January 7, 2010

BPL Global and Siemens are set to integrate BPL Global smart grid solutions with Siemens' DA applications, including the latter firm's distribution management system, SCADA and substation automation solutions, executives from both firms told us yesterday.

          Siemens and BPL Global were “bumping into each other in a few places and cooperatively talking about how we could bring a combined solution together,” Mike Edmonds, a Siemens Energy vice president, told us.  “We were often talking to the same customer about problems, whether it be a DSM problem or a distributed management problem.  It just became more natural to say, ‘We need to work closer together'.”

          “Some of our customers have said we should be working together,” BPL Global CEO Keith Schaefer told us.  “We heard it from a lot of different angles.”

          Siemens is a BPL Global investor.  It also co-markets BPL Global's transformer monitors worldwide.  Under the pact announced yesterday, Siemens will integrate and resell BPL Global's load management and distributed energy resource management solutions.

          The pair declined to announce any joint clients yesterday.  They did say they plan first to work together in North America.

          “If we can make it work here, I think it has the potential to expand to other regions of the world -- where Siemens certainly has a strong footprint and BPL Global is developing one,” Schaefer said.

          The pair is already discussing “opportunities outside of North America,” Edmonds acknowledged.

          The duo will strategize logistics not only in Pittsburgh, where BPL Global is based, but also Minneapolis and Columbus, Ohio.  Siemens has over 300 full-time engineers in Minnesota working on real-time energy management and BPL Global's 65-person development team is anchored in Ohio.

    Siemens is gaining “an instant addition to a solution set that includes DSM,” Edmonds said.  “This isn't vaporware; this is real, deployed technology in the demand side, direct-load control, distributed resource management.  The timelines for our projects are extremely short.  We need to be able to get these compatible solutions together, so it gives us an immediate, additional advantage “... in the smart grid ‘brain' -- the Siemens distribution management system -- where we can bring these solutions together.”

          BPL Global gets Siemens' endorsement of its technology platform and smart grid applications.  “It validates BPL Global's leadership position in energy efficiency and reliability software solutions,” Schaefer said.  “We have agreements with IBM and SAIC.  With this announcement, we continue to solidify our leadership position in the energy efficiency and reliability software solution business.”

          Siemens has been active for “decades and decades,” which helps “any one of the emerging smart grid companies” in the smart grid industry get established “as a player -- not to mention that it helps shorten the sales cycle,” he added.

          “Siemens really does have a world-class energy management system and we've been very fortunate to have architected software applications that are compatible with them, so it's an easy fit.  It gives Siemens an advantage, because it strengthens their overall solution.  And it gives us an advantage because we could never, with 150 employees, be able to scale for some of these large, multi-million dollar projects getting under way.  We need Siemens' vast resources to deliver a complete solution.”

          The firms have had a “longstanding relationship inside the substation where we co-marketed, developed and sold on a global basis,” Schaefer reported.  “But this is a focus to drive the integration of what we know is Siemens' really world-class energy management system with our applications and platform.  We think we get the greatest traction, the greatest opportunities, right here, right now in North America” in part due to stimulus spending and because some state regulators are making smart grid development mandatory.

          BPL Global “could be very compatible” with the partnership Siemens and Landis & Gyr cemented in October in pursuit of customers in the European market (SGT, Oct-07), said Schaefer.

            Riding Siemens' coattails

          Since Siemens is a “global company, as we grow, we think we can grow with them beyond the borders of North America,” Schaefer added.

          BPL Global has deployed building efficiency management solutions in France (SGT, Apr-28).  The firm established itself in China, where it is working to secure a contract for a pilot with two large factories owned by one of China's largest food processing firms (SGT, Jul-30).

          While the pair declined to name the next nation or region it plans to target jointly after the US, China is likely a prime candidate.

          “In China, BPL Global is the leader in monitoring the substation's biggest asset: the transformer,” Schaefer noted.  “And as our business doubles every year there, we're seeing a major commitment by the government and the two large T&D utilities (State Grid and South Grid) to make significant investments in smart grid solutions that improve reliability and efficiency” and accommodate distributed energy resources.  “There's a perfect opportunity with our applications and Siemens energy management system, to go in there and really be the leader in smart grid applications and management in China.”

          Siemens, he added, “is one of the most respected providers to utilities in China.  We see them everywhere and they have great relationships with the State Grid and the South Grid.”