Three new demonstration projects caught our attention - a smart grid effort in Albuquerque's business district, a rapid recovery transformer study in Texas and a trial involving low voltage current sensor technologies in the UK. They also got us to thinking: At this stage in the smart grid build out, if you could design a demonstration project, what would it entail? That's our latest Tuesday Topic; click for the details.
The EDF PREMIO project, part of EPRI's smart grid demonstrations around the world, addresses congestion issues in the PACA region in the south of France. This project integrates renewable generation, storage and load shedding into a Virtual Power Plant that may be dispatched in response to storms, natural disaster, and local or regional demand issues.
A high-powered energy collective is moving into the design phase for five smart grid demonstration projects in the Netherlands. The group intends to design, implement and study smart grid operations and concepts - and also focus on thousands of technology-related standards.
They can read smart meters over a city-wide white space network in England. In India, solar-powered microgrid technology is making a big difference in the lives of rural villagers. And speaking of microgrids, a vintage hydro plant on the Kalamazoo River now has one. Click for details on these projects and a few more we thought were pretty darn interesting.
Alstom Grid is taking its smart grid show on the road for an integrated distribution management systems demo project on the island of Maui, a location quickly becoming a smart grid test bed. Meanwhile Telvent is opening up shop in Serbia with a global research center to support its advanced DMS development efforts.
An innovative demonstration project in Southeast England is pioneering several concepts that could make wind easier, faster and cheaper to attach to the grid. Learn how (and why) UK Power Networks' $15 million "Flexible Plug and Play" project is substituting smart technology for towers and cables.
After years of watching European countries fire up offshore wind farms, it looks like the U.S. is taking more than baby steps to do the same. But, as proponents in this country are finding out, turning great ideas into turbines in the water isn't all that easy. Get details on recent developments in U.S. offshore wind energy and how far along some of the projects actually are.
Click for a sneak peek at three wide-ranging smart grid demonstration projects, from a V2G initiative involving IBM, Honda and PG&E to a pilot on Long Island that's gauging consumer response to dynamic pricing signals. You'll also learn about an energy storage demo in Sweden and get a link to EPRI's latest smart grid project updates around the world.
How fast could the U.S. electric grid recover from a terrorist attack or natural disaster? That was the point of a recent transformer replacement drill involving EPRI, CenterPoint Energy and the Department of Homeland Security. Even the organizers surprised themselves.
Constellation Energy and Best Buy have joined forces in a pilot program to sell electricity to consumers at a Chicago Best Buy store. It's not a big surprise; many of us predicted this day would come. But now that it's here, SGN Chief Analyst Jesse Berst has some thoughts on what it could mean for the future of power retailing.
China wants to create a global showcase for distributed direct-current microgrids, pulling together a team that includes Intel, Canadian Solar, People Power, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and others. Will China's real-world build-out demonstrate advantages that haven't shown up in similar projects elsewhere?
A Toronto startup is testing underwater compressed air energy storage with big yellow balloon-like "accumulators" tethered to the bottom of Lake Ontario. Calling it a low-cost, scalable solution for urban centers, Hydrostor will partner with Toronto Hydro to demonstrate its intriguing approach this summer. Click for details, including a short animated video highlighting the technology.
EPRI will demonstrate a prototype for fast charging electric vehicles that also could be used by utilities for other purposes. EPRI says the technology is fast and flexible - and more efficient and cheaper to install than today's commercial systems. We thought you'd like to know more about this multi-tasking charging system as it could be a real step forward for EVs, utilities and other businesses.
The Department of Energy this week announced $12 million in funding to speed solar energy innovation from the lab to the marketplace. It's the latest in a series of announcements we've seen in recent weeks that suggest there's more money filtering into energy projects, including up to $120 million for advanced research on batteries and energy storage. Click inside and we'll show you the money.
We're now at a spot down the smart grid path where utilities are moving beyond the expected and taking next steps with advanced technologies - from the flywheel systems protecting Austin Energy's new control center to SAIC's Smart Grid as a Service supporting critical energy management systems in remote Alaskan villages. In our latest project roundup we're spotlighting these and five other smart grid projects we think you'll want to know about.
SGN Chief Analyst Jesse Berst notes that electric utilities in the U.S. are slowly coming around to the concept of saving energy with volt/VAR optimization (conservation voltage reduction if you prefer) and cites a cooperative project with the Electric Power Research Institute, Alabama Power and Duke Energy. Read more inside about the "green circuits" method studied in the project.
GE Appliances and Flint Energies have teamed up in a pilot project to better understand the potential for GE's Brillion™-enabled appliances to save consumers money and lower peak load when coupled with peak time rebates. And a Colorado company is bringing its online game designed to get consumers involved in saving energy to Texas.
Honeywell has been signed to launch China's first smart grid demand response project. The company will demonstrate its automated demand response technology at office buildings, government and commercial facilities and industrial plants to reduce demand during peak load conditions.
There was a lot going on in the smart grid world in 2011: major developments and advances, successes and failures, rising and falling trends, and a lot in between. But some of those stories seem to go on and on and on. Take a look at our roundup of the year's stories that just won't end.
Africa's largest electricity provider has picked Comverge to create and co-manage the continent's first open market for demand response resources. There's more inside about this important pilot project.
FortZED is a set of active projects and initiatives in Fort Collins, Colorado, created by public-private partnerships. They use smart grid and renewable energy technologies to achieve local power generation and energy demand management.
The drama over Boulder's SmartGridCity gets the attention, but not far away in Fort Collins, partners in a DOE-funded Renewable and Distributed Systems Integration project are compiling results from their real-world research into load shedding and local energy generation. We talked with a project engineer about lessons learned - like how hard it is to go beyond a 25% reduction in peak load and how real-world constraints (such as the "noise pollution" of a diesel generator) can impact results.
Britain continues to push its aggressive smart grid deployment schedule with the announcement of almost $90 million awarded to six pilot projects ranging from automating and optimizing high-voltage networks to incorporating renewables and energy storage into those networks. Another signal that activity is starting to heat up in Europe?
Pacific Gas & Electric this week asked the California PUC for the green light on six new smart grid pilot projects. The utility's plans range from enhancing distribution system reliability and flexibility to implementing voltage and grid control systems to cut customer costs, as well developing customer outreach programs.
SGN reported last week that Maui is becoming something of a smart grid test bed with announcement of its second Japan-U.S. smart grid demonstration project in recent months. Now, Silver Spring Networks has been picked for yet another Maui initiative. Get the details on this latest project.
Three new demonstration projects caught our attention - a smart grid effort in Albuquerque's business district, a rapid recovery transformer study in Texas and a trial involving low voltage current sensor technologies in the UK. They also got us to thinking: At this stage in the smart grid build out, if you could design a demonstration project, what would it entail? That's our latest Tuesday Topic; click for the details.
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