By Liz Enbysk

SGN Managing Editor

A whole host of smart grid companies are decking their corporate hallways with yuletide treasures (or more specifically orders for everything from smart meters to regulation services to an HVDC converter station). Scroll down and click to page 2 for details on Itron's big win in South Africa, Echelon's pilot in Brazil and eight more reasons why certain smart grid CFOs should be jolly.

PROJECT WINS

·         Itron reeled in a big win in South Africa in collaboration with Edison Power Group. The Liberty Lake, Washington company was selected for Africa's first large-scale smart metering project which will be for City Power in the city of Johannesburg. The engagement, which has a total contract value of approximately $150 million, will require Itron to supply its latest generation smart meters and associated smart metering system. Read more >>

·         Echelon will support the Ceming City of the Future project in Brazil with a 1,500 unit pilot through its partner ELO. Ceming is the largest power company in Brazil. Echelon will provide smart metering sub-systems to ELO, leveraging its Energy Control Networking Platform. With some of the highest non-technical loss rates in the world, and increased use of distributed generation, Echelon says the Brazilian market needs a multi-application smart grid infrastructure such as theirs that encompasses more than just traditional metering. Read more >>

·         Elster was picked by the City of Palo Alto Utilities and City of Santa Clara's Silicon Valley Power (SVP) to implement advanced metering solutions featuring Elster's EnergyAxis system. EnergyAxis is an AMI solution that provides two-way communication for electricity, water and natural gas meters. The Palo Alto utility will partner with Elster and its MDM partner Utilismart on its Residential Customer Connect Pilot which will utilize cloud computing to provide a managed and customized engagement program for 300 pilot customers through web portals and mobile apps. SVP, meanwhile, selected Elster's EnergyAxis system and Tropos Networks' Gridcom WAN solution for the implementation of its AMI to cover 51,000 electric and 27,000 water meters and leverage the system for both smart grid and smart city applications going forward. Read more >>

·         Landis+Gyr will deploy a voltage management solution designed to deliver improved grid-side energy efficiency for the Central Lincoln People's Utility District, Oregon's fourth largest electric utility serving 55,000 people. The agreement establishes a demonstration project with Central Lincoln using EDGE CVR software from DVI in conjunction with L+G's Gridstream RF advanced metering network to monitor and adjust distribution circuit voltage. As L+G explains it, using detailed voltage information from its meters, the EDGE software will allow the utility to reduce voltage levels, targeting the most efficient band of the required voltage range, thereby conserving electricity. Read more >>

·          ABB won an order worth around $36 million from Sharyland Utilities to supply and install a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) converter station in Texas. The 150 megawatt back-to-back HVDC converter station will be built in Mission, Texas, where an identical installation was delivered by ABB in 2007. The two stations will work in parallel to provide a transmission capacity of up to 300 MW. This will increase the power transfer capacity between Texas and Mexico and secure power supply according to ABB. Read more >>

·         ENBALA Power Networks, NRStor, and Renewable Energy Systems Canada were chosen by Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) through an RFP process seeking new sources of regulation services. Starting in early 2013, ENBALA will deliver an aggregated network of demand-side storage, growing to four MW. NRStor has partnered with Temporal Power, an Ontario developer of flywheel technology, and Ontario Power Generation, one of North America’s largest producers of electricity and a current provider of regulation service in Ontario. Together, NRStor, Temporal Power and OPG will deliver two MW of regulation service to the IESO by ensuring fast-response energy to optimally provide this grid-balancing service. RES Canada offers a suite of development and construction services for wind, solar, storage and transmission projects and will deliver Ontario's first battery regulation service. “Real-time, real-world experience with new sources of regulation will allow us to see how non-traditional resources behave,” said Paul Murphy, President and CEO of the IESO. “Engaging and empowering new participants will provide much needed flexibility in the way we run the power system, which is important in the context of our changing supply mix.” Read more >>

·         Real Goods Solar, a provider of turnkey solar energy solutions based in Louisville, Colorado, announced it has secured more than 5 megawatts in solar power projects across Arizona and California in key education, municipal and commercial market segments. These multi-site programs were won by RGS Energy, the company's commercial and utility division. Read more >>

·         Survalent Technology has commissioned a new SCADA system for the Greenville Utilities Commission, which serves a combined total of more than 135,800 customer connections in North Carolina. Read more >>