Itron and Rio de Janeiro-based Choice Technologies agreed to jointly market a "non-technical" power loss (NTL) product to utilities worldwide, "with a strong focus in Brazil," the pair told the press yesterday...

About 470 DA smart switches installed by Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) in the first year of its smart grid program resulted in 82,000 fewer power interruptions, the Chicago-based utility told the press last week...

Mitsubishi to use Echelon's OSGP ... Itron with British Gas to handle prepay, more ... Zpryme tracks SGIG spending so far ...

A story we published yesterday was changed online to accurately describe the tests Cisco conducted related to its substation products as being for packet networks based on IP/MPLS.  The spelling of Cisco’s Bradley Tips' last name was corrected, too (changes made 2013-May-7, 2:01 PM Eastern US time).

Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) seeks regulatory approval to move ahead with a smart meter opt-out plan, the utility said Friday...

A "lack of any kind of a coherent plan" or "priority-setting process" from US policymakers has hindered the development of smart grid and alternative fuels, John Hofmeister, CEO of the nonprofit Citizens for Affordable Energy (CAE) and former president of Shell Oil, told us yesterday...

The "lengthy, industry-driven process by which grid security standards are set results in long delays and haphazard implementation of the voluntary security recommendations the [power] industry refuses to make mandatory," US Reps Ed Markey, D-Mass, and Henry Waxman, D-Calif, told the press yesterday. They were publicizing a they said drew on talks with over 100 utilities in the US...

Test equipment from Dell systems, National Instruments and Schneider is arriving at Pecan Street Inc's new lab, the Pike Powers Laboratory & Center for Commercialization. The organization is bringing to life "the only testing facility in the United States that can do verification of disaggregation algorithms," Pecan Street CEO Brewster McCracken told us during a recent visit to the housing development where the lab is situated, in Austin, Texas...

The US microgrid market will thrive over the next several years despite DOD investment in the sector drying up, Kurt Yeager, vice chairman of the nonprofit Galvin Electricity Initiative, told us yesterday...

At least 1,342 DR programs are underway worldwide -- 95% of them in North America, Navigant Research told the press this week as it publicized a new, $3,200 report...

Brazil's largest smart grid project to date -- that includes a $35-million investment announced last week by the country's utility giant, AES Eletropaulo -- could serve as a catalyst for similar investments nationwide, Maria Tereza Travassos Vellano told us this week in an exclusive interview...

The Illinois Senate yesterday voted to overturn Gov Pat Quinn's veto of a smart grid law to raise power rates and boost funding for Commonwealth Edison's (ComEd's) smart meter rollout, the Chicago Tribune reported online...

The New York PSC authorized the New York State Energy R&D Authority (NYSERDA) to reallocate over $29 million in funding for renewables to technologies that have seen a spike in demand...

About 470 DA smart switches installed by Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) in the first year of its smart grid program resulted in 82,000 fewer power interruptions, the Chicago-based utility told the press last week...

Last year represented "by far the most productive year of the EmPower Maryland program and we expect continued acceleration of savings as we move forward," Kevin Lucas, director of energy market strategies at the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA), told us last week...

National Grid will build a "sustainability hub" for grid-related education materials at the site of its smart grid pilot project in Worcester, Mass, the utility told the press yesterday...

A "lack of any kind of a coherent plan" or "priority-setting process" from US policymakers has hindered the development of smart grid and alternative fuels, John Hofmeister, CEO of the nonprofit Citizens for Affordable Energy (CAE) and former president of Shell Oil, told us yesterday...

Facilities management and food provider Sodexo chose Constellation as its preferred competitive energy supplier for US customers as part of Sodexo's energy and construction services, it told the press yesterday...

Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) awarded four customers a $45,000 smart-home "makeover" via energy-efficient appliances, the Chicago-based utility told the press last week...

For energy storage to get fair consideration in procurement contracts, utilities need to properly value the greater reliability that the technology delivers compared with peaking power plants, AES Energy Storage President Chris Shelton told us last week...

The Customer-Led Network Revolution (CLNR) project in the UK recently completed the first stage of its research into power use by setting up a series of trials with 12,000 customers, Liz Sidebotham, communications manager for the CLNR project, told the press recently...

Test equipment from Dell systems, National Instruments and Schneider is arriving at Pecan Street Inc's new lab, the Pike Powers Laboratory & Center for Commercialization. The organization is bringing to life "the only testing facility in the United States that can do verification of disaggregation algorithms," Pecan Street CEO Brewster McCracken told us during a recent visit to the housing development where the lab is situated, in Austin, Texas...

The US DOE and Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (MOTIE) yesterday reaffirmed a 2011 bilateral commitment to the smart grid and noted progress made since then in a meeting in Washington, DC...

The Illinois Senate yesterday voted to overturn Gov Pat Quinn's veto of a smart grid law to raise power rates and boost funding for Commonwealth Edison's (ComEd's) smart meter rollout, the Chicago Tribune reported online...

The ZigBee Alliance recently ratified the "Smart Energy Profile 2" (SEP 2) standard, saying it "provides IP-based information and control for energy management" in HANs for wired and wireless networks...

Five-year-old Greensmith Energy Management Systems is preparing to significantly expand its staff and close a big round of funding, CEO John Jung told us in an exclusive interview recently...

Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) seeks regulatory approval to move ahead with a smart meter opt-out plan, the utility said Friday...

In Texas, the utility is out of the default service role and the overwhelming majority of customers at all levels have made an affirmative choice, so the PUC's work to get the market going is done, Commissioner Kenneth Anderson said at the National Energy Marketers' National Energy Restructuring Conference in Washington, DC yesterday...

PJM met the serious challenges Hurricane Sandy posed to its operating area by relying on a diverse mix of power sources and scheduling backup generation for plants in advance of the storm, the RTO said in an annual report it released recently...

A clear victor has emerged in the PLC standards battle between G.hn and HomePlug and "when it comes to the smart grid, it really is all HomePlug," HomePlug Alliance President Rob Ranck told us yesterday...

The Illinois Senate yesterday voted to overturn Gov Pat Quinn's veto of a smart grid law to raise power rates and boost funding for Commonwealth Edison's (ComEd's) smart meter rollout, the Chicago Tribune reported online...

At least 1,342 DR programs are underway worldwide -- 95% of them in North America, Navigant Research told the press this week as it publicized a new, $3,200 report...

The US Army and Lockheed Martin last week at Fort Bliss, Texas began testing the first Dept of Defense (DOD) "grid-tied microgrid, integrating both renewable resources and energy storage," the defense contractor told the press without noting the cost of the project...

Belgium's IMEC (the Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre) -- a non-profit, nanoelectronics research group -- and Japanese semiconductor giant Renesas Electronics are set to jointly research ultra-low power (ULP) wireless technologies for short-range communication, the pair told the press last week. The work will target sensor networks, especially, they added...

Prepaid power products end up saving energy when customers have them and it is not a result of losing service, consulting firm Distributed Energy Financial Group (DEFG) said in a report released yesterday...

The AES Energy Storage Laurel Mountain facility surpassed the 400,000 MWH-mark of regulation service to the PJM Interconnection, the firm told the press yesterday...

A new Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) project aims to develop a clearer framework for public-private cooperation on grid cybersecurity than the patchwork currently in place, Curt Hébert, a former FERC chairman who is co-chairing the project, told us yesterday...

For energy storage to get fair consideration in procurement contracts, utilities need to properly value the greater reliability that the technology delivers compared with peaking power plants, AES Energy Storage President Chris Shelton told us last week...

There is "significant potential" for the development of wind, wave and tidal renewable resources on the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland, the UK's Dept of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) and the Scottish government told the press yesterday...

For energy storage to get fair consideration in procurement contracts, utilities need to properly value the greater reliability that the technology delivers compared with peaking power plants, AES Energy Storage President Chris Shelton told us last week...

There is "significant potential" for the development of wind, wave and tidal renewable resources on the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland, the UK's Dept of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) and the Scottish government told the press yesterday...

Federal investments in the smart grid yield above-average returns in GDP compared with other sectors, DOE's Office of Electricity Delivery & Energy Reliability (OE) told the press last week as it publicized a report on ARRA...

Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) awarded four customers a $45,000 smart-home "makeover" via energy-efficient appliances, the Chicago-based utility told the press last week...

Southern California Edison (SCE) is using SAS to integrate data from a variety of sources and extract crucial insights for decision-making, the software vendor told the press recently...

Belgium's IMEC (the Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre) -- a non-profit, nanoelectronics research group -- and Japanese semiconductor giant Renesas Electronics are set to jointly research ultra-low power (ULP) wireless technologies for short-range communication, the pair told the press last week. The work will target sensor networks, especially, they added...

The "lengthy, industry-driven process by which grid security standards are set results in long delays and haphazard implementation of the voluntary security recommendations the [power] industry refuses to make mandatory," US Reps Ed Markey, D-Mass, and Henry Waxman, D-Calif, told the press yesterday. They were publicizing a they said drew on talks with over 100 utilities in the US...

Smart metering gets a lot of attention from the utility industry but is not where the money lies, said a free Navigant Research report on industry trends from 2012-2020 that the firm publicized this week...

Southern California Edison (SCE) is using SAS to integrate data from a variety of sources and extract crucial insights for decision-making, the software vendor told the press recently...