Smart Grid

[img:Nobuo.thumbnail.jpeg|Nobuo Tanaka,
Executive Director,
IEA]Paris, France --- (METERING.COM) --- April 6, 2011 - The widespread deployment of smart grids is critical for a secure, cost effective and clean energy future, according to the International Energy Agency’s newly released "Smart Grids Technology Roadmap."

With peak demand expected to increase between 2010 and 2050 in all regions, smart grid deployment could reduce these increases, with for example, reductions of from 13 percent to 24 percent projected for four regions, China, the European Union, North America and the Pacific.

[img:Distribution%20(Custom).thumbnail.jpg| ]Austin, TX and Raleigh, NC, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- April 5, 2011 - Texas Electric Cooperatives (TEC) has entered into an alliance with Tantalus to offer the TUNet® (Tantalus Utility Network) smart grid communications technology to electric cooperatives and municipal utilities throughout Texas.
 
TEC is a state-wide association representing the interests of 65 electric distribution cooperatives and nine generation and transmission cooperatives across Texas. The alliance with Tantalus enables TEC to offer the utilities support for both wired and wireless platforms for implementing smart grid technology.

Brussels, Belgium --- (METERING.COM) --- April 4, 2011 - Customers and their main contact point, the energy retailers, have a unique opportunity, technologically as well as economically, to advance the efficient development of the smart grid throughout Europe’s competitive energy markets and major changes in this emerging energy landscape, with new technologies already available or soon expected on the market, will open up new possibilities within the retailer-consumer relationship.

[img:handshake%20resize_0.png| ]Melbourne, Australia and Liberty Lake, WA, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- April 4, 2011 - The Australian Energy Market Operator Ltd. (AEMO) is to implement Itron’s MetrixIDR platform to automate short-term load forecasting for the country’s National Electricity Market (NEM).

Itron will implement an end-to-end solution to streamline the AEMO’s processes and provide half-hourly demand forecasts at intervals ranging from half-hour ahead to eight days ahead. With demand forecasts created at a sub-regional level, the project will enable improved forecasting of interconnection constraints, and in turn improve the forecasting accuracy of spot prices and reserves.

[img:EUlogo.thumbnail.jpg| ]Brussels, Belgium --- (METERING.COM) --- April 1, 2011 - The European standardization organizations CEN, CENELEC and ETSI have been presented with a mandate by the European Commission (EC) to produce standards to support the region’s smart grid deployment.

The objective of the mandate is to develop or update a set of consistent standards within a common European framework that will achieve interoperability and will enable or facilitate the implementation of the different high level smart grid services and functionalities.

[img:SGIP.thumbnail.jpg| ]Nashville, TN, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- April 1, 2011 - Following recommendations from the U.S. Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) Task Force on Home Area Networks, the governing board has recommended the creation of a new, fast tracked Priority Action Plan (PAP) to address requirements for developing a migration strategy from Smart Energy Profile (SEP) 1.0/1.x to SEP 2.0.

[img:kallas-s.thumbnail.jpg|Siim Kallas, EC
Commissioner for
Transport]Brussels, Belgium --- (METERING.COM) --- April 1, 2011 - A 4-year, €42 million cross‐European initiative to promote electromobility, Green eMotion, has been kicked off by the European Commission, which is also making available €24.2 million in support.

The initiative includes 42 partners comprising industrial companies, automobile manufacturers, utilities, municipalities, universities, and technology and research institutions, which will input, exchange and expand their know‐how and experience in selected regions within Europe.

[img:handshake.thumbnail.jpg| ]Nashville, TN, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- March 31, 2011 - The USNAP Alliance and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) are to jointly develop a single modular interface specification combining elements of the EPRI Demand Response Socket Interface Specification and the USNAP Alliance 2.0 specification.

The initiative was prompted by a request from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Home-to-Grid Domain Expert Working Group (H2G DEWG) to harmonize the two bodies of work, in preparation for delivery to a standards development organization.

[img:Jessica.thumbnail.jpg|Jessica Stromback,
Executive Director,
SEDC]Brussels, Belgium --- (METERING.COM) --- March 30, 2011 - The European Smart Energy Demand Coalition (SEDC) was formally launched at a function in Brussels, Belgium last evening as an industry group dedicated to promoting the requirements of demand side programs in Europe.

The SEDC, which was constituted in November 2010, is intended to represent the entire energy value chain and cut across all segments of the electricity industry.

[img:Screens_0.JPG| ]San Francisco, CA, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- March 30, 2011 - HP has become the latest IT company to enter the home energy management arena, with the unveiling of a proof of concept of a “home energy intelligence service.”

The service, from the company’s central research facility HP Labs, includes a tool that uses sensors and HP gateways throughout the home to track energy consumption by room and by appliance. The information is viewed on an online interface or via a mobile phone, and includes 3-D rectangular icons that represent the rooms or appliances that are color coded – green, blue, yellow or red – according to their energy usage.