NTS Smart Grid Blog

Elster Highlights Smart Meter Interoperability and Secure Data Handling at E-world 2012

Derek — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

ESSEN, Germany, Feb. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – Elster (NYSE: ELT) announced today that the company will be showcasing solutions at the upcoming E-world conference which underscore Elster’s commitment to the implementation of Germany’s new data protection profile, as developed by the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) at the request of Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology Continue reading →

Green Energy Options joins Trilliant Interoperability Group

Derek — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Green Energy Options (GEO) has joined the Trilliant Interoperability Group, which unifies multiple home energy management devices within a single eco-system, enabling utilities to help consumers cut their energy bills by up to 10 percent by installing smart meters. The Communications Hub Interoperability Group is an alliance intended to provide a cost effective way for Continue reading →

Smart grid: new energy solutions

Derek — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Washing machines and refrigerators have joined the ranks of smart devices. This means computerization, improving efficiency and protecting the environment. This focus is shifting to electricity, as experts tackle effective distribution from power plants to consumers. The purpose of this smart revolution is to save costs and limit environmental impact. Cutting carbon dioxide emissions within Continue reading →

How Smart Grid Empowers Sustainability

Derek — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:00:00 +0000

The second annual Enterprise Smart Grid conference, organized by Groom Energy, played to a packed room at the Logan Airport Embassy Suites hotel in Boston, Massachusetts. Held in November 2011, the event was preceded by a half-day ISO 50001 overview. Day two of the event – the actual conference – began with an overview of Continue reading →

Siemens to buy smart grid vendor for $381 million

Derek — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

On Monday, Siemens AG announced it will buy RuggedCom Inc, a maker of data communications networks systems, for about $381 million in cash, to improve access to markets in North America and the Asia-Pacific region. RuggedCom (Ontario, Canada), which had revenues of around $94 million last year and employs 360 people, makes heavy-duty routers and Continue reading →

Itron Enters Next Phase of Azerbaijan Gas Meter Project

Derek — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:00:00 +0000

Itron will provide more than 400,000 gas smart payment meters to SOCAR Azeri Gas Production Union (PU), a part of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR). This is the start of the second phase of the project. The first phase included installing 250,000 smart payment meters in the capital city of Baku. This second Continue reading →

SAIC Provides Smart Grid Services To Four Alaskan Villages

Derek — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:00:00 +0000

Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) has been awarded a contract by Intelligent Energy Systems (IES) for smart grid infrastructure solutions for four Alaskan villages. SAIC and IES implemented SAIC’s Smart Grid as a Service (SGS) offering at these locations, and services have been online and running since December. via Renew Grid: Content / Projects & Continue reading →

Smart grid for water transforms utility ops from reactive to proactive

Derek — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:00:00 +0000

Utilities are facing increased challenges related to water through population growth, droughts and operational issues including increases in electricity prices and, as a result, are in need of information that goes beyond meter reading and provides the intelligence to transform operations from reactive to proactive. via Smart grid for water transforms utility ops from reactive Continue reading →

Balancing Hawaiian Wind Power With Demand Response

Derek — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Can the right combination of technology and economic incentives get utility customers to turn down megawatts of power use fast enough to balance wind power’s ups and downs? Honeywell and Hawaiian Electric Co. (HECO) are going to try it out on the island of Oahu, using Honeywell’s automated demand response technology. Under the two-year pilot Continue reading →

Aclara Turns on Green Button for Pepco

Derek — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Aneesh Chopra may be stepping down as the nation’s first federal CTO, but his idea of a “Green Button” system to standardize smart consumer energy data across the nation lives on. Smart meter hardware and software vendor Aclara is the latest to join in, announcing last week (PDF) that it’s enabling Green Button data download Continue reading →

Researchers Postpone Release Of Free Smart Meter Security Testing Tool

Derek — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Smart grid researchers pulled their talk and planned release of a new security assessment tool for smart grid meters during the ShmooCon conference after a vendor voiced concerns about the research. Don Weber, a senior security analyst with InGuardians, had planned to introduce on Saturday evening a new homegrown tool that tests for both vulnerabilities Continue reading →

Japan boasts energy saving-technology

Derek — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Visitors learned how they can save energy in their homes, vehicles and companies with new products from the Smart Energy Exhibition in Tokyo. For example, JFE Engineering Corporation showed off its rapid charger for electric vehicle batteries. In the future it will be on highways and in shopping malls. via PressTV – Japan boasts energy Continue reading →

What the utility of the future looks like

Derek — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

As utility industry trade show DistribuTECH wrapped up last Thursday, attendees got a peek at not only new product offerings — from smart thermostats to software platforms that manage smart meter data — but also the potential for what a utility of the future might look like. via What the utility of the future looks like Continue reading →

San Diego Makes Smart City Moves

Derek — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 06:00:00 +0000

What’s the definition of a smart city? According to San Diego, it’s one that promotes sustainability and the growth of green jobs, as per the city’s Smart City San Diego collaborative. This group, formed in January 2011, is made up of city of San Diego, GE, UC San Diego, CleanTech San Diego and San Diego Continue reading →

Bureau of Land Management Seeks Comments Regarding Solar and Wind Leases

Derek — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:00:00 +0000

The U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”), which manages over 245 million acres, recently published in the Federal Register an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to give the public background information about the BLM’s interest in establishing an efficient, competitive process for issuing right-of-way (ROW) leases for solar and wind energy development on Continue reading →

HomePlug Powerline Alliance Brings Technology Summits to China in 2012

Derek — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:00:00 +0000

The HomePlug(R) Powerline Alliance ( www.homeplug.org ), the worldwide industry group for powerline communications networking, today announced technology summits in China in 2012 — February 28 in Beijing and March 1 in Shenzhen. HomePlug technology enables a home’s electrical wires to distribute broadband Internet, HD video, digital music and smart energy applications. via HomePlug(R) Powerline Continue reading →

Linux-based home energy gateway supports ZigBee Smart Energy 2.0

Derek — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Digi International announced a ZigBee-based home energy gateway that runs Linux on a Freescale i.MX28 processor. Compliant with the upcoming Smart Energy 2.0 standard, the “ConnectPort X2e for Smart Energy” enables ZigBee devices on a Home Area Network (HAN) to communicate with an energy service provider, says the company. The ConnectPort X2e for Smart Energy Continue reading →

ENBALA Power Networks Named 2012 Smart Grid Company to Watch

Derek — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:00:00 +0000

ENBALA Power Networks has been named a Smart Grid Company to Watch by SmartGridNews.com. “We’ve built a solid foundation for our innovative Demand-Side Management solution, and we look forward to building on that this year and delivering on the expectations the Smart Grid community has for ENBALA and that we have for ourselves.” The third Continue reading →

China Cuts Subsidies for Solar Projects on Declining Costs

Derek — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:00:00 +0000

China, the world’s biggest producer of solar panels, cut subsidies for demonstration sun-power projects approved in 2011 and this year after the cost of components declined. The government reduced the subsidy for projects approved last year by 11 percent to 8 yuan ($1.3) a watt, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement yesterday. It Continue reading →

Honeywell killed off its learning thermostat 20 years ago

Derek — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:00:00 +0000

Honeywell, one of the world’s largest thermostat makers, tells me that twenty years ago it tested out thermostats that can learn the home owner’s behavior and adapt the heating and cooling accordingly, but ultimately decided that consumers didn’t take to them, and would rather control their thermostat themselves. I asked Honeywell’s President of its Environmental Continue reading →