Throughout 2009 and 2010, Internet companies like Microsoft, Google and even router giant Cisco launched experimental software and hardware to help building managers and home owners monitor and control their energy consumption. But now these firms are abandoning those plans. Why? Read more »
Cisco plans to move away from selling its building and home energy management products, the router giant announced via blog post on Wednesday afternoon. The move follows both Microsoft’s and Google’s decisions to shut down their energy management software products. Read more »
Is the answer to helping integrate solar and wind into the power grid the humble home hot water heater? That’s one of the things that startup GridMobility is looking to find out. Read more »
It’s blazing hot in New York City. And on these scorching summer days you should be thinking about everything your utility is doing to prepare for a “Heatpocalypse” and also taking note of just how important it is for utilities to invest in smart-grid technology. Read more »
Aquion Energy, which is developing a low-cost battery for the power grid made from sodium and water, has closed $20 million of a planned $30 million round and has brought on investor Foundation Capital in addition to existing investor Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Read more »
The network of the smart grid is taking its sweet time to get deployed, but we still need smart applications to run over these networks once they are fully installed. Here are five smart-grid startups to watch via the Cleantech Open. Read more »
OK, maybe hacker-types shouldn’t see this, but the iFixit crew has done a teardown of an Elster smart meter, pulling off all the electronics, chips, radios and casing. Read more »
What does Silver Spring Network’s potential IPO mean for the smart grid sector as a whole? Read more »
Silver Spring Networks filed for a potentially $150 million IPO this week, but the group that stands to gain in the short term is Silver Spring’s stead fast venture backer Foundation Capital. Foundation Capital owned 41.5 percent of shares before the offering. Read more »
Now that smart-grid network leader Silver Spring Networks has filed for an IPO, some of the economics of selling a wireless network and connected devices to utilities becomes a little more clear. No joke, folks, it’s a difficult business to be in. Read more »
Silver Spring Network’s IPO filing is basically the first time we’ve been able to get a peek under the hood of the nine-year-old company, which has been a leader in the smart grid network industry. Here’s what you need to know from Silver Spring Network’s S-1. Read more »
Smart grid company Silver Spring Networks has finally filed its long-awaited IPO, and could raise up to $150 million in a public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, according to its filing. Read more »
One of the reasons energy storage for the grid isn’t widely used is that many of the technologies, like batteries, are still too expensive. But what if you could use something that costs a fraction of a battery to deploy for grid storage, like Software-as-a-Service? Read more »
Last week saw California’s big three utilities release in-depth smart grid deployment roadmaps, giving smart grid companies about the closest thing to a detailed plan of attack that they could ask for. Read more »
Utility PG&E unveiled a tome (close to 300 pages) detailing the ins and outs of its smart grid plans on Thursday. Here is what you need to know from the report: Read more »
A wireless smart grid networking tech that is supposed to be able to reach many miles with little infrastructure and at a low price point, is ramping up funding. That would be startup On-Ramp Wireless, which has raised $11.5 million of a planned $15 million round. Read more »
There are 17.7 million WiMAX subscribers around the world, and the WiMAX Forum estimates there will be 45 million by 2013, but the future of the technology is bleak. The forum pitches smart grid and airports as potential saviors but neither option looks promising. Read more »
On Thursday morning, GE will host a day-long event where it plans to announce the latest winners of its $200 million smart grid challenge that are specifically focused on energy use in the home. Read more »
There are hundreds of thousands of commercial buildings in the U.S. that are responsible for almost 20 percent of the nation’s annual energy consumption. Changes to our electric infrastructure could have a big impact on the cost to operate these facilities. Read more »
Energy data startup OPower says its software will be able to save one terawatt hour of energy from U.S. homes by the end of 2012. That’s equivalent to the energy consumed by 100,000 American homes for a year, and is worth $100M in energy savings. Read more »
Who needs smart meters when you’ve got broadband? Two announcements last week — EcoFactor’s energy-saving data and Comcast’s Xfinity Home Security launch — raise that question. If the broadband channel to home energy takes off, it could leave smart meter–dependent home energy startups in the dust. Read more »
Adding more clean power to the grid will require utilities to redesign the network that transports solar electricity locally. Southern California Edison on Monday laid out its plan to make its distribution grid more responsive to the fluctuating infusion of solar electricity throughout the day. Read more »
As expected, at an event at the White House on Monday, Obama administration officials unveiled a slew of programs and initiatives that will aim to help add information technology to the power grid to make the grid more efficient and more secure. Read more »
On Monday morning the White House plans to hold an event focused on the smart grid that will discuss new private and public initiatives for how to implement a smarter power grid in the U.S. Read more »
At the IEEE Technology Time Machine Symposium last week I heard the world’s leading academics, engineers, executives, and government officials project what the world will look like in 2020. The future brings technology together for everything from enhancing the human experience to improving environmental sustainability. Read more »
California’s groundbreaking set of rules on utility customer energy data are facing comment from the smart grid industry this week, and there’s still plenty of confusion over the fine print. In short, CPUC’s rules will need to change to avoid stifling the smart grid-home energy marketplace. Read more »
The next-generation of technology to use compressed air for energy storage is on its way. One of the companies leading the way — General Compression — has raised another $20.39 million Series B round, according to a filing. Read more »
While state and federal legislators are drafting rules to make sure consumers have prompt and secure access to their energy consumption data, consumers themselves are largely unaware of the tools available to manage their own energy. That’s according to a survey out from CEA. Read more »
Power gear giants continue their smart grid shopping spree. Schneider Electric is bidding to buy software maker Telvent for about $2 billion. The acquisition would give Schneider, which is a massive power equipment maker, more software and IT capabilities for the power grid. Read more »
Will utility customers across the U.S. be legally entitled to their own energy usage data? We’ve already seen how California is planning to tackle that tricky subject, and a Senate bill announced last week would bring the same issues to a national stage. Read more »
Large tanks filled with fluids could be the next low-cost way to provide energy storage for the power grid. A company called Primus Power is developing so-called flow batteries, and has now raised a round of $11 million from a group of venture capitalists. Read more »
Two days in Chattanooga, Tenn. show how a municipal broadband network can pay dividends when community leaders focus on the applications a gigabit network can deliver and consider the long-term economic development potential. And yes, it can even generate enough revenue to become profitable. Read more »
California regulators on Thursday approved changes to residential electric rates for customers of Pacific Gas and Electric that could have a major impact on whether consumers will readily sign up for solar and energy efficiency products and services. Read more »
One benefit of GE launching its smart grid challenge last year is that it has created a decent potential shopping list. This morning, GE said it has acquired one of its 12 grid challenge winners: Irish powerline monitoring company FMC-Tech. Read more »
It’s official. On Thursday, Japanese electronics giant Toshiba said it plans to acquire Swiss smart meter company Landis+Gyr. The deal will turn Toshiba, already a huge player in power and grid systems, into a sizable smart grid contender. Read more »
Landis+Gyr is on the auction block, and big smart grid suitors like General Electric, Toshiba and Honeywell ABB are rumored to be interested in paying $2 billlion-plus for the smart meter giant. Strategic buyers could find value by integrating into their own lines of business. Read more »
To build or to buy is often described as the oldest decision in IT. Today, electric utility executives are facing it anew with the smart grid. The best decision is likely to be neither build only nor buy only, but rather to take a hybrid approach. Read more »
A new report says the U.S. needs to spend $12 billion to $16 billion a year on new transmission lines, which could support 130,000 to 250,000 jobs annually. But how to cut through all the red tape? Read more »
Itron and Tropos Networks say they can roll smart meter neighborhood networks and backhaul networks into one system, and they’ve landed Michigan utility DTE to try it out. Read more »
Want to improve the economy? Then demand better broadband. Policymakers at all levels of government need to watch municipal efforts such as those in Kansas City, Kan. with Google’s fiber network. That gigabit network could prove the link between broadband and economic development. Read more »
