| | | | This week's sponsors are FierceEnergy & FierceSmartGrid. |  | Fierce Innovation Awards 2013: Energy Edition
This utility-reviewed awards program from the publishers of FierceEnergy & FierceSmartGrid is designed to recognize the innovative companies and products that are defining the future of the energy & smart grid industries. Applications due August 23. Apply Today! |
Also Noted: Kony
The fight against phantom malware and much more... CPUC could lose certification over San Bruno turmoil
Weeks after City of San Bruno officials raised serious concerns about the ongoing turmoil within the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), the U.S. Department of Transportation's Administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is challenging the CPUC to demonstrate compliance and prove its ability to carry out pipeline safety in the wake of the 2010 Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) San Bruno explosion and fire. Article
Appeals court ruling could set coal precedent
The United States 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has made a major ruling in favor of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and clean air advocates, by giving the EPA full authority to enforce federal regional haze regulations to clean up coal plants run by Oklahoma Gas and Electric (OG&E). Article
White House "caving to coal?"
Federal court rulings against utility coal operations have been hailed as a victory by various environmental groups. However, after a review of the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed coal plant water pollution standards sent to the White House' Office of Management and Budget (OMB), these same environmental groups claim that the OMB "caved to industry pressure and took the highly unusual and improper step of writing new, weaker options into the draft rule prepared by the EPA's expert staff." Article
 | Major regulatory decisions affect net metering
Two state utility regulators' decisions highlight the growing controversy generated by increasing power production from distributed generation, particularly rooftop solar panels, and challenges in rate designs for U.S. utilities, according to Fitch Ratings. While distributed generation currently represents a small part of total power generation in the U.S., Fitch expects it to grow substantially due to continuing improved efficiency, lower cost and federal and state energy policies, leading to an increasing share of total system power sources. Article
News From Across the Energy Industry:
1. Utilities face a perception problem
2. NY-BEST, DNV KEMA partner on battery/energy storage facility
3. Lack of policy stymying CHP benefits
| This week's sponsor is EPCE. |  | Energy is changing, and your customers expect more from their utility companies than ever before.
Learn more about the future of energy, and its impact on your business with EPCE's online courses. |
Today's Top News 1. Harmonizing EV and smart grid technology
Plug-in hybrid sales doubled in the first six months of 2013 compared to the same period in 2012 with sales expected to grow further as the next generation of cars and grid systems demonstrate even greater cost saving for consumers, according to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).  | | Credit: Doug Falconer/Wikimedia Commons | That is why the DOE has launched the Electric Vehicle-Smart Grid Interoperability Center at Argonne National Laboratory. The Center will work to ensure that vehicles, charging stations, communications and networking systems work in unison with the electric grid, harmonizing emerging EV and smart grid technologies. For utilities, the emergence of EVs brings new economic opportunities and challenges. Large-scale capital investment by companies for the deployment of EVs, chargers and the smart grid will depend on the ability of consumers to conveniently, safely and securely charge their vehicles anywhere, anytime. This will require close linkages between the automotive and utility industries as new demand for electricity brings the need for new investments in power generation and grid systems. Leveraging Argonne's EV and battery expertise, the new center will focus on establishing requirements and test procedures to assess EV-electric vehicle supply equipment compatibility while developing and verifying connectivity technologies, communication protocols and standards. Further, the Center will identify gaps where new standards or technologies are needed for solutions using proof-of-concept hardware/software systems. The work at Argonne will be complemented by the launch of a European Interoperability Center by the European Commission's (EC) Joint Research Center at facilities in Ispra, Italy, and Petten, Netherlands, in 2014. Employing common test procedures, interoperability standards and test comparisons, the U.S. government and EC will work together to ensure harmonized technologies and to prevent unnecessary regulatory divergence, helping foster the development of the transatlantic EV market and create new jobs. For more:
- see this report Related Articles:
National Grid at forefront of EV charging
Utilities making EV ownership convenient at work Read more about: Electric Vehicles
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2. Data dissection an issue for utilities
Utilities today accumulate enormous amounts of smart grid data and are increasingly prepared for the influx, but do not necessarily know how to dissect the data. According to new research from Oracle Utilities, compared to last year, utilities are more prepared for data from the smart grid, but still struggle to fully leverage the data collected. Significant potential still exists to use this information to drive customer service and operational improvements for business value but the issue remains how to handle the data.  | | Credit: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)/Wikimedia Commons | Oracle surveyed 151 North American senior-level utilities executives with smart meter programs to gauge preparedness to handle the big data influx, how data is being used to improve operations and customer service, future short- and long-term plans to use smart grid data, the potential of cloud-based solutions for data management and analysis, and where utilities will derive the greatest value from predictive analytics. The research yielded interesting results. More utilities, 17 percent, claim they are completely prepared this year compared to last (9 percent). However, the majority still say they are underprepared. Sixty-two percent of survey respondents said they have a big data skills gap – including those who say they are prepared for the smart grid data influx. Utilities report slight improvements in information sharing and using information for strategic decision making. Less than half of utilities today use smart grid data to provide alerts or make other direct customer service improvements. While two out of three utilities are considering cloud-based solutions for smart grid/smart meter data management and analysis, only 26 percent are actually planning, implementing or maintaining a cloud solution today. Finally, 70 percent expect predictive analytics to improve revenue protection and 61 percent expect it to reduce asset maintenance costs. "The most progressive utilities are transforming themselves now into data-driven businesses to accelerate the opportunities big data and analytics can bring to improving customer service and operational efficiencies," said Rodger Smith, senior vice president and general manager, Oracle Utilities. For more:
- see this infographic Related Article:
AMI needs context, analysis for maximum value Read more about: Oracle Utilities
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3. GMI ranks top 15 states' smart grid progress
The GridWise Alliance and the Smart Grid Policy Center have released the Grid Modernization Index (GMI), which evaluates and ranks states based on their progress in modernizing their electric systems with smart grid technologies. "The U.S. economy is dependent on a secure, reliable and resilient electric grid. Modernizing America's electric grid is vital to ensuring that our electric system will be able to meet the demands of our digital society," said Becky Harrison, CEO of the GridWise Alliance. "If the U.S. is to achieve a modernized grid, the states will play a major role regarding how, and at what pace, this transition will occur."  | | Silicon Valley. Credit: Wikimedia Commons | The rankings are based on progress in policy, customer engagement and grid operations, with the 15 highest scoring states being featured in the report. More specifically, policy included state policies and regulatory mechanisms facilitating smart grid investments. Customer engagement looked at investments in customer-enabling technologies and capabilities throughout the state. And grid operations examined grid-enhancement technologies and capabilities statewide. California and Texas tied for the highest score overall, followed by Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania rounding out the top five. Arizona, the District of Columbia, Ohio, Nevada, Illinois, Florida, Virginia, Oklahoma, Vermont and Maine complete the top 15. Interestingly, the states that scored higher overall in the GMI also demonstrate higher scores in addressing cybersecurity and data privacy than other states. States that scored higher overall also have higher scores in engaging customers, by educating them, as well as by offering them products and services, including more dynamic pricing options. The 15 highest scoring states have also deployed more sensors and advanced modeling tools for both transmission and distribution grids and have all deployed smart meters to their residential and small commercial customers to some extent. Ten of the 15 states have installed smart meters for at least 60 percent of their consumers. The information in the GMI -- including insights into the relationships and connections among state policies and regulations, customer engagement, and utility investments in the modernization of the grid, given the variations in state authorities, market structures, and business models -- will prove helpful as other states and their commissions consider future smart grid investments. For more:
- see this article Related Articles:
SCE improves forecasting with smart grid analytics
Smart grid market experiencing range of IT innovation Read more about: customer engagement
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4. Zigbee SEP 2.0 marks major communications shift
Radios and software based on ZigBee, the wireless communications technology, are utilized in millions of smart meters and devices like programmable communicating thermostats and home area network gateways. Despite widespread deployments, the technology is not used extensively and suffers from a lack of consumer awareness. Nevertheless, according to a recent report from Navigant Research, sales of ZigBee-enabled devices for smart energy will grow steadily over the next few years with revenue peaking at $110.5 million in 2016, before declining as smart grid deployments slow down. "ZigBee is known as a low-cost solution for reliable low-power control and monitoring," said Neil Strother, senior research analyst with Navigant Research. "Although utilities tend to shy away from going beyond the meter -- something ZigBee functionality obliges them to do -- ZigBee-based home area networks enable customers to be more engaged in utility energy-efficiency programs such as time-of-use pricing and demand response." Expected to be commercially available later in 2013, the latest version of ZigBee's Smart Energy Profile software (SEP 2.0) marks a major shift: it is the first to be Internet Protocol-based, a characteristic that will enable ZigBee devices to communicate with non-ZigBee devices, such as those that use Wi-Fi or HomePlug. This opens up a new and risky world for ZigBee, as multiple home networking technologies vie for relevance, according to Navigant. For more:
- see this article Related Article:
Wireless controls driving shift in building market Read more about: Zigbee
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5. Poland's smart grid momentum shifting
Poland's progress path toward smart energy has been fraught with challenges because of unclear vision of implementation models and uncertain cost-benefit ratios, according to Frost & Sullivan. However, the momentum is shifting, as utilities are responding to customer behavior and incorporating more smart elements in their energy networks.  | | Credit: Brosen/Wikimedia Commons | The rise of prosumers will drive the smart grid movement in Poland, as information and energy flows become bi-directional across the energy system, but investment in technology will be necessary. "Some Polish energy experts believe that the increase in decentralized energy production within the next 10 years will be high enough to force grid operators to adopt more innovative approaches to load balancing," said Ewa Tajer, Frost & Sullivan research analyst, information and communications technology (ICT). "To prepare for this trend and to capitalize on it, utilities have to invest in ICT." More prosumers will jump on to the micro-generation bandwagon once technology costs fall and small-scale energy production becomes more viable, according to Frost & Sullivan, noting that a cost-effective way to meet the overall increase in energy demand is to install on-site wind or solar generating units. "An effective way to integrate micro-generation assets into the grid is to utilize virtual power plants (VPP), which are clusters of energy producers acting together to overcome output variability," said Tajer. "As VPPs are not limited to micro or small generating units, the concept can be adopted by bigger energy producers to feed more renewable energy into the grid without increasing load fluctuations." So far, Poland has not had a single VPP, which translates to abundant untapped opportunities for hardware and software suppliers and communication service providers. The aggregation of distributed supply and demand will require building an infrastructure from scratch and a significant investment in all ICT layers, ranging from intelligent devices with M2M modules (smart meters as well as sensors and actuators across the grid) to fixed or wireless communication networks. Other IT infrastructure requirements include VPP control center middleware that enables data acquisition and integration, monitoring of activities, and event processing. VPP owners will also invest in software applications for data mining, modeling, grid optimization, load management and automatic fault prevention and detection. "As interest in micro-generation and renewables grows, there will be higher pressure on the government to revise laws and on energy utilities to make appropriate investment decisions, which bodes well for the ICT market," said Tajer. For more:
- see this article Read more about: Information and Communications Technology
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> Fierce Innovation Awards 2013: Energy Edition - Deadline: August 23 This utility-reviewed awards program from the publishers of FierceEnergy & FierceSmartGrid is designed to recognize the innovative companies and products that are defining the future of the energy & smart grid industries. Applications due August 23. Apply Today! > 2013 Smart Grid Hiring Trends Study Zpryme Smart Grid Insights and Smart Grid Careers would like to invite hiring managers or employees who play an active role in hiring, recruiting and/or retaining employees for Smart Grid roles in the U.S. to participate in the 2013 Smart Grid Hiring Trends Study. Participants receive a FREE Executive Summary and a discount on the report. Get started here.
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