As the Smart Grid moves from concept to reality, it will not be business-as-usual for the world’s electric utilities. The utility sector will change more in the next 10 years than it has in the past 50 years. This section will lead you to the articles, discussions, white papers and resources to prepare for this tsunami of change.
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A123 Systems will provide six battery energy storage systems for the UK's largest smart grid project. The systems will be designed for peak load shifting and managing voltage fluctuations in the country's electric grid to maintain stability as more renewable energy sources are added.
With the decision by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Thursday to approve the first new nuclear facility in the U.S. in more than 30 years, the Southern Company project in Georgia will be under a financial and operational microscope. But as Peter Gardett of AOL Energy explains, the long-term outlook for nuclear remains muddy.
BPL Global is one of the companies involved in a project in France's rural Alsace region that will supply end users with electric vehicles via a subscription service. The service is supposed to optimize the impact of EV charging on the grid by aggregating the load and storage capacities of the batteries and managing their charging patterns.
Some days you could spend all of what little reading time you have just getting through all the smart grid market studies, trend reports, forecasts and white papers. We've made the chore a little easier for you with a roundup of six recent releases that caught our eye on topics ranging from smart grid investments to building automation growth.
Results from the second wave of the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative's Consumer Pulse study reveal that there are smart grid benefits that resonate with consumers beyond reducing their monthly electric bill. SGCC Executive Director Patty Durand outlines the findings and actions her organization is taking in response.
An organization of U.S. businesses has 're-launched' to act as the leading trade group promoting the development of an American Waste Heat to Power market. The organization will support and promote projects designed to capture waste heat generated by industrial applications and convert it into emissions-free electricity.
Security expert and SGN contributor Andy Bochman hits the highlights of wide-ranging security panel discussions at the 2012 DistribuTECH conference held recently. He covers a lot of ground, and it's interesting reading.
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.
While energy storage at the distribution substation level isn't big news (or big business) in the smart grid investment environment now, IMS Research predicts revenues will show impressive growth in the sector over the next several years – to the tune of an annual average rate of 50%. Read the story to find out why.
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.
If utilities want to be best in class at customer engagement, they should look at practices used in competitive service industries to help them tailor their offers and communication strategies to the right segments of the market. That was one of the takeaways from the recent Smart Grid Consumer Symposium. SGCC Executive Director Patty Durand has more.
The California Public Utilities Commission today gave a unanimous thumbs up to a Pacific Gas & Electric Company proposal to allow customers to opt out of its smart meter program - if they're willing to pay a fee for that choice. But after a noisy and emotional meeting it was clear that this story is far from over: smart meter opponents are dead set against paying the fees.
Security veteran Ernie Hayden can tell some scary stories about lax security practices he's been eyewitness to during utility site visits. He worries there's too much emphasis on security compliance rather than true protection on both the physical and cyber fronts. The fix? Click for five steps he believes every utility should take now to 'bake in' security organization-wide.
Brian Warshay of Lux Research outlines the highlights of a California Public Utilities Commission proposal for an energy storage policy that lays out the barriers to storage adoption – and a roadmap to deal with them. Get the lowdown on why stakeholders should be keeping an eye on this one.
In this week's blog about his stint on a privacy panel put on by the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative, security ace Andy Bochman ponders why the SGCC needs to exist - and then answers his own question: Without it, there would be no one out there to give consumers a reasoned and sensible alternative to the alarmist ranting they're frequently exposed to in the mainstream media. (And he provides a good example of what he's talking about.)
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.
As utilities prepare for smart meter roll outs, the CEO of UK-based Sentec suggests a key consideration for the IT infrastructure associated with those roll outs should be the capability to both store data and relay it back to the consumer in an easily digestible format. Click for Mark England's perspective on how to go about that.
Natural gas is getting so cheap that it may become cheaper and faster to slap up a gas-fired peaking plant than to implement a complicated demand response or renewable project - two of the biggest drivers of a smart grid. Yikes! Will natural gas alternatives make the smart grid too expensive by comparison? That's this week's Tuesday Topic in our discussion forum. Please join in.
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.
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.
Revenues from transmission and distribution infrastructure investments are expected to more than double over the next several years – from $7.27 billion in 2010 to $15.53 billion in 2020, according to a new analysis from Global Data. The business intelligence company says the increase in demand from emerging economies is primarily responsible for the growth.
GlobalData has released its monthly smart grid newsletter for December 2011 from the Smart Grid eTrack, and it is available from Research and Markets. The December newsletter provides insights about cyber security in smart grids in the section "Technology Focus of the Month", along with the review of Trilliant Incorporated in the "Smart Grid Company Focus of the Month" and more.
In an interview focused on the state of the VC industry as it relates to energy, Tracy Lefteroff, Global Managing Partner of PwC's venture capital practice, anticipates a flat 2012 in the U.S. Instead, he suggests looking north if you want to see where the dollars are flowing.
Marketing and advertising companies have been taking advantage of social media for years, and now more and more electric utilities are catching on - using them for their own marketing, communications and business strategies, according to a new white paper from Pike Research. Get more on the story inside.
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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