Smart Grid Business

BPL Global is partnering with Delta Dore, Edelia, Saft, Schneider Electric, Tenesol, and Electricite de France (EDF)—through its French subsidiary BPL GLOBAL EMEA—to deploy a smart grid project on the islands of Corsica, Guadeloupe, and La Reunion. The €30.2 million Millener project will deploy various combinations of distributed resources at participating solar generation, battery storage and energy load controllers. Private electric consumers enrolled in the program will also be able to monitor their electricity use in real time. EDF will manage all these distributed energy resources with BPLG’s Power SG platform.

GridGlo was selected to present at the Igniting Innovation Showcase in Port Canaveral, Florida. The event, hosted by the Technological Research and Development Authority (TRDA) and Space Florida, featured some of the “most innovative and promising entrepreneurial firms in Florida.”  GridGlo is a startup specializing in data fusion and the development of smart grid applications, and its data fusion platform helps utility companies manage energy resources more efficiently.

Siemens Energy is implementing eMeter EnergyIP, a meter data management system (MDMS), members of WPPI Energy, a regional power company serving 51 consumer-owned utilities in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Iowa. Siemens reports it will configure, deliver, and support the project implementation, which began in June.

Elster and Landis+Gyr are partnering to develop integrated advanced metering hardware for smart grid applications. Under the alliance, both companies will integrate communication functions into advanced meters with the purpose of providing utility customers with meter platform choice. In addition, Elster and Landis+Gyr are each developing firmware that will make advanced meters function within the companies’ respective communication systems.

Duke Energy’s proposed merger with Progress Energy has been approved by more than 90 percent of the Duke Energy shareholders. Progress Energy shareholders also approved the merger in a separate meeting. The merger is on schedule to close by the end of 2011.

Blue Line Innovations has partnered with PlotWatt, combining Blue Line’s hardware with PlotWatt’s cloud-based software. The resulting solution enables homeowners to see both their real-time whole-home energy use and appliance level spending without needing additional hardware or smart plugs required. PlotWatt receives live data feeds every 32 seconds from the PowerCost Monitor WiFi Gateway.

The City of Dubuque, Iowa, has introduced the Smarter Energy Cloud, which will enable citizens to access information about their energy usage and habits and share best practices through an electricity portal/website. The electricity portal is now available to volunteer households in Dubuque.

EnergyHub has raised $14.5 million in its Series B round of funding, adding two new investors—Acadia Woods and the New York City Investment Fund—to its existing investors, .406 Ventures and Physic Ventures. The financing will support commercial deployments of EnergyHub’s home energy management system and the launch of its new Mercury wireless thermostat software service.

New research from IBM found that a troubling number of consumers around the globe do not have a working knowledge of utility pricing or other basic energy concepts. This is true in markets all around the world. The 2011 IBM Global Utility Consumer Survey also identifies behavioral patterns that can potentially impact how utilities communicate and drive motivation amongst consumers.

New research by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory strongly suggests that solar photovoltaic (PV) systems add sale value to homes.

Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) has become a value added reseller and systems integrator of On-Ramp’s Ultra-Link Processing (ULP) wireless systems in North America and the UK. SAIC deploys Smart Grid as a Service (SGS) for utility customers so this new agreement will enable the companies to offer complete system solutions to address all aspects of the Grid, from Smart Meter advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) to distribution automation and risk mitigation applications.

Greenvity will implement Palmchip’s AcurX Smart Grid platform for its smart energy and Home Area Network (HAN) based solutions.  Greenvity will use Palmchip technology as the embedded processor in its future system-on-chip (SoC) connectivity products designed for the smart meter, home energy management gateway, and appliance markets.

A new report by International Data Corporation (IDC) Energy Insights found that IT spending by Western European utilities is expected to be $9.1 billion in 2011. Western Europe, Utilities Industry, IT Spending, 2010–201 percent Forecast, which includes market sizing and forecast estimates, shows that IT services currently make up nearly 62 percent of total IT spending for utilities.

Oncor has installed its two millionth smart meter in Carrollton, a suburb of Dallas. The company has now completed approximately two-thirds of its planned advanced meter deployment, which began in 2008.

A new report by GTM Research forecasts that the smart grid market in Europe will enjoy significant development over the next five years as utilities meet rigorous efficiency mandates and integrate renewable energies into the grid. The study estimates the cumulative European smart grid market will reach €3.1 billion in 2012 and increase to €6.8 billion in 2016, a 120 percent increase.

Through the 2011 Brazilian New Energy Auction, Enel Green Power has been awarded three wind farm projects located in the Northeast of Brazil in the States of Bahia, Pernambuco, and Rio Grande do Norte, the latter in consortium with Endesa. The projects will add 193 MW to Enel’s existing 90 MW of wind projects and 93 MW of hydro capacity in operation in Brazil.The farms are expected to be operational by 2014.

Black Hills Corp. has chosen Siemens Energy to integrate the eMeter EnergyIP meter data management system (MDMS) into its information technology systems. The MDMS will retrieve and store meter readings and meter-centric information to assist with asset and outage management. Siemens will provide configuration, testing, and integration services through each step of the MDMS implementation.

EnerNOC has hired Dr. Per Gyllstrom as its Chief Product Architect, where he will oversee the continued development of EnerNOC’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform. Prior to joining EnerNOC, Dr. Gyllstrom was the Chief Architect at Bridge Energy Group, where he contributed to the architecture and design of smart grid integration solutions. In his new position he reports to EnerNOC’s Vice President of Engineering, Hugh Scandrett.

Energy management company GRID2020 has entered into a licensing agreement with IBEC Global to create a new, independent Smart Grid technology company focused on Real Time Solutions.

AT&T and Digi are partnering to offer Digi X-Grid Solutions, a suite of products and services that provides real-time monitoring of thermostats, electronics, meters, and other energy-related devices in homes and businesses to more effectively meet energy demand. Digi X-Grid Solutions are delivered over the AT&T network, which enables two-way communications for more than 13 million electric meters on its wireless network.