The first quarter of cleantech was a mix of good and bad news. Avis’ purchase of Zipcar and Silver Spring Networks’ long-awaited IPO finally occurring were further signs of thawing capital markets and movement in the acquisition space. However, in both situations valuations were lower than hoped, a sign of how investors view cleantech. Read more »
Here’s a clever idea: Piggyback the installation of connected, smart utility meters with free Wi-Fi service for outdoor use. That’s exactly what the City of Santa Clara is doing. Read more »
The deployment of smart meters combined with the growth of cloud computing infrastructure has created opportunities to build business models around the volume of emerging energy data. Those who use data to solve customer problems and leverage decades of software development and advances in big data will attract investment dollars. Read more »
In 2013 cleantech investing will move toward companies serving unsubsidized markets where software plays a role in reducing power consumption. In many ways this is a return to plays for energy efficiency, and there’s still money to be made from business models built around saving energy. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Rent prices are higher than ever, but a growing number of startups are working to analyze our homes’ energy use so we can save money by using less power. Their approaches might differ, but data and analytics are the ties that binds them all. Read more »
By September the European Union may have a new energy efficiency strategy in place. On June 14 negotiators struck a provisional deal on the proposed new EU energy efficiency directive (the “Third Energy Efficiency Directive”). Final approval is likely. 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 »
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 quickly. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
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. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
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 ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
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. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Of the $30 million that I reported that smart grid company Silver Spring Networks is raising, $24 million of that will come from storage and IT giant EMC. Read more »
You might only read about smart meters when media reports cover people pushing back on them, but smart meters are steadily being installed across the U.S. The penetration rate of smart meters has jumped from 6.5 percent to 13-18 percent, according to a report from FERC. Read more »
Connectivity changes everything. That’s the credo driving just about every corner of our day-to-day lives. As human beings, we are now connected to one another through not just our social networks but also our cars, the books we read, the albums we download and even our own health and wellness habits (to name just a few areas). With that in mind, GigaOM Pro has singled out certain areas in the technology industry where we see this shift to constant connectivity taking place most drastically. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Looks like Groupon will go public on Friday morning at $20 per share, giving it a valuation of $12.6 billion for its online coupon business. Let’s compare it to some of the greentech startups and big energy firms and try not to get disturbed. Read more »
The Internet of energy is rapidly approaching. According to research firm Berg Insight, there will be 602.7 million smart meters installed throughout the world by 2016. That represents a compound annual growth rate of 26.6 percent between 2010 and 2016. Read more »
California regulators have approved a program, called virtual net metering, for residents who until now have been underserved by the state’s popular solar incentive program. Read more »
What does Silver Spring Network’s potential IPO mean for the smart grid sector as a whole? 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 »
Google has officially pulled the plug on its web energy management tool PowerMeter. The project, which Google launched two years ago, just “didn’t catch on the way we would have hoped,” said Google. 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 »
Sensus is the only one of the big five smart meter giants using a licensed star network, rather than an unlicensed mesh network, to connect smart meters. Now it has $675 million in debt financing to expand that technology. Read more »
The California Public Utility Commission is the first major regulator to issue such sweeping guidance on how data privacy should shape the smart grid. Here is how the ruling will affect the three big California utilities, as well as tech companies, startups and telcos. 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 »
Is the greentech industry headed for a breakout year or is it retrenching for hard times to come? The first three months of 2011 provided evidence that could support both assertions, with a big rise in venture capital investment and a big drop-off in global energy financing. Solar power remained the largest green technology sector in terms of venture capital investment, while in the world of electric vehicles, GM’s Chevy Volt hybrid and Nissan’s all-electric Leaf — the first two mainstream plug-in vehicles — hit the showroom floors in significant numbers. Meanwhile the smart grid sector’s relative dearth of VC investment was more than made up for by the massive round of acquisitions. Companies mentioned in this report include NRG Energy, Microsoft, Silver Spring Networks, Tesla and BrightSource Energy. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
A new report describes the idea of the “Smart Grid 3.0,” which will connect mobile devices and location-based services in real time, and critically, an ecosystem of applications that can run across multiple utility networks. Read more »
Can Opower fix utilities smart meter customer relation woes? The startup, which uses data about energy consumption to modify consumer behavior, has two new clients — Pacific Gas & Electric and Baltimore Gas & Electric — that have faced issues with smart meters and consumers. Read more »
How will PG&E’s plan to turn off smart meter radios for complaining customers — and charge them extra for service — affect its smart meter plans, and others around the country? Here’s 3 things I’m paying attention to: Read more »
Pacific Gas & Electric has chosen an option for customers who think their smart meter radios might be a health risk: just turn off the radios, and pay the extra charges of having them read manually. Read more »
Pacific Gas & Electric is going to have to come up with a non-wireless alternative for customers afraid of what low-power wireless meters might do to their health. What are its options? Read more »
A study has found that Southern utilities could be able to pay back the costs of smart meters a lot faster and more easily than East and West coast utilities. How do regional grid differences play out in real life? Read more »
The U.S. grid regulator (FERC) issued a report on the state of the U.S. smart meter and demand response markets, laying out a few tidbits for the industry to keep an eye on, like protecting consumer data privacy and using the Internet to connect variable pricing. Read more »
Could we see an apps store for smart meters take off in the future? SmartSynch, the company championing cellular smart meters, is trying it out with Qualcomm’s Brew MP operating platform. Read more »
Utilities are going to have to manage nine times the data they do today if they want to adapt to the smart grid, and that will be a $34 billion market by 2020, Lux Research predicts. Read more »
Less than 1 percent of U.S. households now use prepay electric meters. But SmartSynch and PayGo want to make them as common as prepaid mobile phones. Read more »
Can the municipal Wi-Fi concept make the leap to all-inclusive smart grid communications solution? Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Tropos Networks is trying it out, and unveiled new products and networking architecture Monday morning for everything from super-fast distribution automation gear to millions of smart meters. Read more »
China is expected to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on grid modernization over the next five years. Where are the openings for Western smart grid investors and ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Smart appliances are still years away from mass adoption, but they’re going to have a bigger influence on how the smart grid and the energy-smart home get connected, according to Pike Research. Read more »
Smart meter systems, like cellphone networks, transmit and crunch a lot of real-time customer data, and customers don’t particularly like it when their bills don’t come out right. But tools that phone companies use to make sure bills are accurate can also help utilities. Read more »
