| This week's sponsor is OpenText. |  | eBook: Smart Customer Communications for the New Energy Era This eBook from FierceMarkets Custom Publishing provides an overview of the convergence of regulatory, environmental and business needs leading to the smart grid becoming not just necessary, but also inevitable. To read more click here to download today.
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Today's Top Stories
1. SMUD technology research project provides DR benefits
2. Energy-efficient lighting moving to top of customer priority list
3. A&M home to largest vertical-axis wind turbine install
4. Green pricing program trend continues
5. Echelon apps provide utilities actionable energy insights Also Noted: Spotlight On... Energy industry wants more time for Dodd-Frank compliance
Google powers with wind; strike looms in CT and much more... Stepping into smart grid analytics
With smart grid infrastructure increasingly becoming the rule rather than the exception in the energy industry, utilities are scrambling to stay ahead of the technology curve. But despite its widely accepted potential benefits, building out the smart grid remains a relatively new process, and many utilities still face questions about how to optimize this infrastructure to maximize profits and grid operation. Feature
FERC defending utilities against market manipulation
After much prodding by California utilities, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday launched a formal investigation into accusations that investment bank JP Morgan presented the California Independent System Operator with misleading or incomplete information about the state's energy market. Feature Obama eyes cybersecurity order
In the aftermath of the failed attempt to pass federal cyber security legislation through Congress last month, the White House is preparing to issue an Executive Order to help protect the country's critical infrastructure from dangerous attacks. Feature News From Across the Energy Industry:
1. SDG&E plans smart grid community
2. Pike: MDM in a "complex stew" of utility perceptions
3. New Mexico smart grid demo project operational
| This week's sponsor is University TechWatch. |  | University Clean Tech Directory and Database
More than 400 technologies and startups - mined, vetted and indexed from 200+ U.S. universities - plus continuous database updates
Use discount code "FIERCE2012" for $100 off
See www.universitycleantech.com |
Today's Top News 1. SMUD technology research project provides DR benefits
The Sacramento Municipal Utility District has announced the results of its research project testing REGEN Energy's Swarm Energy Management, which uses wireless electrical demand management and automated demand response technology. SMUD employed the technology in a commercial setting at five different sites, including buildings with rooftop air conditioners to test the technology's impact on peak use and energy consumption, as well as customer comfort. "The study demonstrated that the technology can successfully manage air conditioners to save both peak and annual energy," said SMUD Project Manager Vikki Wood in a statement. "In addition, at the demand response levels we tested, the technology reduced demand during critical peak events without adversely affecting occupant comfort." The technology reduces peak demand by up to 30 percent. The system uses a ZigBee network to allow controllers to talk to each other. The controllers measure power readings every 30 seconds and each controller makes a decision every 10 minutes. Power readings and decisions are uploaded every five minutes through a gateway that provides Internet communication without needing to access the site's network. For more:
- see this release Related Article:
Utilities honored for excellence in data analytics Read more about: automated demand response
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| This week's sponsor is RETECH 2012. |  | RETECH 2012,October 16-19, Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC
The only event dedicated to delivering coverage on every discipline of renewable energy technology. RETECH is the renewable energy industry's meeting place for over 3,000 Government, Utility, Finance and Technology professionals from 60 countries. Register today!
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2. Energy-efficient lighting moving to top of customer priority list
New research from Ecova could provide insight into utility lighting programs. Ecova research across 2,000 customers of three utilities revealed that annual energy savings from lighting is becoming increasingly important, ranking third for most applications.  | | Top five purchase drivers for the lighting applications surveyed. Credit: Business Wire. View the full-sized graphic. | Utilities that understand their customers' preferences can provide the innovation that customers want and need to save energy. "The results show that consumers will continue to benefit from lower utility costs via utility programs designed to reduce residential lighting energy use through innovative lighting efficiency programs," said Ted Schultz, senior vice president of strategy and innovation at Ecova. As CFLs reach market saturation, utility promotional efforts may not be as successful as other technology, according to Ecova. For example, high-efficiency LED and 2X halogen light bulbs have multiple applications that appeal to consumers in a wide variety of sockets within homes. Ecova says utility lighting programs will be more successful if they incentivize high-quality products that have all the characteristics of incandescent light bulbs, such as being compatible with dimmers and motion detectors. Utility lighting programs will play a large role in spurring adoption of these new technologies and educating consumers. For more:
- see the report Related Articles:
Utilities spurring interest in energy-efficient lighting
PSE&G capitalizing on energy-efficient lighting
Tech advances will distinguish lighting options Read more about: Ecova utility lighting program research
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3. A&M home to largest vertical-axis wind turbine install
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi can officially say that it now operates the largest vertical-axis wind turbine installation of its kind in the United States.  | | Vertical-axis wind turbines at Texas A&M University. (Credit: Texas A&M) | To earn this distinction, the $1.2 million project uses three 75-feet tall, 20 kW vertical axis wind turbines which are the largest in the nation and will produce an estimated 217,946 kWh of electricity. Funded by a $955,000 Distributed Renewable Energy Technology Stimulus Grant from the State Energy Conservation Office and the U.S. Department of Energy, the project is intended, in part, to create opportunities for learning, research, and innovation to apply engineering principles to real-world wind power generation. "Small wind turbine technology is an emerging technology for distributed and community wind power generation that has seen a significant increase in installed electricity generation over the past 10 years," said Dr. L.D. Chen, associate dean of engineering and computing sciences and director of the school of engineering and computing sciences. "The small wind turbines on campus are an excellent laboratory for the faculty and students to engage in wind turbine research and innovative solutions to harvest rich wind resources in our region." For more:
- see this slideshow Related Articles:
Community wind just one force blowing small wind market forward
GlobalData: Small wind growing 21.3 percent annually Read more about: Texas, wind turbine
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4. Green pricing program trend continues
Utilities are increasingly realizing that customers want to mitigate the environmental impact of their electricity use. As the trend continues, more utilities will turn to green power programs to support these customers. Two such green power programs have been launched -- the Maine Green Power program and the Alameda Municipal Power Alameda Green program -- with the help of 3Degrees, whereby the company supports green power projects by sourcing renewable energy generated from wind farms, solar power generating systems and other regional renewable energy facilities for utility program participants. Also known as green pricing programs, when a customer chooses to participate in a green power program, the utility matches the customer's electricity use with renewable energy, delivering to the power grid one megawatt hour of electricity generated using renewable energy resources for every megawatt hour of electricity used by the customer. For more:
- visit this website Related Articles:
PSE earns spot on national top ten green programs list
3Degrees seeing green with utilities across the country
DTE receives national recognition Read more about: renewable energy
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5. Echelon apps provide utilities actionable energy insights
Echelon has announced three new applications that provide utilities further insight into outage prevention, energy theft and revenue assurance. The apps can draw actionable insights that can be leveraged in real-time by utilities to avoid costly issues and outages. For example, the Transformer Protection App enables the remote monitoring of electrical parameters such as energy and maximum current per phase along with physical parameters relevant to the transformer's health such as temperature, moisture level, and door open/close status. With this app, utilities can trend transformer performance over time and detect gradual degradation; identify inefficient transformers and energy loss; receive real-time alerts before transformers fail due to overheat or overcapacity; reduce number of field visits to transformers that are difficult to reach; and improve public safety by alerting the utility when transformer doors are open. The Quality Assurance App continuously pulls and analyzes power quality and other status information from all smart meters on the distribution network or from a subset of meters that are strategically located at the middle or at the end of feeder lines. This allows utilities greater outage control by narrowing down the location, taking action before customers call, knowing the exact time of the interruption and identifying incidents to meet mandated power quality service obligations. The Revenue Assurance App identifies areas of loss on the distribution network by tracking energy usage at distribution transformers, and comparing it with usage at the meters attached to that transformer, allowing utilities to quantify losses in the distribution network and correlate instances of tampering at the meter with lost revenue. For more:
- see this article Read more about: energy theft, revenue assurance
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Also Noted SPOTLIGHT ON... Energy industry wants more time for Dodd-Frank compliance Energy firms are concerned about uncertainty associated with the Dodd-Frank Act and are requesting a deadline extension to comply with the act – in some cases up to a year. The extension request is based on the argument that after the rules are finalized, more time will be needed to ensure development of a comprehensive program to comply with the new regulations. Article Quick news from around the Web >Google powering its Oklahoma data center with wind. Article
>Pacific Gas & Electric is progressing on California's renewable energy mandate. Article
>Connecticut utility workers are prepared to strike. Article
>Europe's wind industry gets 100 GW boost. Article > GridWeek 2012 - October 2,4 - Washington, DC Globally recognized as the must-attend gathering dedicated to the modernization of our global Smart Grid. For more information and to register, click here! > RETECH 2012 - October 16-19, 2012 - Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC RETECH 2012 is the only event dedicated to delivering coverage on every discipline of renewable energy technology. RETECH is the renewable energy industry's meeting place for over 3,000 Government, Utility, Finance and Technology professionals from 60 countries. Register today! > GridComms - October 22, 2012 - London, UK GridComms is the global Smart Grid event focused on Smart Grid Communications infrastructure. From deploying and securing advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) to building smart cities, this show is aimed at bringing communications professionals together to discuss innovation, application, and management of smart grid networks. This event will showcase technology innovation, network and data management, customer engagement technologies, and industry collaboration. For more information and to register, visit www.gridcomms.com. > OilComm 2012 Conference & Exposition - November 6?8 - Houston, TX OilComm features content focused on communications solutions to remote drill sites as well as viable options for offshore platforms. Join oil and gas professionals to learn from experts, discuss challenges faced, and explore the latest solutions from top companies. Register HERE!
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