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Finally, Broadband Over Powerline, R.I.P.

Om Malik — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 01:04:11 +0000

During the early part of this decade, lobbyists, former FCC chairmen Michael Powell and Kevin Martin and a sundry bunch of random carpetbaggers were all very vocal and enthusiastic in pushing a technology called broadband over powerline. Never mind the fact that BPL didn’t quite work and very quickly was overtaken by other more sane and feasible technologies. Today, it seems BPL has finally been put to rest.

The city of Manassas, Va., which spent $1.6 million building a BPL network, today decided to pull the plug on the network. About 500 residential and 46 business customers accessed the network that was costing $100,000 a month to maintain. They paid $24.95 a month. At one point, it was viewed as the most successful BPL network. Well, that isn’t really saying much.

IBM Launches Software to Act as Smart Grid Glue for Startups

Katie Fehrenbacher — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:59:48 +0000

It’s always been hard to explain IBM’s role in the smart grid — the computing company has its hands in dozens of utility smart grid deals by way of software that can act as a facilitator for smart grid buildouts. This morning IBM detailed a bit more about how it’s acting as a sort of glue between utilities and third-party smart grid vendors, with the announcement of new software called “Solution Architecture for Energy and Utilities Framework (SAFE).”

Any smart grid firm — from a smart meter data management software maker to a home area energy dashboard maker — can build applications and services to be compatible with IBM’s SAFE software, and utilities can easily and quickly integrate the third-party tool into their networks, says IBM. Companies like ESRI, SISCO, Retriever Communications, Trilliant, BPL Global, Coulomb Technologies, eMeter, Enterprise Information Management, Itron, OSIsoft and PowerSense have already built their tools to be compatible with SAFE. Trilliant CEO Andy White emphasized in a statement that it’s critical for smart grid software to be easily and quickly scaled up and standards-compliant.

IBM’s SAFE could be particularly helpful for young startups. The software can offer these companies a standard software platform to build upon, enabling them to focus on their valuable intellectual property. IBM’s announcement quotes Lee Burrows, a partner at VantagePoint Venture Partners, which has invested in home energy management startup Tendril, as saying: “VantagePoint sees great value in our portfolio companies teaming with established industry leaders like IBM.”

IBM’s software can also help take the risk out of a utility doing a deal with an unknown and tiny startup. Utilities generally like to work with big companies, but given the industry is so nascent, many of them are working with relative newbies, and IBM’s software can help add some needed weight to the equation.

Of course, many startups and smart grid firms won’t want to build their products based on IBM’s SAFE and will want to create their own baseline smart grid software that can act as a standard. And many companies are big enough that they don’t need the weight of IBM when they are making a utility deal. But we look forward to seeing which startups decide to go with SAFE and which decide to make their own way.

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Networking the Smart Grid

Clint Wheelock — Tue, 05 May 2009 05:47:24 +0000

We are currently at an inflection point with regard to smart grid upgrades. For the first time, the smart grid movement has the backing of the U.S. government and increasing buy-in from state public utility commissions; utilities themselves are beginning to aggressively push smart meter deployments and broader smart grid initiatives; new advancements in technology promise to revolutionize the capabilities of the grid; and a robust technology vendor ecosystem has begun to form. Within the IT and telecommunications industries in particular, the utility sector is seen as a market ripe for innovation and expansion.

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It's Alive! Broadband Over Power Line May Get Boost From Stimulus Bill

Jose Fermoso — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 01:02:44 +0000

A provision in the economic stimulus package may funnel up to $2.5 billion through the Department of Agriculture to provide broadband service to people who live in rural areas and lack access to high-speed Internet. But any money spent on Broadband Over Power Lines, or BPL, technology, will be wasted. BPL provides seriously slow web access through old power infrastructures.

The BPL enterprise between IBM and IBEC this week identified where they’ll start delivering these services. Since the Department of Ag already gave $77 million in loans last year, it’s likely to give more, as minimum speeds weren’t written into the stimulus bill. As we’ve noted previously, the viability of BPL as a web service was debunked years ago and should have died quietly. Here’s why:

Power lines weren’t built to carry BPL frequencies or broadband data. Broadband experts have noted that high-speed data needs an ample amount of bandwidth, and power lines, which work best at 60 Hz, are not enough. One current deployment of BPL is pushing data at only 256kbps. That’s not progress.

BPL interferes with emergency radio. And power lines are unreliable; a simple fault in a conductor could cut off all data.

BPL won’t be free for rural communities. IBM has floated BPL pricing plans starting at $30 a month, which isn’t too different from those of cable companies, which offer much higher speeds.

Supporters focus on BPL’s ‘communications backbone‘ role in a smart grid, but wireless tech offers less expensive — and faster — solutions. Burbank, Calif., recently chose Wi-Fi over BPL for similar reasons.

Despite this, BPL has been continually resurrected by the FCC. Despite complaints that the tech was not viable commercially and that it altered the “rights of radio licensees,” the agency approved it. (A U.S. Court of Appeals last year said the FCC did not give a “reasoned explanation” for its sole use of positive BPL studies. )

Federal politics aside, BPL is no step forward for the rural customers who need broadband access. Any new dollars spent on it would be better served funding new wireless applications that are more viable for the future.

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FAQ: Smart Grid

Katie Fehrenbacher — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 05:00:37 +0000

President Obama has called for the installation of 40 million smart meters and 3,000 miles of transmission lines. That means 2009 could be the year that we finally start seeing real attention being paid to “Power Grid 2.0” — basically turning the electrical grid of the 60s and 70s into a modern network that uses microprocessors and software to work efficiently and to connect to renewable energy generation.

A build-out of the smart grid could also be one of the largest creators of wealth in the decade. As smart grid analyst Jesse Berst said recently, the smart grid will “spawn new Googles and Microsofts,” and is “akin to the transcontinental railroad, the phone system, the interstate highway system and the Internet.” Still confused? Here are the key players, the background and the latest innovative technology:

What is smart grid technology?:

As Foundation Capital put it recently in a note on the market: “A true Smart Grid enables multiple applications to operate over a shared, interoperable network, similar in concept to the way the Internet works today.” That means turning the current electrical network that has 14,000 transmission substations, 4,500 large substations for distribution, and 3,000 public and private owners into a network that communicates intelligently and works efficiently.

The new smart grid will utilize wireless sensor networks, software, and computing to enable utilities to see how much and where energy is being consumed, and if there are problems or blackouts in the network. Homeowners will be able to see how much energy they’ve consumed and adjust their consumption habits accordingly. Two-way connected smart meters will be installed in every home — Obama is calling for 40 million, but as of 2006 less than 6 percent of the U.S. population had a smart meter.

Smart meters will pave the way for real-time pricing, where energy is priced at different rates depending on the time of day and much demand there is for the electricity. Utilities can use real-time pricing to better manage the loads on the grid, while home owners can use it to cut their monthly energy bills.

The smart grid will deliver clean power from areas of the country that have an abundance of sun or wind, which is why Obama has called for building out transmission lines. The smart grid will also be able to pull energy from distributed clean power projects, like solar panels and small wind turbines on rooftops, feed it back into the grid and compensate the power generators accordingly.

Ultimately we need smart grid technology because as the population grows the demand for electricity will only increase, but we need to cut our electricity consumption to fight global warming. As Foundation Capital puts it: “The world consumes 14 terawatts of energy every day. In another 50 years, we’re going to need 28 terawatts. Where are we going to find another 14? We would have to turn on a new 1,000-megawatt power plant tomorrow, another the next day, and on and on, one a day for the next 40 years to get another 14 terawatts.”

Key Players:

Smart Meter Firms:

GE: GE makes a variety of hardware and software for smart meters, and the conglomerate has won several large utilities deals for smart meter deployments as of late. Northern California utility PG&E is installing 3.3 million GE smart meters in California, and American Electric Power plans to install an initial 200,000 smart meters, with an end goal of 5 million users by 2015.

Itron: Itron and GE have been battling it out for the large utility deployments. Itron scored a 5.3 million smart meter deployment with Southern California utility Southern California Edison, and is working with Connecticut Light and Power (CL&P), San Diego Gas and Electric, and Tucson Electric Power, among others. The 30-year-old Washington state-based company is also aggressively partnering with innovative startups.

Landis+Gyr: Century-old Landis+Gyr has 5,000 employees and is a forerunner in the advanced meter infrastructure market. The company announced in October that it will provide a portion of the 5 million smart meters set to roll out to PG&E (those that GE isn’t providing). Earlier, it inked a four-year, $360 million contract with Texas utility Oncor, a $10 million deal with Idaho Power, and a $52 million deal with Arizona utility Salt River Power. The company says it has annual sales of more than $1.25 billion in 30 countries worldwide.

Sensus Metering Systems: Raleigh, N.C.-based Sensus announced last month that Hawaiian Electric, which provides electricity for 95 percent of Hawaii’s residents, plans to install Sensus FlexNet smart meters for 430,000 residential and commercial electric customers, subject to approval of the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission. The technology provides automated meter reading, data collection, voltage monitoring, notification of outages and remote control of customer loads.

SmartSynch: One of the smaller innovative startups in the smart meter space, SmartSynch makes smart meters that communicate via IP networks like GPRS and Wi-Fi. The company founded in 1998 says it works with 75 power providers in the U.S. SmartSynch is backed by $80 million from Credit Suisse, Battelle Ventures, Beacon Group, JP Morgan Partners, Nth Power, Siemens Venture Capital and Duke Ventures.

Network Players:

Silver Spring Networks: Billed as the Cisco of the smart grid, Silver Spring Networks, sells IP-based software and hardware to connect utilities and customers across the power grid. Founded in 2002 the company has raised $75 million, led by the green VC folks at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

eMeter: The San Mateo, Calif.-based company makes software to help utilities manage the grid connected to smart meters in homes and businesses. It claims 20 million meters under contract and has raised $12.5 million in a round led by German electronics heavyweight Siemens that included Foundation Capital and DBL Investors.

IBM: The computing giant has developed a variety of software to make the power grid smarter, giving utilities more intelligence on the network. In 2007 IBM created the Intelligent Utility Network Coalition, which includes a group of utilities that are interested in bringing computing to the electricity network.

GridPoint: GridPoint helps utilities balance energy loads through hardware and software on the power grid. The company has raised over $200 million from Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Susquehanna Private Equity Investments, David Gelbaum’s The Quercus Trust, the Altira Group and Standard Renewable Energy Group. It also boasts a long list of advisers, which include R. James Woolsey, former director of the CIA, and Pulitzer Prize-winner Daniel Yergin.

Comverge: Comverge provides demand response services to utilities and boasts over 500 utility clients and 4.5 million devices installed. The company was one of the first cleantech firms to go public.

EnerNOC: EnerNOC also provides demand response services and has created a system whereby industrial and commercial building owners can reduce their energy consumption over a peak-demand time period for compensation.

Greenbox Technologies: The startup was founded by the team that developed Flash technology for the web, and is using its experience to build a dashboard to help energy consumers cut consumption. The company is working with Silver Spring on a pilot with an Oklahoma utility.

Trilliant: The Redwood City-based company founded in 1985 makes hardware and software to allow for time-of-use metering and two-way communication. The company uses open standards and raised $40 million from Mission Point Capital Partners and Zouk Ventures.

Tendril: The Boulder, Colo.-based company makes home energy management software and hardware from smart plugs, to energy displays to software for utilities. The company raised $12 million from RRE Ventures, Vista Ventures, Access Venture Partners, and Appian Ventures.

Positive Energy: The software and research startup develops research reports that utilities can offer to customers to help them reduce their energy consumption and receive more transparent energy bills. Positive Energy recently raised a $14 million round from New Enterprise Associates.

Utilities:

Southern California Edison
PG&E
XCel Energy
Austin Energy
Sempra
Oncor
San Diego Gas and Electric

Venture Firms:

Nth Power
Foundation Capital
New Enterprise Associates
Kleiner Perkins Caulfield and Byers
Siemens venture arm
Quercus Trust
Battelle Ventures
DBL Investors
Altira Group
Mission Point Capital Partners

What the Smart Grid Needs: Smart grid analyst Jesse Berst has three rules for what the smart grid needs to make it work:

1) Open and interoperable standards, ike the Internet.
2) Dynamic pricing correct pricing models.
3) The right government policies.

How Big Is the Market?:

According to some reports, utilities will need to add an aggregate of nearly 40 gigawatts of clean energy generation by 2030, and to get all that power to customers, a total investment of as much as $2 trillion into transmission and distribution networks will be required. And that’s just the additional clean power — there will be even more investment in the software, hardware, and wireless networks to enable the power grid to intelligently manage all the additional capacity.

Smart meters can cost anywhere from $100 to $300 per meter to install depending on the sophistication of the meter. So, say there’s 40 million smart meters installed, that could costs a minimum of $4 billion.

Historically the investment into smart grid technology has been minimal, but venture capitalists have recently started to pump money into the sector. According to the Cleantech Group, smart grid startups brought in a record $202 million in the third quarter of 2008, which included $120 million for Gridpoint, $40 million for Trilliant, $23 million for BPL Global, and $18.5 million for Eka Systems.

We know this FAQ hasn’t covered all the firms involved in the smart grid, but if you have particular favorites, add them in the comment section.

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Like Roaches, Broadband Over Powerline Doesn't Go Away

Om Malik — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 06:22:42 +0000

By now even I am tired of pointing out that broadband over power lines as a viable broadband option just doesn’t work. Many, including Google, have spent millions of dollars to make a go of this technology with microscopic success, but that doesn’t stop others from trying. My friend Karl Bode in October said that 2008 was the year BPL died. Apparently not. Now there is news that International Broadband Electric Communications, a startup working to sign up electric cooperatives in rural U.S. areas where there are no broadband options.

The technology involves sending data on the same wires that provide electricity. Every half a mile or so, a device clamped to the line perpetuates the signal…The key innovation introduced in the past few years, Blair said, is the ability to remotely control the devices fixed to power lines. That way it can be told to switch frequency when it meets interference.

IBEC has signed up IBM, which is are going to get $9.6 million to provide and install the BPL equipment on a network that would reach 340,000 homes in Alabama, Indiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. The venture’s promoter and CEO, Scott Lee, says the cost of the network would be as much as $70 million, an amount that they have received as $70 million in low-interest loans from the Department of Agriculture. I gotta be honest — this is going to be money down the drain.

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Broadband Over Power Line Gets a KO Punch

Om Malik — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:22:14 +0000

The great broadband hope, “Broadband over Power Line,” has turned out to be a big broadband nope. Not that I am surprised. I never believed its promise, even despite the incessant hype by none other than the FCC. A court’s decision has proven me right: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit pretty much concludes that the FCC was misguided and overenthusiastic about BPL, and that it ignored the interference data.

Both former FCC chairman Michael Powell and the org’s current head, Kevin Martin, talked up this technology, even as broadband experts continued to voice their doubts about its viability. All this positive talk led to the investment of millions of dollars and the chasing of what turned out to be a chimera. Google, for instance, bet big on Current Communications, a company that so far has delivered more headlines than broadband over power lines.

Our good friend Karl over at DSL Reports points us to a story in The Dallas Morning News that says the largest BPL deployment in the U.S. is being sold to a local utility that, rather than consumer broadband service, will use it for electrical grid monitoring. Oops!

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