renewables
Over the past year, the UK has seen a significant increase in the amount of energy it gets from renewable sources, with one contributing factor being a return to higher, more normal wind speeds and rainfall. Nearly 10 percent of all Britain’s power is now renewably generated. Low wind
concentrating solar power
Concentrating solar power (CSP) is currently more expensive than energy from photovoltaic (PV) solar panels, but it promises one significant perk over PV: its potential for being combined with energy storage that keeps producing electricity long after the sun stops shining. That’s exactly the kind of perk developers of
photovoltaics
The US Department of Energy has finalized a $337-million loan guarantee for a solar energy project to be located in Arizona, not far from Phoenix. Mequite Solar 1 is set to be one of the first utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) power plants in the country to use an innovative, US-made transformer-less
analytics
It’s one more sign of how energy is increasingly equivalent to security: From its new Energy Control Center (ECC) in Sunnyvale, California, Serious Energy is now providing round-the-clock energy monitoring for its commercial building customers, much in the way security companies have long offered security-camera and alarm monitoring. The
home area networks
Following a pilot program, Oklahoma Gas and Electric (OG&E) is moving ahead with plans to launch a residential demand response program in 2012. The initiative is aimed at reducing peak energy demand, as well as the need to build new power plants to meet demand. The utility will
smart metering
British Gas has chosen Elster as its second provider for dual electricity and gas meters for its planned rollout of smart meters in 2012 and 2013. The UK-based utility had held a competitive evaluation of several potential vendors to identify an additional qualified supplier for its smart metering deployment. Landis
efficiency
Sick and tired of circling the block in the vain hope of finding an open parking space? There could soon be an app for that in a city near you. IBM and Streetline, a company using smart technology to tackle the perennial lack of parking in urban areas, have started
energy security
With some already likening our energy challenges to a war, it seems appropriate that the US Department of Energy (DOE) is now preparing a regular, strategic review of energy technologies similar to the Defense Department’s Quadrennial Defense Review. Released today, the first-ever Quadrennial Technology Review (DOE-QTR) assesses the DOE’
networking
On-Ramp Wireless has partnered with meter data management system (MDMS) provider Ecologic Analytics to provide a pre-integrated system for utilities looking to implement smart-metering programs. On-Ramp has also just begun offering meter communication modules for the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) space. Working with Ecologic Analytics’ MDMS system, On-Ramp’s Ultra-Link
analytics
A combination of technologies from two companies is aimed at helping utilities get detailed information about grid performance that can help keep energy systems stable and reliable. Tollgrade Communications has developed a new application that works with smart-grid firm Echelon’s Control Operating System (COS) to provide analytics-based insights into
vehicle-to-grid
NRG Energy and the University of Delaware (UD) have teamed up in a venture called eV2g to commercialize technology that lets electric-vehicle (EV) owners sell back energy stored in their car batteries to help stabilize the electricity grid. Developed by UD professor Willett Kempton, the vehicle-to-grid technology could help make
social networks
Germany-based GreenPocket has developed what it says is the first social metering app connecting smart energy meters with Facebook. The company plans to present the app during the Metering Billing/CRM Europe conference, set to be held Oct. 4 – 6 in Amsterdam. The inspiration for the app is the finding
