My, what a busy week for smart grid projects

By Doug Peeples

SGN News Editor

There's an awful lot going on the world of smart grid projects this week, including initiatives in energy efficiency, wireless sensor technology, power plant automation systems and load control. And an initiative from California's utilities to give customers easy access to their energy consumption information with a simple click on a little green button. We thought you might be interested in a brief look.

IntelliSAW, a provider of next generation wireless sensor systems for smart grid applications, now has an exclusive distribution agreement with Brazilian electricity industry systems and service provider Adperc to provide distribution, system integration and marketing services for IntelliSAW's wireless/passive temperature monitoring technology throughout Brazil's electric transmission and distribution systems. IntelliSAW's unique electrical switchgear temperature monitoring system will give Adperc the opportunity to grow its services portfolio and move into the smart grid market. IntelliSAW's technology offers real-time, continuous monitoring of critical power substation switchgear.

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Siemens Instrumentation, Controls and Electrical North American group has been awarded three first-time projects in the U.S. that will showcase the numerous capabilities of the Siemens SPPA-T3000 distributed controls system and the SPPA-D3000 machinery monitoring and protection systems. The SPPA-T3000 controls system also was selected by the Power Generation Company of Trinidad and Tobago to upgrade reliability and availability of their combustion turbine units by integrating power plant and turbine control systems into a single platform. In addition, a California brownfield will be the site for a 780 megawatt generating station of four gas turbines – which will incorporate a Siemens integrated controls and electrical solution to integrate all switchgear and other devices using smart communications technology.

Dais Analytic Corporation, a green technology company, was picked by the Department of Defense for grant funding from the DoD's Environmental Security Technology Certification Program to develop and install an advanced outside air handling system incorporating Dais' Aqualyte, a material that has been shown to produce reduced energy costs in heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems. The Defense Department has been aggressive in adopting smart grid technologies and energy efficiency programs for a wide variety of military applications and energy cost reductions at its facilities.

Next page: Load control and the green button initiative