energy storage
Energy and utility consulting firm KEMA has come out with a new energy storage performance modeling tool designed to help determine returns on investment in available and emerging technologies. ES-Select offers probabilistic distributions for cost, payback and other key decision-making parameters. It’s targeted at companies looking to choose an
Smart Grid
Scientific Conservation Inc. (SCI), which provides predictive diagnostics and analytics for energy efficiency, plans to acquire the energy management and demand response firm Servidyne in an all-cash transaction. The $3.50-per-share acquisition is expected to close during or before the fourth quarter of this year. Once the transaction is completed,
energy management
GridPoint has released its GridPoint Energy Manager, a unified platform for enterprise and utility energy management. The software is designed to complement existing hardware and service offerings to manage the deployment and operation of energy endpoints, such as building management systems, solar arrays, electric vehicle and home energy management technologies.
energy security
New improvements to Kuwait’s largest power plant have added about 10 percent of capacity to the nation’s grid, ensuring that the country is better able to meet peak electricity demand during the hot summer months. The Sabiya plant recently activated six advanced-technology gas turbine-generators from GE that are
data management
Korea Electric Power Company (KEPCO) will work with IBM to build a “Total Operations Center” at its Jeju Smart Grid Test-Bed Demonstration Complex. The complex is the world’s largest smart-grid community established for smart grid research and testing. The new operations center will allow the 160 companies and 11
energy storage
A company that produces ultracapacitor-based energy storage products plans to work three other US firms on energy storage research and development programs. Maxwell Technologies expects to receive more than $500,000 in state and federal funding for collaborative R&D efforts with Yardney Technical Products, a Connecticut-based battery manufacturer;
smart metering
Brazil’s largest privately owned energy company plans to roll out 25,000 smart electricity meters by the end of 2012. The deployment is part of a broader smart-grid effort that will eventually reach millions of the utility’s customers. CPFL Energia Holdings is working with IBM to develop a
wind energy
A half-dozen research projects across the US will be working over the next two years to try and develop lighter, better and more efficient wind turbines. Reducing the weight of wind turbine components and making turbines easier to operate and maintain would help cut the cost of wind energy, according
LED lighting
LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, are generally the most energy-efficient — and longest-lasting — lighting option currently available. But while the technology is rapidly improving and prices are dropping steadily, LED lighting remains on the pricy side. There’s the rub: LEDs can save lots of money over time in reduced energy bills
energy
Could another benefit to the smart grid be an end to rampant energy theft by marijuana grow houses? Jordan Diplock and Darryl Plecas, researchers at Canada’s University of the Fraser Valley, conducted a study that found illegal growing operations in British Columbia alone might be responsible for up to
smart technology
As far as power generation and green energy are concerned, the world’s emerging markets are where the action is. Energy, engineering and infrastructure giant Siemens, for example, foresees rapidly growing demand for its services not only in the Middle East and BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries but
electric cars
With plans for a commercial launch later this year, electric car-focused Better Place has unveiled its first battery switching station in Europe. The station in Gladsaxe, just outside of Copenhagen, demonstrated the company’s Battery Switch technology by replacing the battery in a Renault Fluence ZE. The station is the
