A New (and Less Expensive) Way to Launch Smart Grid Projects As the Smart Grid unfolds, utilities face pressing challenges they've never seen before. How do you grapple with technologies, programs and services that are brand new — and get it right the first time? Click inside for a new service to help utilities prepare for Smart Grid deployments, and to do it with less time and money. Aug 31, 2010    Read the Full Story   Join the Discussion

Canadian Firm Building All-Electric Vehicles for U.S. Army’s Microgrid Project Canadian electric vehicle fleet systems integrator Rapid Electric Vehicles is building fully electric Ancillary Power Vehicles for the U.S. Army to use in a multi-faceted microgrid research and development program. The vehicles are designed to reduce the high economic and environmental costs of fossil fuels and to provide fast backup power in emergencies. Aug 25, 2010    Read the Full Story   Join the Discussion

Grid Vulnerability Leads Defense Department to Microgrids Today's electric grid is too unreliable and vulnerable to suit the Defense Department. So the DOD and partners are planning a microgrid demonstration project that will incorporate Smart Grid technologies to improve efficiency and security. Aug 23, 2010    Read the Full Story   Join the Discussion

D.C. University to Get Microgrid from Pareto Energy for an Unbeatable Price Washington, D.C.'s Howard University is getting an unusual endowment from Pareto Energy: it's very own microgrid. Jul 8, 2010    Read the Full Story   Join the Discussion

Microgrids: Are They Our Aging Grid's Bail-Out Plan? Industry heavyweights are telling lawmakers tasked with planning America’s energy future that microgrids represent the most efficient and consumer-friendly plan for bailing out the country’s aging electricity infrastructure. Are they right? We’ve rounded up recent news and views, including a video showcasing a microgrid work-in-progress in a small UK village. May 25, 2010    Read the Full Story   Join the Discussion   3 Active Comment(s)

Smart Grid Technology Companies Sending UC San Diego’s Microgrid to the Head of the Renewables Class EDSA and Viridity Energy will collaborate on a project at UC San Diego to demonstrate integration of onsite renewable energy production into the university's campus-wide microgrid. Apr 13, 2010    Read the Full Story   Join the Discussion

Are We Taking Microgrids Seriously — Finally? Utilities are gradually dropping their guard and seeing the overall advantages microgrids could bring to the Smart Grid, and many industry giants — think Siemens, Lockheed Martin and a horde of other companies and universities — are researching and developing ways to make them practical and efficient. Feb 18, 2010    Read the Full Story   Join the Discussion   1 Active Comment(s)

Why Today's Utilities May Soon Be Obsolete (and What May Replace Them) What's being ignored in all the hubbub over Smart Grid technology is that we are moving to a new way of buying and selling electricity. If you fast forward 10 or 15 years, it will look much different than it does today. But how will it look? Richard Tabors, author and VP at Charles River Associates, suggests there are four market models that capture the critical elements of what will emerge when the Smart Grid is fully implemented. Which one do you see in your future? Jan 27, 2010    Read the Full Story   Join the Discussion   8 Active Comment(s)

Marin County Microgrid Project Kicks Off Infotility, a provider of distributed intelligent agent software, just kicked off the field-test phase of a Smart Grid demonstration project to optimize large-scale renewable energy in Marin County, California. Oct 30, 2009    Read the Full Story   Join the Discussion

Microgrids: Why Some Utilities See a Threat Where Others See Opportunity Between now and 2015, over 3.1GW of new microgrid capacity could come online worldwide, representing a total market value of $7.8 billion. So why do some utilities resist microgrids ... while others embrace them? Pike Research analyst Peter Asmus shares the backstory - and some changes afoot. Oct 29, 2009    Read the Full Story   Join the Discussion   3 Active Comment(s)

NY City Says No to Microgrid Lewisboro, NY, had a chance to get utilities to pay them for their efficiency. But they declined even to hear the proposal. Jul 16, 2009    Read the Full Story   Join the Discussion

Solar, Wind, and Biomass Facilities Get Jumpstart The Feds are committing more than $3 billion to renewable energy production facilities around the country. Read more on that, plus these developments too: GE wins Marine base microgrid project ... Study says utilities are still spending ... CHP systems get DOE support. Jul 9, 2009    Read the Full Story   Join the Discussion

Grid Divorce Just Got Easier Grid divorce -- the process of becoming all or partly independent of a centralized utility -- was already a growing phenomenon in the U.S. A new financing mechanism may now make it even easier for campuses, office parks and neighborhoods to generate their own power. Click for the details... Nov 13, 2007    Read the Full Story   Join the Discussion   4 Active Comment(s)

Macro Trends Point to Microgrids The macro trends point inescapably to microgrids as the Next Big Thing, predicts Jesse Berst. Utilities must quickly decide when and how to cope. Vendors must quickly figure out when and how to profit. Click to read about the market drivers and get links to real-world examples. Nov 28, 2006    Read the Full Story   Join the Discussion   1 Active Comment(s)

SMART GRID NEWS TALK BACK BUZZ San Luis Valley Smart Grid Ceal Smith: Is there a report or synopsis of the Smart Grid development in San Luis Valley that you describe in your note? I am particularly interested in what type of energy storage was found to be most cost-effective as the community developed their solar energy dependence. Gerald Voecks ... Talk Back right now to Gerald Voecks