29 Nov 2011
A continuing black-eye for how US utilities handle Smart Grid conversions. The City of Boulder in Colorado, US has voted to convert its electric infrastructure from private to public ownership. The private utility, Xcel Energy had spent a lot of money attempting to make Boulder the world’s first Smart Grid City. It seems Xcel should have spent...
What Happened
One of the world’s first smart grid cities, designed to prove that smart grid technologies could deliver value to customers, has created a political, and eventually economic, dispute between one of the bigger publically-owned utilities in the US, Xcel Energy, and one of the most progressive, technology-friendly communities in the US, Boulder, Colorado, resulting in bad news for all concerned.
Background
Xcel Energy, an electric utility serving eight Southwest and...
28 Feb 2012
As Vermont races to build the first statewide smart grid infrastructure, in time to keep its stimulus funding, IBM and Velco have joined forces to build an intelligent communications and control network across the state.
What happened
IBM and Velco (Vermont Electric Power Company,) in a press statement announced they would team up to build the first statewide smart grid in the US. The statement described it as “an intelligent fiber optic and carrier ethernet communications and control network across the State of Vermont.”
Janette Bombardier (director, IBM Vermont site operations and senior location executive,) states, “the state is embarking on a revolutionary plan to build the...
09 Feb 2012
DistribuTECH – home of the energy press release … and time to probe energy trends for the year ahead … a great show makes for excellent media …
Smart Grid News: DistribuTECH Buzz
The Smart Grid News Team wrote a comprehensive, three-part article highlighting the major announcements made at the DistribuTECH conference. This series proved to be a very valuable index of the big news that came out of the event.
Part one covered the following press releases:
Itron apps help utilities maximize value of smart grid data
Glen Canyon wins 1.5 million virtual AMI deployment in China
New Opower Marketplace...
23 Jan 2012
Four of the big players (in different aspects) of the smart grid have announced that they are making their products compatible with Sprint’s wireless network. This opens the question as to whether the cellular networks and the smart grid vendors and utilities are finally ready to collaborate.
What happened
Jesse Berst of Smart Grid News reports that four companies claim support for Sprint as a smart grid communications supplier. ...
30 Apr 2012
UK’s new system will connect wind power faster and cheaper … Netherlands Essent and Tendril develop “first-of-its-kind” smart energy application crowdsourcing project … EU Energy Ministers meet to discuss 2050 plan … UK’s E.ON Deploys Elster Meters … UK’s energy efficient Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
Smart Grid News: UK project points way to faster, cheaper wind integration
Jesse Berst of Smart Grid News writes about the UK’s “innovative” "flexible, plug-and-play” system that could see wind power integrated onto the grid “easier, faster and cheaper.” The connection of additional wind farms will result in voltage and thermal constraints, as well as reverse power flows as the UK grid is already operating beyond its capacity.
The new...
16 May 2012
“Smart Grid is not a single purpose network so it is important to build a grid that is open, scalable and flexible; that can attract a community of suppliers; and be ready for future demands”
Exclusive interview with Göran Näslund, Global Business Development Manager Metering, Vodafone, Sweden. Göran will address African Utility Week’s T&D/Smart Grids track on “M2M communications and an enabled grid”.
1) How does the Vodafone M2M technology work?
At the core of our Global M2M Service is a powerful, dedicated platform which allows our customers to self-manage connected M2M devices such as smart meters. Our...
25 Jan 2012
A first-ever ‘Smart Grid Demand Response Project’ launched in China, with Honeywell International as contractor.
What happened
PRNewsWire.com released Honeywell International’s press announcement on the company’s agreement with the Tianjin Economic Development Area (TEDA) to build China’s first smart grid demand response (DR) project.
The announcement represented the launch of the demand response pilot system sponsored by the US-China Economic Cooperation Program (ECP), which aims to establish smart grid industry standards and regulations across all of China.
Background ...
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