Smart Grid

Cisco Unveils ‘Connected Grid’ Approach for Power Companies

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Reliability has long been the most important element of operations to electricity generators and providers; the modern economy has been built around it. But as new technology evolves rapidly in management of energy consumption and both financial and regulatory limits remain on a comprehensive rebuild of the US electricity industry, the sector has found itself stuck mid-disruption.

A belief that smart meter installation would somehow finish the job of making any utility a connected, operationally forward-thinking powerhouse has been proved wrong by the substantial number of smart meter installations that have failed to alter any part of traditional utilities’ businesses (in many cases data is not even collected, or if collected isn’t acted on). The inability of all the different pieces of the energy system to “speak” to each other electronically has in many cases made traditional reliability practices futile, while not quite bringing the new reliability systems into full practice. Keep reading →

 /  Published January 25, 2013 at 9:00 AM

Energy Forecasting: A New Approach to Managing Demand

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Intelligent energy management systems company GridNavigator and energy management control systems contractor ATS Automation have installed a new service that provides day by day energy demand forecasts at Edmonds Community College in Lynnwood, near Seattle, Washington. That ability allows users to provide additional energy efficiency and reduce demand, meaning they can avoid spendy peak energy rates.

Pete Segall, energy services manager for ATS Automation, explained it simply: “Our customers look to us for ways to save money and reduce energy usage while minimizing capital expenses. GridNavigator’s energy forecasting service allows us to predict energy and demand spokes and launch automated reduction strategies before the demand event occurs.” Keep reading →

 /  Published January 18, 2013 at 12:30 PM

What’s Next for the Energy, Environment, and Applied Technology Sectors in 2013?

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Last year was significant for the sustainable industries, marked by the rise of natural gas, the decline in renewables, and debates on energy policy issues surrounding the election. Despite the uncertainties of where the market is headed, we expect to see an uptick in investments and deals across the natural gas, energy efficiency, and smart grid sectors over the next year. In 2013, we predict that the energy efficiency will be active with the continued growth of IT, but the natural gas sector will be the center of major investor attention. In the coming months, we also believe that our country will move towards a formal, comprehensive energy policy.

2013 predictions for the Energy, Environment, and Applied Technology Sectors: Keep reading →

 /  Published January 18, 2013 at 8:30 AM

Engineers Highlight US Infrastructure Investment Gaps: The $3.1 Trillion Problem

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Without adequate investment on infrastructure the US could face a $2.4 trillion drop in consumer spending by 2020, a $1.1 trillion loss in total trade and experience the loss of 3.5 million jobs in 2020 alone.

This is just a sliver of the doom and gloom the American Society of Civil Engineers predicted this week with the release of their final report in the “Failure to Act” series that focuses on the impacts associated with continued infrastructure deterioration. The latest installment of the ASCE reports focuses on specifically on economic impacts. Keep reading →

 /  Published January 16, 2013 at 2:00 PM

National Grid Puts Together a Smart Grid Dream Team

By Greentech Media


Don’t get too excited; it’s just a pilot.

Sometime in 2014, National Grid is poised to deliver the “energy system of the future.” Keep reading →

 /  Published January 15, 2013 at 9:00 AM

Ford and the EV-Backed, Solar-Powered, Cloud-Controlled Home

By Greentech Media


What’s the value of a home that can fine-tune EV charging in the garage, solar panels on the roof, appliances in the kitchen and thermostats on the wall to maximize its energy profile?

Ford Motor Co., SunPower and Whirlpool say it’s significant, at least according to a new computer model they’ve developed with the Georgia Institute of Technology. And while they haven’t launched any commercial offerings on this front yet, Ford has already developed a database of EV charging rates from utilities across the country to give each home system some grid-pertinent data to make decisions with — and a cloud-based management platform to control it all. Keep reading →

 /  Published January 9, 2013 at 8:50 AM

FERC: 38 million smartmeters now installed in US 100 million people now have better data to manage energy use http://ow.ly/giaNr

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FERC: 38 million smartmeters now installed in US 100 million plus people now have better data to manage energy use http://ow.ly/giaNr SmartGridKing

 /  Published January 8, 2013 at 12:10 PM

Rebuild For the Next Sandy

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After Hurricane Sandy ravaged the Atlantic shoreline, my 88-year-old mother-in-law sat in her New Jersey home, unwilling to leave her things, for over a week with no electricity. Another friend of mine spent that same week waiting in gas lines to refill a generator and keep his brother’s small business going. These two examples don’t even include the truly unfortunate folks who completely lost their homes and businesses; they just lost their electric power.

There has been quite a bit of buzz about whether the “smart grid” and associated technologies and applications actually helped in the Sandy recovery efforts. They may have but I think we can do better. Keep reading →

 /  Published January 7, 2013 at 3:00 PM

Energy Theft: From Bad to Worse (And What Some Utilities are Doing About It)

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Mention energy theft and many will think Brazil or India where electricity losses are staggering. Yet no corner of the world seems immune from it – be it meter tampering, pilfering copper wire from substations, illegal hookups, siphoning or other unlawful schemes. Consider: Ireland’s main energy supplier has seen a 50% increase in meter box tampering in the last three years. In Virginia, Danville Utilities reports a growing problem with people tampering with smart meters

 /  Published January 4, 2013 at 1:30 PM

Threats to the Power Grid and the Advances in Cyber Security to Thwart Them

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Utility companies confront security challenges daily, especially those related to securing the North American power grid. Increasingly, they’re responding by implementing comprehensive cyber security plans across their business networks and their generation, transmission and distribution systems.

From broad-based threats against corporate e-mail systems to targeted spear-phishing attacks aimed at nuclear operations, utilities face new challenges regularly. A focus area is the regular increase of vulnerabilities reported in the security of industrial control systems that monitor and control manage the power grid, as noted by the Department of Homeland Security and the media. Keep reading →

 /  Published December 28, 2012 at 9:00 AM
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