Implementation of the Smart Grid requires sophisticated business and financial planning. This section highlights tools and case studies from the pioneers already leading the way.
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Texas and Oklahoma are pretty low in the rankings of energy efficient states. But a group of companies, including electric service providers cooperatives, retailers, manufacturers have joined forces to push for advanced building systems and energy-efficient products and services in the region. There's more on the new coalition inside.
You'll be hearing a lot more about Big Data - and chances are some of it will come from state regulators. IBM's Sunil Soares expects PUCs will become increasingly assertive about protecting consumers' privacy rights in the context of Big Data. That's one reason, he says, utilities need to heed governance best practices for smart meter data. He suggests four you ought to start with.
DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory is building a series of interconnected laboratories where researchers will be able to test new technologies on simulated and real power systems before plugging them into the electric grid. Get more on the story inside.
SGN Chief Analyst Jesse Berst shares a glimpse of a new state-of-the-art transmission control center, which he sees as a view into the future – and the future of distribution operations as well. Click inside to find out why.
Attracting venture capital for your company can be a tricky business, particularly if you don't know what investors are looking for and what they want to hear. Guest contributor Christopher Noonan shares advice from the pros on what to bring to the table.
Smart cities are about sharing data, and UISOL is working to make it easy for utilities to share data back and forth with a city's emergency responders. It's a perfect illustration of the evolution to smart cities and the role of the smart grid as a necessary foundation for smart cities. Click for a look at how the pieces fit together.
This presentation from Utility Integration Solutions (USIOL) examines how utilities could share data back and forth with a city's emergency responders, part of the evolution to smart cities.
Aclara and Calico Energy Services put their heads together and have come up with an innovative approach to demand-side programs that is, as SGN's Jesse Berst sees it, more powerful and more simple. Get more on the story inside.
Sprint's smart grid ambitions just got a major show of support with the announcement that four companies will directly support its cellular network, including Itron and Silver Spring Networks. SGN Chief Analyst Jesse Berst offers some perspective on what could be on the horizon for cellular communications and the smart grid.
The story of Tantalus illustrates two important trends. One is the proliferation of hybrid, mix-and-match communications systems that combine multiple pathways. The other is the growing focus on municipals and coops as the next frontier for smart grid innovation. Click for a close-up on what this intriguing Vancouver, B.C.-based smart grid communications company is doing - and why.
A major announcement today by networking giant Cisco will propel the smart grid (finally!) into truly plug-and-play, truly interoperable smart grid. Everybody needs to study what it means and quickly or risk being stranded on a proprietary island. Utilities need to decide whether to adopt some or all of the ideas embodied in Cisco's new reference architecture. Vendors need to decide whether to plug into the Cisco world, or to find another home. It's all inside, including details on the framework, on Cisco's new line of business, its new hardware and its intriguing new software.
In today's Discovery Showcase installment, SGN Chief Analyst Jesse Berst introduces a Silicon Valley startup and its first smart grid mission: to build a better, more integrated demand response. Click to learn how AutoGrid intends to lower the cost of demand response by 90% while increasing efficiency 30%.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo called this week for a roadmap to set up an "electricity highway" from areas with excess generating capacity and resources to help the downstate region which has extensive energy needs. Read the story for more on the governor's remarks and a state smart grid initiative.
The U.S. economy reigned supreme in the 20th century, but as the 21st century approached, alarms began to sound about the U.S. economy’s ability to remain in this preeminent position as incomes stagnated and job growth slowed. The America COMPETES Reauthorization Act, signed into law January 4, 2012, instructed the U.S. Department of Commerce to evaluate the country's economic competitiveness and innovative capacity. The resulting report stresses an urgent need to upgrade the country's infrastructure, and lists the smart grid as a critical example.
To a certain segment of the U.S. population, saving money and debt control is a top priority, driving their do-it-yourself home improvement projects, energy savings and interest in smart grid pricing programs. In today's post, Patty Durand of the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative paints a fascinating picture of the so-called "DIY & Save" segment and explains how their frugal mindset impacts their support of smart grid programs.
Two recent wins for General Electric's Grid IQ offering signal not just where GE is headed. They also suggest two important trends for 2012. First, the move to "cloud-based" hosted services is under way in earnest. Second, many of the sector's biggest players are targeting coops and municipals for their next round of deals. Click for more on these trends and a look at how they are playing out at munis in Georgia and Florida.
Tendril is sweetening the pot in its efforts to entice developers to come up with third-party applications for the smart grid and smart home on its cloud-based platform. Click to learn about Tendril's new web site for app developers and its contest featuring $5,000 in prize money.
Global wind energy capacity jumped 22% between 2009 and the end of 2010, but the electric industry still has daunting challenges to integrate it effectively, according to a study from Alstom Grid. The report provides plenty of interesting reading in the form of findings and recommendations.
If you could wave a magic wand and accomplish one thing in the smart grid space this year, what would it be? Finish standards? Improve smart grid technology? Create a policy framework that states can work toward? Or...? That is this week's Tuesday Topic in our discussion forum. Please join in.
A new study forecasts the global smart grid market will grow in double digits the next few years. So if your New Year's resolution is to be part of that, we've got a few ideas for you - from scholarships and fellowships to training programs and where to find jobs.
During the course of the year we've asked SGN readers to weigh in on an assortment of smart grid topics – from Cisco's role in the smart grid hierarchy to the world's top smart metering company. Click inside where we've compiled results from six of our most popular polls of 2011.
There's been yet another twist in the seemingly never-ending saga of Pacific Gas & Electric's scuffle with customers who, citing health concerns, don't want smart meters anywhere near their homes. The utility submitted a proposal to the California Public Utilities Commission on Monday to allow customers to keep their old analog meters. Click for more on this major course change.
It is an evolutionary shift for a utility to go from serving all customers the same smart grid message and program to tailoring the message and offering based on customers' needs, wants, habits and practices. Yet some utilities are already doing it successfully. Patty Durand of the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative highlights their strategies.
New research says the world's cities are failing their citizens by failing to capture the full value of infrastructure and data. Although the report's lessons apply to any kind of smart technology, they are directly relevant to the challenges faced by many of today's smart grid efforts – a valuable heads-up for utilities on the new demands and new pressures coming their way. Click inside for details and to download the report.
Cities are already making investments in low carbon ‘smart’ services from cycle hire schemes to real time transportation apps, and are increasingly the site for smart grid and distributed electricity generation pilot projects. But the explosion in access to data – 400% growth since 2005 – means that more low carbon services could be developed today. To make this opportunity real, cities can set ambitious visions, measure track and manage their progress to sustainability goals enabled by the digital infrastructure, and test new business models to scale up solutions.
We're getting mixed signals about the vitality of the smart grid market. On the one hand, the recent DistribuTECH conference was one of the most successful ever. On the other, a well-known Wall Street analyst recently told his clients that the smart metering sector is "facing several headwinds," including weak regulatory support in the U.S. and delays in European adoption. Taking the pulse of the smart grid industry is this week's Tuesday Topic.
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