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Adding digital intelligence — software, computing, communication networks — to the power grid.
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Pike Research predicts that the market for building energy management systems will grow from $1.9 billion in 2011 to $6 billion in 2020 and there will be 10 trends that shape this growing market over the next decade, Read More »
The over a decade-old company that makes the building blocks — chips, gear and software — for ZigBee-based wireless networks is finally being acquired. Austin-based chip company Silicon Labs announced on Monday that it has acquired Boston-based Ember for $72 million. Read More »
The ability to predict energy use and do something about it will become more important as businesses look for ways to reduce costs and use energy more efficiently. A startup called GridNavigator has launched a cloud-based service that performs energy consumption forecasts throughout the day. Read More »
China likes to do things on a grand scale, which allows it serve its vast population spreading out in huge regions and brag about its technical advancements. Here comes another one: the country is now building a transmission line with a whopping 800-kilovolt of capacity that … Read More »
Smart meters eventually will be ubiquitous globally over the next few decades, but, interestingly enough, installations of smart meters in the U.S. will actually sharply decline over the next two years, before they pick back up, according to Pike Research. Read More »
A startup called GELI, lead by battery guru Ryan Wartena, has developed an operating system and software for grid batteries and plans to launch its beta software in the coming weeks. Think of it like the Android for energy. Read More »
There are expected to be over 9 billion on the planet by 2050 and you can expect that to strain the world’s resources like energy, water and food. But big data tools will be able to help organizations track and attempt to solve this problem. Read More »
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Six smart grid projects you don’t see everyday courtesy of Smart Grid News. Read More »
In the emerging vision for the smart city of tomorrow, we often hear about next generation smart grids, smarter buildings that manage themselves to conserve resources, and smart transportation systems that will lessen congestion. In fact, Pike Research’s Eric Woods recent report for GigaOM Pro, “Key Technologies …
This quarter the EV market struggled to find its footing. Meanwhile, the smart-grid sector solidified and low-power technology proved itself important in the data center. Read more to learn what these news pieces and others mean for the larger space over the next few months.
Utilities and companies that make smart meters and related technology must tighten their “human security measures.” This includes planning for the worst case: rogue employees. Read More »
Five key technology sectors are enabling the smart city: smart grids, smart transport, smart water and waste management, smart building systems, and the enabling ICT platforms for the smart city. Key players like IT companies, telcos and utilities must learn how to harness those technologies, and …
Comverge, one of the largest demand response providers in the U.S., announced on Monday that it has agreed to a $49 million buyout by an affiliate of private equity firm H.I.G. Read More »
Nine more utilities, and three large energy vendors, announced support on Thursday for the Green Button project, which enables utility customers to download their energy consumption data with a click of a button and also use that data for energy-saving apps. Read More »
In an interview at the Verge Conference last week, Opower’s founder and a Senior Advisor to the White House discuss why energy data should be open, how utilities will deal with the influx of big data and how government can help. Check out the video: Read More »
Big data now touches everything from enterprises to smart-meter startups, while Hadoop is fast becoming the leading tool to analyze that data, and debates around privacy abound. GigaOM Pro analysts offer insights on what to consider when it comes to big data decisions for your business.
With many utilities facing the task of storing petabytes of smart meter data for as long as seven years in order to satisfy regulatory requirements, the ability to house and leverage the massive load of data accumulating from the smart grid is a significant IT challenge. … Read More »
The ability to house and leverage the massive load of data accumulating from the smart grid is a significant IT challenge. And it isn’t a competency that many utilities have had historically. That market has been fairly staked out at this point, and has relatively finite …
Many have predicted a “big data tsunami” that will transform the energy sector and open an entirely new market for smart-grid data analytics. Stepping into the fray is the next generation of smart-grid companies poised to use data to change energy consumption.
The one-year anniversary of the Fukushima disaster, which claimed the lives of 19,000 and left another 325,000 without permanent housing, was observed on Sunday. In the wake of the disaster, Japan has reassessed its energy policy, and there’s now a massive cleantech opportunity in the country …
The emergence of the big data phenomenon is fundamentally changing everything from the way companies operate to the way people interact to how the world deals with outbreaks of infectious diseases. Here we highlight 10 case studies illustrating how big data is changing the world.
The massive amount of data that is emerging from connected, digital systems, is fundamentally changing everything, from Internet search to entertainment, to disease management, to energy consumption. Here’s 10 case studies that highlight the power of big data. Read More »
Utility regulators tend to put investments in newer technologies such as smart meters under a microscope. Fortunately policymakers in over 30 states and countries have already found that the benefits of smart meters have exceeded the costs. Read More »
A pioneer of the electric car industry has launched a startup focused on managing the charging of groups of electric cars plugged into the power grid. Read More »
Despite some of the push back from a very vocal but tiny group, smart meters in the U.S. are coming — and fast. According to research group NPD, 75 percent of the electric meters in the U.S. will be smart digital meters by 2016. Read More »
While smart grid networking company Silver Spring Networks announced last week that it had partnered with Japanese giant Hitachi, more details of the financial deal are now public. According to a filing, Silver Spring has raised $30 million in an option and debt from Hitachi. Read More »
Cable giant Comcast plans to offer a smart thermostat and energy efficiency service to its Xfinity customers via startup EcoFactor. Read More »
Energy software company Tendril has snapped up intellectual property, employees and a San Francisco office from Recurve, the startup (formerly called Sustainable Spaces) which develops and sells software to help energy auditors determine the most cost-efficient energy efficiency measures for their customers. Read More »
While smart grid networking firm Silver Spring Networks has been waiting over half a year for an IPO, the company managed to more than triple its revenues in 2011, according to its latest amended S-1 filing. Read More »
Spanish telecoms giant Telefónica — the world’s third-largest mobile firm — saw profits cut in half after a troubled year. With Nokia, Siemens and Deutsche Telekom all facing a torrid time, is the writing on the wall for Europe’s mobile businesses? Read More »
Japanese giant Hitachi and Valley smart grid network provider Silver Spring Networks are teaming up over product development as well as a potential investment. Read More »
By Liz Enbysk, SGN Managing Editor
Feb. 16, 2012, 3:32pm PT
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We’re at a juncture in the smart grid market where utilities are moving beyond the expected, from the flywheel systems protecting Austin Energy’s new control center to SAIC’s “Smart Grid as a Service” that supports critical energy management systems in Alaskan villages. Read More »
Meter giant Itron has made a rare smart grid acquisition. On Wednesday afternoon Itron announced that it plans to acquire smart grid cellular networking company SmartSynch in a deal worth around $100 million. Read More »
Check out the results of our survey of 200+ GigaOM readers on what they think are the implications of the Honeywell-Nest lawsuit. Read More »
Nest has finally publicly commented on being slapped with a patent infringement lawsuit. Nest says it will “vigorously defend itself,” against Honeywell’s lawsuit, and says it has “the resources, support and conviction to do so.” Read More »
A quiet startup called Greensmith has been building a business out of connecting, controlling and monitoring large batteries installed on the power grid and used for energy storage. Read More »
By Ucilia Wang
Feb. 3, 2012, 8:44pm PT
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The solar industry has begun 2012 with some trepidation, with many on the warpath to cut costs and reduce output. These moves give the market a chance to reduce inventories and get production more in sync with demand. But recovery will likely come slowly.
Nearly 7,000 votes later and Smart Grid News has the results of its third annual Smart Grid Companies to Watch search. SGN readers nominated smart grid companies they think should be on our radar in the year ahead, and then the readers voted. The results: Read More »
By Adam Lesser
Jan. 31, 2012, 2:00pm PT
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As utility industry trade show DistribuTECH wrapped up last Thursday, attendees got a peek at not only new product offerings — from smart thermostats to software platforms that manage smart meter data — but also the potential for what a utility of the future might look …
By Adam Lesser
Jan. 31, 2012, 12:18pm PT
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As the smart grid grows up and reaches its full potential, Adam Lesser, GigaOM Pro green IT analyst, sees five important ways in which how we interact with our utility can be revolutionized and why they matter. Read More »
Not all the opportunities in the smart grid are about big data and analytics. Power gear giants Siemens and ABB unveiled separately that they plan to make large grid gear acquisitions. Siemens will buy RuggedCom, and ABB will buy Thomas & Betts Corp. Read More »
Analytics and big data tools will remake energy in 2012, from helping curb energy consumption, to reducing energy loss, to adding in more clean power to the grid. Here’s 10 ways this will happen: Read More »
One of the year’s largest smart grid conferences — DistribuTECH — closes today in San Antonio, Texas. It’s like the CES for utilities, power companies and the vendors that are trying to sell them stuff. Here are the top 10 trends I took away. Read More »
As I’ve been walking the floor at DistribuTECH in San Antonio, Texas — one of the largest smart grid focused conferences of the year — I’ve been snapping pics of the grid connected devices that will deliver a more efficient system and create the Energy Internet. Read More »
Energy software company Opower says it will send its 25 millionth energy data report to a utility customer by the end of January and will likely hit the 75 million mark sometime in 2012. Read More »
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