smart power infrastructure: the melding of smart grids, cloud computing and social networks.

The result could be a collection of virtual micro grids -- and more grassroots power management.
 
Finland's eagerness to deploy a modern energy infrastructure has much to do with the country's harsh winters. Energy… Read More ›

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Arcadian Builds the Grid’s “Network of Networks”

There’s going to be a lot more data coming at the utility.  And utilities tend to have competencies in energy distribution, not in information networking.

Over the years, utilities have built a quilt of networks with a mix of protocols and standards.   One wouldn't call these utility networks designed -- they just sort of sprouted up.  Many utilities have joined substations to their back offices via landline phone networks or modems or cellular networks.

If the electrical grid of the future is genuinely going to be smart, it means there's going to be a lot more data coming at the utility.  And… Read More ›

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Cooper Acquires Eka Systems’ Assets

Cooper Power Systems builds out its AMI networking with Eka’s wireless technologies.

Eka Systems unloaded all of its assets to Cooper Industries today, a move that will give the industrial manufacturing giant another puzzle piece in its smart grid portfolio.

The details of the transaction were not disclosed, but Eka Systems’ open-network wireless networking technologies will be folded into Cooper’s Energy Automation Solutions platform, which currently offers power line carrier systems for advanced metering infrastructure and… Read More ›

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GE: Waiting for WiMax

GE stands behind WiMax in the smart grid, sees costs dropping.

Utilities were excited at first by the high-bandwidth, long-haul capabilities of the wireless communications technology WiMax in the smart grid.

That excitement has waned. High costs and coverage gaps led many to favor alternatives for tasks other than simple "backhaul" data transmission to and from local collection points.

WiMax supporter General Electric seems to acknowledge the more limited role for the technology, long championed by… Read More ›

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SmartSynch Announces Smart Grid Communications Coalition

The GridRouter Ecosystem coalition hopes to move the grid away from proprietary networks.

Coalitions appear to be the spring fashion trend for smart grid. After a recent announcement of a customer coalition, SmartSynch has announced GridRouter EcoSystem, a communications group with the mission to establish an interoperable, IP-based communications network for the grid.

The coalition is an integral part of SmartSynch’s GridRouter, a modular, standards-based networking device that can handle virtually any communications protocol and… Read More ›

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Cisco Invests in Grid Net

The networking giant reaches out to the broadband grid start-up.

Cisco has made an equity investment for an undisclosed amount in Grid Net, a move that will give a boost to both in the grid.

Grid Net wants to build broadband networks to connect utilities and their customers. Right now, the company primarily makes equipment and other technology based around WiMax, the long-range broadband protocol originally seen as a successor to Wi-Fi. Grid Net, however, also has plans to adopt high-speed cellular… Read More ›

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EMeter Gets New CEO As Colonization From IT World Nears Completion

Gary Bloom, the old Veritas CEO and Symantec President, goes grid.

Another day, another CEO from the IT world coming to energy.

Gary Bloom, the former CEO of Veritas and more recently the president of virus software specialist Symantec, is the new CEO of eMeter. The company makes software that helps utilities analyze the data from consumers' homes, transformers, and other pieces of equipment. IBM has begun to pre-bundle the software on servers and will help eMeter promote its software in the market. Former CEO… Read More ›

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How EV-Ready is America?

The Rocky Mountain Institute takes a look. The short answer: it varies, but a lot of improvement is needed.

The success of electric vehicles depends on a number of variables, including a robust charging infrastructure, consumer education and government support. The Rocky Mountain Institute's Project Get Ready is preparing cities throughout North America by convening regional stakeholders to make their cities EV-friendly.

PGR partner cities start with "the menu," a list of 15 mandatory and 10 optional actions a city can take to become EV-ready, such as… Read More ›

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Registration Open for The Networked Grid 2010

Smart grid visionaries converge in Palm Springs, CA on May 18th & 19th.

The electric power industry is rapidly moving beyond the smart meter to that of an information-rich networked grid. Between 2010 and 2020, power grids around the globe will be transformed through a series of stages driven by the availability of infrastructure technology and application market demand. Everything from improved power quality and reduction in peak demand to the integration of distributed generation resources and EVs will influence… Read More ›

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Utilities AEP, FPL Agree on Nukes, CCS and CO2

And on the cluelessness of U.S. energy policy.

Santa Barbara, CA -- The CEOs and Chairmen of two of the largest utilities in the United States were brought together on stage this morning in Southern California at the Wall Street Journal ECO:nomics event.  Although there are large differences in where and how they source their respective fuels and feedstocks, when it comes to the subject of nuclear power, clean coal, carbon capture, carbon and government sloth -- they tended to be in violent… Read More ›

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With SmartGridCity in Place, the Focus Shifts to Applications

Everyone’s favorite smart grid project rolls on.

The focus of Colorado's SmartGridCity project is shifting from infrastructure to applications.

Colorado regulators have reiterated that Xcel Energy may charge customers to recover $11 million on the project, which enables grid customers in Boulder to monitor and control their power usage to an unprecedented degree. But they rejected the utility's plea to avoid a new proceeding that could result in a requirement that Xcel refund at least some of… Read More ›

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Bloom Energy Launch at eBay

Michael Kanellos reports from the Bloom Energy unveiling.

Michael Kanellos, now a celebrity, is dining on watercress sandwiches and champagne with Silicon Valley glitterati at the Bloom Energy unveiling.  His minions are sending me cryptic transcripts of his pronouncements while I sit in the sub-basement of the Greentech Media headquarters, chained to a desk.

Here are his notes:

• Bloom Energy's CEO K.R. Sridhar says that the "Bloom Box" fuel cells can produce power for 9 to 10 cents a kilowatt hour… Read More ›

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Video: The Bloom Box Lands, and the Unanswered Questions Are…

You’ve heard of the Bloom Box. Here’s the video.

After nearly nine years, Bloom Energy has finally publicly shown off its fuel cell that it says could replace a large hunk of the grid someday. And here it is:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

The Bloom Box -- which now costs $700,000 to $800,000 -- is essentially a device for making electricity on demand. Methane or other hydrocarbons are fed into the device along with oxygen, and the mixture is heated to around 1,000 degrees Celsius. As… Read More ›

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The 2010 North American Utility Smart Grid Deployment Survey

GTM Research polls utility smart-grid decision makers on deployment plans.

GTM Research, the market research arm of Greentech Media, today announced the availability of The 2010 North American Utility Smart Grid Deployment Survey, a comprehensive analysis of the trends emerging as utilities across the continent roll out smarter grids. The report is available individually or as part of a newly launched smart grid research annual subscription service.

77% of utilities polled rank distribution automation as the top… Read More ›