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...

Echelon awarded US patent for self-installation ... FreeWave Technologies open new headquarters ... Michigan OKs DTE meter opt-out charge ...

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...

Utilities are struggling to comply with Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) audits that address cybersecurity head-on for the first time, David Cronin, a principal at Booz Allen Hamilton, told us yesterday...

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...

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...

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...

As Austin, Texas municipal utility CPS Energy and tech partner Consert design a marketing plan for home area networks (HANs), they have a goal of deploying up to 140,000, Christine Patmon, a CPS Energy spokesperson, told us recently...

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...

The next phase of energy efficiency programs is on its way and Ecova plans to be its guiding light, Nate Bellino, senior director of product management for utility solutions at the Spokane, Wash-based energy- and sustainability-management firm told us recently...

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 US Senate yesterday confirmed Ernest Moniz to succeed Steven Chu as the next Secretary of Energy in a unanimous vote...

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...

Illinois Gov Pat Quinn, D, Sunday vetoed a bill to boost funding for Commonwealth Edison's (ComEd) grid modernization efforts and to speed up the utility's deployment of smart meters...

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...

Renewable capacity in Texas grew 16% last year from 2011 while the energy produced by renewable power was up 7%, ERCOT told the press last week as it submitted its "2012 Annual Report on the Renewable Energy Credit Trading Program" to the PUC...

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...

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...

Florida Power & Light (FPL) completed its SGIG-supported grid modernization projects and the installation of 4.5 million smart meters in its 35-county service area, the utility told the press this week...

Alarm.com's recent acquisition of EnergyHub will let the firms immediately tap each other's strengths in DR to seize market momentum, executives from each firm told us this week in an exclusive interview...

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...

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...

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...