Jesse’s Picks: 14 Smart Grid Companies to be Thankful For

Smart Grid News started years back with help from a grant from the Department of Energy.  In the time since, we’ve grown to be the oldest, the largest and the top-ranked Smart Grid site with a feature set that includes daily news analysis, hands-on reviews of products, videos, the Web’s largest Smart Grid stimulus channel and more.

All of that, of course, takes a lot of effort and resources.  I’m grateful that the private sector has stepped up to support our free offerings for utility professionals. Today I’m taking a moment to express thanks for our partners and the things they’ve done to keep Smart Grid News –and the industry – moving forward.

Below I’ll briefly introduce some of our partners with a few sentences from their own Web sites. I’ll also link you to one of the channels they sponsor. Each channel is a collection of valuable information on a specific topic, made possible only by the financial support of these firms. I’ll follow with my own thoughts on what makes their contributions particularly meaningful.

As long as I’m sharing my list, why don’t you post a Talk Back to let us know which Smart Grid vendors, suppliers or organizations you’re most thankful for? Next week we can all go back to being our usual cranky, curmudgeonly selves, but surely it can’t hurt to show some gratitude once a year. I hope you’ll post comments in the same spirit.

Jesse Berst, Founding Editor

Smart Grid News

ABB

ABB is a global leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve their performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 120,000 people. – Smart Grid transmission resources

It wasn’t that long ago that ABB was taking a conservative approach to the Smart Grid. Now they’ve stepped up to become a leader. Since ABB technologies are deeply embedded in legacy systems all over the world, they have an essential role in merging the old and the new into a single seamless system.

ACCENTURE

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Combining unparalleled experience and comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, Accenture helps clients become high-performance businesses and governments.

Accenture brings deep business management expertise to the utility industry. Yes, they have technology skills, but they also understand how vitally important people and organizational structures are. Plus, they’ve worked on at least 30 Smart Grid projects around the world, which means they bring real-world lessons to the table.

AREVA T&D

As a world leader, AREVA T&D’s teams provide reliable, efficient and environmentally friendly transmission and distribution solutions to improve network stability and make electricity available everywhere. – Smart Grid command and control resources

As we build out a smarter grid we’ll be sucking in more and more data. We’ll need better ways to make sense of that data and better systems to signal operators about exceptions, problems and issues. Areva T&D has been investing in R&D to build next-generation visualization and control room systems.

BALANCE ENERGY

Balance Energy is an end-to-end provider of resilient DG solutions for utilities, municipalities, and commercial customers.  It combines expertise from the commercial Smart Grid industry with large-scale systems delivery capabilities from defense and aerospace. -- Microgrid resources

Balance Energy is a strategic initiative of BAE Systems, the giant defense and aerospace contractor. Even though it’s a nimble startup, it bases its work on the rock-solid enterprise architectures developed for military applications – exactly the kind of grownup systems the electric power industry needs as we move into the Smart Grid era.  

COMVERGE

Comverge is a leading clean energy company that provides innovative solutions to peak challenges through demand response. With over 500 U.S. utility clients and 5 million devices installed, Comverge “smart megawatts” technology is in use across the nation. – Smart Grid demand response resources

One of the pioneers in demand response, Comverge was one of the first Smart Grid companies to go public and give us all hope that the Smart Grid could produce high-growth entrepreneurial opportunities. I also appreciate Comverge’s work to go beyond commercial and industrial solutions to take demand response to the residential sector, which is in many ways much harder but also essential for the country’s long-term energy future.

CONTROL4

Control4 Energy Systems is dedicated to offering home area network (HAN) solutions for utilities, advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) vendors and service providers to help homeowners and businesses manage their energy use. – Home Area Networks resources

If we want to turn consumers into fans of the Smart Grid, we’ve got to give them products they will welcome into their homes. Control4 is drawing from its consumer electronics roots to create slick, in-home systems that are appealing and easy to use.

ENERNEX

EnerNex Corporation is an engineering and consulting firm specializing in the development and application of new electric power technologies. Its focus is to aid in the understanding and solution of electric power related issues. – Smart Grid standards resources

From the very first Smart Grid discussions years ago, EnerNex has been at the center of efforts to develop common architectures and standards. We’d be years behind had it not been for their early leadership.

HORIZON ENERGY

Horizon Energy Group LLC is a small company created to provide meaningful, value- added services in the energy industry for optimization of client systems performance, for programs and projects, and for developing energy strategies and technologies in the next generation. – Electric Transportation resources

Horizon principals Steve Pullins and Joe Miller led the seminal Modern Grid Initiative at the National Energy Technology Laboratory. The principles they helped to develop are fundamental to many of the country’s pioneering Smart Grid projects.

IBM

Utilities are a critical link to improving energy efficiency, integrating renewable sources of energy and addressing climate change. IBM adds a layer of intelligence to utility clients, using the power of information to automate, monitor and control operations.

IBM doesn’t get enough credit for how early it was to this market. IBM researchers like Ron Ambrosio and others were working this issue at the turn of the century (if not earlier). They made a big investment and they continue to give back to the industry through activities such as their support of the GridWise Alliance and their own Global Intelligent Utility Network Coalition.

LOCKHEED MARTIN

As the largest provider of IT solutions for the federal government, Lockheed Martin is using its expertise in systems integration to transform the energy industry. Its engineering and business services deliver state-of-the-art technical innovations designed to modernize the nation’s utilities.

Lockheed Martin, with its extensive defense credentials, has a lot of value to bring to the Smart Grid, particularly in security and in systems integration. The latter is a difficult and under-appreciated task, requiring coordination of hundreds of technologies, vendors, users, partners – and getting it done on time and on budget. 

PCN TECHNOLOGY

PCN designs, develops and commercializes Grid MicroCircuits™ which are complete application specific embedded subsystem solutions that utilize energy grids and power systems for data communication, control, networking and simultaneous grid analysis. – Smart Grid communications

PCN developed innovative technologies in an adjacent industry and is now bringing them to the Smart Grid world. We can’t afford to reinvent every wheel and we should be thankful for companies that take the time, effort and money to learn our industry and adapt their products and services.

SILVER SPRING NETWORKS

As a leading provider of networking and advanced metering solutions for the electric grid, Silver Spring Networks builds smart energy capabilities for today’s utilities. Their solutions and industry expertise help replace aging infrastructures with modern business environments.

Some of the traditional, old-line T&D vendors tend to be conservative and complacent. Silver Spring Networks brings a Silicon Valley mindset instead – a healthy dose of urgency, inventiveness, and competitive drive.

TELVENT

Telvent, a global IT solutions and business services provider, is committed to helping create a more sustainable and secure world through innovative information technologies. It serves markets critical to the planet’s well-being, including the energy and environmental sectors. – Smart Grid stimulus resources

Telvent is an IT supplier for a number of big industries. It brings not only Smart Grid-specific expertise, but also scalable, repeatable, enterprise-class solutions.

TROPOS NETWORKS

Tropos Networks is the worldwide market leader in intelligent wireless IP broadband mesh networks that enable customers to own and control a smart, affordable, IP foundation for deploying applications and services that build greener, safer, smarter communities and utilities. – Smart Grid security resources

Tropos builds communications solutions for municipalities that can cover multiple applications, for instance wi fi, emergency response and other city services. That’s huge. When the Smart Grid can share some of the infrastructure with other resources it becomes less expensive for everybody – so I’m thankful for the insight and expertise Tropos brings to our industry.

Now it’s your turn. Use the Talk Back form at the very bottom to tell us which organizations have earned your gratitude.