A recent report from Pike Research forecasts that, while private networks will continue to represent the majority of the smart grid communications market, the revenue opportunity for service providers will increase significantly, rising from $2.2 billion in 2009 to $4.9 billion by 2016.
Despite the general weakness in new construction due to the global recession, one building-related field has continued to grow: retrofits tied to improving the efficiency of facilities. A number of factors have been driving this growth, including the need to improve the energy performance of buildings for cost savings as well as the desire to obtain green building certification.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced today the Department is accepting applications for up to $184 million over three to five years to accelerate the development and deployment of new efficient vehicle technologies that will reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, save drivers money, and limit carbon pollution.
The Demand Response and Smart Grid Coalition (DRSG) today announced the addition of six new members. The new members are Intel, Ingersoll Rand, Siemens, Schneider Electric, UISOL, and Constellation NewEnergy. "DRSG is excited to welcome these new members," said Dan Delurey, President of DRSG. "With today's announcement, DRSG becomes even better positioned to be the voice of the smart grid industry."
Microgrids offer a compelling alternative to traditional energy generation and distribution, utilizing smart grid technologies to enable integrated control of distributed power generation and energy storage assets either in parallel to or "islanded" from the utility power grid.
The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) today announced two executive appointments. Effective January 1, 2011, Mark McGranaghan will become vice president of Power Delivery and Utilization, and C. Thomas Alley, Jr., will be vice president of Generation.
Itron Inc. announced today that it has reached an agreement to acquire Asais, an energy information management software and consulting services provider, headquartered in France, for an undisclosed sum. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2011.
Ambient Corporation, a leader in smart grid communications infrastructure, today announced the availability of the latest release of its industry-leading network management system, AmbientNMS. As the cornerstone of Ambient's smart grid infrastructure, AmbientNMS provides a powerful, open and intelligent IP communications platform for the deployment of smart grid applications.
BaseN Corporation, dedicated to large scale infrastructure monitoring and management, and the leading Finnish energy company Fortum, are continuing their cooperation by developing smart grid applications. According to the two firms' agreement, Fortum's customers will get real-time metering and monitoring of their energy consumption as part of Fortum's overall service.
The first solar and smart grid integration focused event is coming to New Jersey in January 2011: Networked Solar. With renewable energy impacting the electric grid, renewable energy portfolios required by state governments and the evolution of smart grid and solar technologies, this timely event will highlight the new challenges these industries face.
Raritan, an innovator of power and IT infrastructure management solutions for data centers of all sizes, and a Registered Developer in the EnergyWise category of the Cisco's Developer Network, announced today that its intelligent device-level power management solutions are interoperable with Cisco EnergyWise client technology.
FRAMINGHAM, Mass. IDC Energy Insights today announced the launch of three new global research programs focused on quantifying and tracking the Smart Meter, Photovoltaic Module, and Solar Inverter markets. These markets are poised for significant growth in the coming years due to market forces that include consumer pressure to increase access to renewable energy resources, regulatory and policy requirements, and government incentive programs.
EnerNOC, Inc. today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Global Energy Partners, an industry leader in designing and implementing utility energy efficiency and demand response programs.
Siemens continues to expand its international manufacturing network in the rapidly growing wind power business: This week, the technology company opened in Shanghai its first rotor blade manufacturing plant in China, a new nacelle production in Hutchinson, Kansas, and has selected Tillsonburg in Ontario for its Canadian rotor blade manufacturing site.
POWER Engineers has been awarded a contract by Tres Amigas, LLC to perform engineering services for the Tres Amigas SuperStation. POWER Engineers will serve as the owner’s engineer for the project and provide a wide range of engineering support to design, specify and manage the engineering activities for the project.
OpTerra Energy Group, a newly formed, best-in-class energy service company (ESCO), has acquired Energy Control Inc. (ECI), a comprehensive energy services company and building automation/control systems integrator serving the New Mexico and Southern California markets.
EnerNOC, Inc., an international leader in data-driven energy management solutions, today announced its participation in UK Power Networks' Low Carbon London project, which was awarded POUND24.26 million this week by Ofgem.
The IPSO Alliance, the organization defining the "Internet of Things," today announced that Itron has become a Promoter member of the IPSO Alliance. By working with IPSO, Itron aims to drive and support full end-to-end IP solutions for the smart metering and smart grid markets.
As utilities transition to the smart grid and expand it over time with the installation of millions of intelligent endpoints including smart meters and other devices, they must address the challenge of how to take advantage of the flood of data that will be generated by these devices. According to a new report from Pike Research, the software and services that will enable smart grid data analytics will represent one of the largest growth opportunities in the utility sector over the next few years.
With over 5 GW of power purchase agreements (PPAs) currently under contract through 2015, U.S. utilities are becoming a key driver of future growth for the global PV industry. These utilities are claiming their position as the industry’s next critical demand center with state renewable portfolio standards (RPS) looming and global PV players shifting their sights from saturated European feed-in tariff markets to the large-scale potential of the U.S. PPA market.
Utility Partners of America (UPA), a leading electric, gas and water utility solutions provider, has been selected as an exclusive partner to install and support a network of public electric vehicle (EV) charging stations across South Carolina.
Five years since the signing of the Smart Grid Constitution in Philadelphia and one year since the creation of the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) at Grid-Interop 2009, Clasma Events is again gathering Smart Grid industry leaders, utility stakeholders and policy makers at Grid-Interop to continue advancing interoperable systems, technologies and standards for the Smart Grid.
Last week the European Commission said: "The EU pays the price for its outdated and poorly interconnected energy infrastructure". Today the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) publishes a new report with a vision for a modern renewable energy power system, which sets out how the grid can integrate increasing amounts of wind energy.
Belden Inc., a global leader in signal transmission solutions for mission critical applications, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire GarrettCom, a leading provider of advanced industrial networking products and smart grid solutions. The acquisition extends Belden's leadership position as an industrial networking solutions provider by adding a recognized leader in industrial grade switches, routers, converters, serial communications, and security software.
American Superconductor Corporation, a global power technologies company, today announced that Korea’s LS Cable Ltd. and France’s Nexans have been selected as the superconductor power cable subcontractors for the Tres Amigas SuperStation. This first-of-its-kind power transmission hub will be located in Clovis, New Mexico and is expected to link America’s three primary electric transmission grids – the Eastern (Southwest Power Pool), Western (Western Electricity Coordinating Council) and Texas (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) interconnections. LS Cable and Nexans will both manufacture superconductor power cables utilizing Amperium wire – AMSC’s proprietary second generation (2G) high temperature superconductor (HTS) wire.
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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