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Tool Quantifies Business Value of Geospatial Network Management Solutions
Feb 16th
GE Energy has published the ROI Handbook for geospatial network infrastructure management solutions: A structured approach to quantifying and delivering business value. The ROI handbook is designed to help network operators make fact-based decisions about investments in network infrastructure management solutions, gain buy-in by making the right level and pace of investment, and support their business objectives based on a quantifiable return-on-investment.
Investment prioritization and justification are more relevant than ever as leaders of network operators look to quantify specific and measurable return across all IT investments. As a result, many geospatial technology advocates face significant challenges to secure More >
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Loading ...Know your DIMP? (free ESRI webinar: GIS meets Grid)
Feb 14th
Firstly,
I just love this acronym, which is new to me. Secondly, using GIS with DIMPs is an idea that is obvious and will be increasingly part of the utility space. Not that utilities have failed to integrate some geographical information into their operating systems, but that there is still a lot of room for improvement.
I’ve been thinking about this for a while. It is what led me to buy the smartpowermaps.com domain back in 09 (not that I’ve done anything with it… just part of my domain prospecting for future use habit).
Anyhow, there is an upcoming free webinar from ESRI More >
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Texas’ Wind Transmission Project Keeps Rolling — Wind Energy | The Texas Tribune
Sep 8th
by Kate Galbraith September 8, 2010
This is the first part in a three-part series examining Texas’ $5 billion build-out of transmission lines to support wind power, which is encountering increasing opposition.
Last week, to cheers from a crowded courtroom, commissioners in Denton Countyunanimously passed a resolution opposing the construction of a big new transmission line through their county — even though it would carry clean, renewable wind power. Later today, the company that wants to build the line will file a stack of paperwork refuting some of the objections and asking Texas regulators for permission to proceed anyway.
It’s the latest episode in the marathon More >
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Smart Grid and Renewable Technologies May See Double Digit Growth in Five Years
Aug 28th
Aug 27, 2010
Renewable energy technologies, fueled by worldwide government support in the form of stimulus programs and other incentives, have improved the global economic outlook with new jobs and industry. Six will hit double digit growth in the next five years — and change our lifestyle, according to a series of market studies from SBI Energy. Here’s what the industrial market research company found:
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Car Companies and Utilities Face Similar Challenges in the Coming of Age of Smart Technologies
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...U.S. electricity blackouts skyrocketing – CNN.com
Aug 12th
By Thom Patterson, CNN
August 9, 2010 7:36 a.m. EDT | Filed under: Innovation
New Yorker Philip Wilentz powers his TV with a car cigarette lighter during 2003′s massive blackout. STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Non-disaster U.S. power outages up 124 percent since early ’90s
- U.S. electricity reliability low compared to some nations
- Experts: “Smart grid” would avert blackouts, save billions
- Austin “Easy Button” controls tens of thousands of Texas thermostats
(CNN) — New York’s Staten Island was broiling under a life-threatening heat wave and borough President James Molinaro was seriously concerned about the area’s Little League baseball players. It was last July’s Eastern heat wave and Consolidated Edison was responding to scattered More >
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...GTM Research: United States Smart Grid Policy 2010
Aug 10th
Stephen Munro munro@gtmresearch.com
JULY 26, 2010
United States Smart Grid Policy 2010IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF TEN KEY STATES DRIVING DEPLOYMENT
The smart grid will be an essential component of state power scenarios as energy efficiency and renewable energy mandates proliferate across the United States. Since 2009, the Federal government has awarded US$4.5 billion in stimulus funds to spur smart grid investment and demonstration. With this injection of funds and the near-term potential of a scaling smart grid, state legislators, regulators, utilities and grid operators are surveying the stakes of commercial integration and laying boundaries for the sector via policy and pilot initiatives.
Report Atlas More >
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Demand Response, Meet Customer Engagement
Aug 10th
KATHERINE TWEED: AUGUST 9, 2010 Demand Response, Meet Customer Engagement
From EnergyConnect’s new DR platform to TXU Energy expanding its iThermostat program, consumer preferences are getting more play in DR.
It’s hot. Gross-hot, not “let’s get outside and enjoy the sunshine!” hot. Although most of the country has recently enjoyed a brief respite from sweltering conditions, it’s still pretty damn hot.
The steamy conditions are making demand response to cut critical peak load on the grid more important than ever. While DR has been growing at a good clip in recent years, there has also started to be a shift in how some vendors are approaching the market.
As More >
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Report Finds 99.96% of Texas Smart Meters Accurate — Energy | The Texas Tribune
Jul 30th
by Kate Galbraith July 30, 2010
A new report has found that Texas’s smart meters are accurate in 99.96 percent of cases.
The report by Navigant Consulting, released today, had been commissioned by the Public Utility Commission in the wake of a crush of complaints about the meters, which are being rolled out across Texas. A class action lawsuit was also filed against Oncor earlier this year due to smart meters concerns.
“It is Navigant Consulting’s opinion … that the vast majority of advanced meters currently installed by Oncor, CenterPoint and AEP Texas are accurately measuring and recording electric usage, as well as communicating that information through the respective advanced More >
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Swept Away ― How the Smart Grid Tsunami Could Destroy Utilities (And What to Do About It)
Jul 21st
Jul 20, 2010
It’s easy to figure a strategy for surviving a tidal wave … run like hell for the high ground.
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It’s more difficult to apply that thinking to the Smart Grid. We can see the wave is about to hit the shore… but which way is the high ground? Should a utility start offering all sorts of new energy services behind the meter? Or become a wires-only utility and leave the new services to others? Or compete with the EnerNOCs of the world? Or partner with them? Or emigrate to New Zealand to herd sheep?
Often guidance lies n the experiences More >
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...The Good News and Bad News about Cisco’s Smart Grid Strategy
Jul 19th
Jul 15, 2010
In separate stories, we’ve described how Cisco’s home energy management initiative reveals the underpinnings of the grid’s first operating system. And how Microsoft’s bureaucratic stupidity caused it to miss this billion-dollar opportunity.
I want to use this space to discuss the good and bad aspects of Cisco’s Smart Grid strategy from the utility point of view. Remember, I’m talking here about Cisco’s strategy, not about its current offerings, which still fall far short of the company’s long-term goals.
Let’s Start with the Good News
There is a lot to like about the idea of a standard operating system for the grid. For instance:
· A target for More >
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