Every major milestone in our nation's history has occurred because someone had a vision and the grit and determination to do something about it. The railroads, the telephones, the Internet - they all happened because of visionaries and believers. The same will be said of the Smart Grid.
Smart grid companies at a glance
Click below for news and commentary about some of the industry's leading smart grid companies.
If you like what we’re doing here at Smart Grid News, we’re hoping you might take a moment to spread the word. If you don't like what we're doing, well, we need to hear that too. Click inside to see what we have in mind.
How are we going to turn our frail and neglected electric power transmission system into a secure and reliable smart grid? It’s a critical and timely issue, which is why we’ve loaded this toolkit with some of the best analysis, most-promising trends and smartest research relating to next steps in electric power transmission.
Nearly 7,000 votes later and we have the results of our third annual Smart Grid Companies to Watch search. Did Smart Grid News readers get it right? Click to see the top 12 companies they believe will be doing big things in 2012.
An announcement today related to Pennsylvanian demand response has implications far beyond that state. The use of incentives and targeting midsize commercial are just two of the emerging trends we think you'll be interested in.
Siemens snaps up RuggedCom, a maker of hardened routers for substations. ABB snags Thomas & Betts, a maker of old-school low voltage gear. Valuations on these two recent deals may signal a new strategic phase of particular interest to smaller suppliers. Click for more on that, plus concerns about the Siemens deal from long-time industry analyst Chuck Newton.
A recent IBM global survey showed that up to three-quarters of consumers are concerned about the confidentiality and security of home energy use data. What to do? Matt Futch, Global Policy Director with IBM Energy & Utilities, argues that appropriately designed industry practices and regulatory guidance can help the energy ecosystem protect sensitive information. Click for his examples of how and where it's already happening.
The big event in San Antonio may be over, but we've got wrap-ups you won't want to miss. Click for notes and whispers from our many one-on-ones with industry execs, for a new smart grid implementation survey released by Microsoft and OSIsoft, plus videos from the show floor (including a demo of EPRI's new insulator robot named Ike).
What's the word from smart grid companies hunkered down in San Antonio this week? Click for a quick look at our latest batch of announcements from DistribuTECH, including a partnership between BMW and Tendril, a new integrated solution from S&C and Alstom Grid and project awards for AEP Ohio and other utilities.
You may have been thinking it, but Eran Ofir comes right out and says it: The single greatest roadblock to smart grid in the U.S. is regulation.The Convergys GM calls it a classic case of market need and technology outpacing the 'historic residue' of existing regulatory policy. Click to read what he says utilities should do right now to fix things.
Which smart grid companies have the potential to do big things in 2012? That's what the Smart Grid News 12 in 2012 is all about - and now it's time to narrow the list of 26 reader-nominated contenders to 12. Click to vote for the company you think most deserves to be on our collective radar as 2012 progresses.
You don't have to be at DistribuTECH to stay on top of the news; the PR machine has been spewing out announcements for days now. We've sifted through dozens of releases and pulled out the announcements we didn't think you'd want to miss. Click for details on Itron's new analytic apps to help utilities take advantage of smart grid data, for Opower's new Marketplace service at Home Depot, for the latest from Lockheed Martin, IBM, Honeywell and many others.
Utilities facing the challenges of an aging/retiring workforce and an aging infrastructure can find themselves dealing with problematic feeders that require too much time and attention. With launch of its Intelligent Distribution Sensor product line, CURRENT is offering a solution - and Pepco is taking them up on it with a rollout planned for its Washington, D.C. service area.
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.
If Silver Spring Networks' just-announced fourth generation networking technology does everything the company says it can, they've created what utilities have always wanted but didn't know to ask for - any transport. With Gen4, Silver Spring has simultaneously addressed the issues with current RF mesh by increasing its speed and capacity and has also integrated cellular. Click for more on this important development that leapfrogs Silver Spring to the head of the innovation pack.
CURRENT has had a rough time of it in the U.S., but is making inroads in Europe. The company has been selected by Spain's Iberdrola to provide advanced metering, transformer supervision and network communications there this year.
Today we're featuring the fifth and final installment in our series highlighting the reader-nominated companies up for consideration as 2012 Smart Grid Companies to Watch. Did your favorites make the list? Click to see the final four companies that made it through the first cut and on to next week's voting round.
A tool from GE that spots grid stress sooner and two new security solutions from Tropos Networks are featured in today's installment of our Discovery Showcase series. Click for a look at seven new product releases from some leading smart grid vendors (and a couple you may not have heard of - yet anyway). And a special bonus: A free tool from EPRI that helps you evaluate electricity generation technologies.
Industry heavyweights ABB and Nissan and others are partnering to test retired lithium-ion battery packs from Nissan Leaf EVs for commercial and residential energy storage applications. Click to read how the companies hope to get a second bang for the buck out of the batteries.
A new partnership between Clevest Solutions (field force automation) and In Motion Technology (field force wireless communications) provides a glimpse of a likely future for utility workers.
We're highlighting the smart grid companies SGN readers nominated as Smart Grid Companies to Watch in 2012. Click for the fourth installment featuring five companies that have made it through the first cut and will move on to the voting round.
These are slides Cisco presented to analysts when the company announced its GridBlocks reference architecture, the focus of which is to provide utilities a single communications platform for all their smart grid needs.
Which companies have the potential to be the 2012 smart grid superstars? That's what our annual Smart Grid Companies to Watch search is all about. Click to see five more reader-nominated companies that made it through the first cut and into the voting round.
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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