By Liz Enbysk

SGN Managing Editor

In case you missed it, when the Grammy Award nominations were announced the other day, teen idol Justin Bieber wasn't on the list, sending his manager to Twitter to complain about the snub. Well, we've got more bad news for The Bieber. He didn't make our list of smart grid winners this week either. But scroll down and onto page 2 for a look at who did.

PROJECT WINS

·         Some help with all that data – Opower, which provides customer engagement solutions for utilities, has deployed the Infobright Enterprise Edition to support analysis of the large volumes of data the company captures. Opower uses the Infobright tool to help understand how specific solutions are being used by utilities. “Our goal is to help utility companies make energy use more personally relevant, so that they can work together with consumers to advance efficiency goals,” said Alex Laskey, president and founder of Opower. “Infobright is empowering us to better understand the impact our products are making for the utility companies that we work with, and we look forward to using the insight gained to further enhance and customize our offerings.” More >>

·         New team targets markets in Europe – Itron has teamed with Deutsche Telekom to offer expanded smart grid solutions and services options to target

·         SCADA goes to Trinity Valley – Survalent Technologies has commissioned another SCADA system, this time to the Trinity Valley Electric Cooperative in Texas. The distribution coop, which serves more than 50,000 meters, will move from OpenVMS to an integrated Windows-based architecture with the new system. More >>

·         Orange County gets WaterSmart – Three water utilities in Orange County, California -- The City of Newport Beach, Irvine Ranch Water District and South Coast Water District -- will deploy WaterSmart’s customer

·         Realty firm comes knocking -- Energy management application and service provider EnerNOC announced that Glenborough, a commercial real estate company, will deploy its EfficiencySMART Insight software across its portfolio of commercial properties in California, New Jersey, Colorado and Maryland. The software will collect energy data from each building in the portfolio and provide a prioritized list of the highest impact energy savings opportunities so that property managers can make informed decisions about resource allocation. More >>

FINANCING WINS

·         Ideal Power Converters, a developer of disruptive power converter solutions for photovoltaic, grid storage and EV charging infrastructure announced the completion of a $4 million convertible debt financing in a private placement to a group of institutional investors. IPC intends to use the financing proceeds to accelerate the development and deployment of its Universal Power Converter Platform for several markets. IPC products are developed and manufactured in Austin, Texas. More >>

·         Powerit Solutions, which provides energy demand management automation, announced the completion of a $5.5 million Series C growth financing round. The Seattle-based company says the investment will support its ongoing work with strategic partners to integrate its product, Spara EMS, into the industrial automation, utility and smart grid infrastructure. More >>