Part 1: Meet 2012 Smart Grid Companies to Watch contenders

This is the third year of SGN's Smart Grid Companies to Watch search for the year ahead's breakout companies. And it just keeps getting more interesting. We had more nominations than ever this year with a mix of big players, little-known startups and a handful of companies located outside the U.S. Thanks to everyone for your nominations.

HOW IT WORKS: Our team reviewed all of the nominations submitted and did a preliminary sort. Posted below is the first set of smart grid companies that made the cut and will proceed into the voting round. We’ll run the remaining ones next week so be sure to check back. Also, what you'll see below are abbreviated versions of the text  that was provided by the person who nominated the company. We have not verified the information for accuracy. Typically we would, but in this case we wanted you to see what the reader said. After we're done listing all of the 2012 contenders, we'll ask you to vote for the 12 finalists.

ABB: This fall ABB opened their “Smart Grid Center of Excellence” in Raleigh, NC.  They have invested millions of dollars in this center that is dedicated entirely to the smart grid – for R&D, demonstrations, training, and customer deployments.  In January 2011, ABB introduced the Relion series of reclosers and RER620 controls, based on the IEC61850 standard.  When paired with their distribution automation solutions at the subs, “smart grid” extends out to feeder optimization, where it should be.  They are a world leader with deep pockets and some of the best minds and talent in the industry. Learn more about ABB >>

CAS Tecnologia: Smart grid is a spectacular move that will definitely change how we understand and do business in the energy market. And because of its magnitude I am proud to share that Brazil has participated in this revolution and started 10 years ago when a small Brazilian company started to develop hardware, software and services focused on the technology application in the energy market. CAS Tecnologia has not only a wide product catalog, but software platforms that help more than 25 energy distributors in Brazil and abroad to do business more efficiently, with less losses, with guaranteed revenue, making smart grid benefits to be a real day-to-day concept. Learn more about CAS Tecnologia >>

ElectSolve: ElectSolve is the dominant hosted/on-premise meter data management (MDM) solution for small-mid tier utilities: the ~2,900 muni/coops with less than 250k meters. ElectSolve’s production MDM accounts increased over 200% since 2010 supporting an aggregate total of 1M+ electric/water/gas meters involving 40+ disparate AMR/AMI/CIS/OMS/SCADA/GIS technologies. Systems implementation and systems integration is a core strength. ElectSolve markets its solutions to munis via American Public Power Association's Hometown Connections and to coops via National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative. Additionally, the ElectSolve MDM solution is bundled in with AMI vendors to provide munis/coops a complete AMI/MDM solution. Learn more about ElectSolve >>

Next page: 3 more companies >>