The Onzo smart energy kit
Onzo's smart energy kit provides a powerful energy management tool for the consumer. It consists of a sensor, display and integrated website. The display interprets and delivers simple actionable information to users in real-time, empowering them to make positive decisions about how they use energy. The display can be connected to a home computer to upload data to the website via the internet.
Source: www.onzo.co.uk
| March 17th, 2009 AT&T announced today that it will open its wireless network to smart meter maker SmartSynch, allowing electric utilities to install its IP-based smart grid technology in even more residential areas. Every SmartSynch SmartMeter will now send energy use information to utilities and homeowners over the expansive AT&T network, saving millions of dollars in network infrastructure, expansion and maintenance costs.
Now any consumer with AT&T service will be able to understand their energy consumption in economic terms, encouraging them to cut down on unnecessary use, especially during peak periods. There are several companies and tools that provide the same information — Tendril, Greenbox and soon Google PowerMeter, among them — but AT&T claims its new system will increase the speed and efficiency of communication between meters, homeowners and utilities.
“This is the first announcement of a major network provider really getting into the smart grid business, and AT&T is the largest wireless provider in the country,” says SmartSynch chief executive Stephen Johnston. “Hopefully this will encourage other businesses in the IP-based communication space like Motorola, Qualcomm and others to get involved.” He cited mobile phone applications that allow users to remotely monitor and adjust home energy consumption as a key area for expansion.
The wireless giant says it chose to work with SmartSynch because it’s the only company that offers end-to-end smart grid intelligence on any device (cell phones, computers, etc.). Plus, it already works with the decade-old smart grid company to connect meters in commercial and industrial settings with more than 100 different utilities. This new move is essentially a big bet that the residential smart meter business will take off in the next several years — but it’s also a fairly safe one, considering the billions of dollars the recent economic stimulus plan has earmarked for smart grid expansion. President Obama himself has urged the installation of at least 40 million smart meters in homes across the country.
AT&T has had its hat in the smart grid ring for a while but has more plans in store. On top of these efforts, it says it has also cemented useful relationships with U.S. utilities by providing them with mobile applications that track fieldworkers, detect power outages and remotely monitor electrical systems. These connections could come in handy as it deepens its involvement in the smart grid’s rapid evolution.
SmartSynch raised $25 million last year in fourth-round funding. Its investors include Credit Suisse, Batelle Ventures, Beacon Group, Endeavor Capital Management, GulfSouth Capital, Battelle’s affiliate Innovation Valley Partners, Kinetic Ventures, OPG Ventures and Siemens Venture Capital.
Source: http://venturebeat.com
Ci-dessous une sélection des principales spécifications disponibles sur les compteurs intelligents au pays bas. Une mise a jour régulière est réalisée sur le site de l'energiened. Plusieurs technologies sont utilisées notamment: DLMS-COSEM pour les compteurs electrique et M-BUS et wireless M-BUS pour les compteurs sur piles.
(01/09) Dutch Smart Meter Requirements: Main Document V2.31
(01/09) NTA 8027: Minimum set of function for Smart Water Meters (only in dutch)
(01/09) Dutch Smart Meter Requirements: IP via Ethernet Requirements V2.31
This document defines the requirements for the IP via Ethernet communication. The main focus of this document is on requirements to be defined for (the communication device of)
the E meter.
(01/09) Dutch Smart Meter Requirements: GPRS Requirements V2.31
This document focuses on the P3 and P3.2 interfaces for Electricity meters and Data Concentrators since both interfaces can make use of a GPRS connection. The P3.2 interface is
introduced because a Data Concentrator (DC) can be placed between the CAS and the meter(
s). With this, the DC divides P3 into two parts, P3.1 and P3.2. The communication interface P3 (see figure 1.1) is based on the DLMS/COSEM standard and communication interface P3.2 is based on Web Services standards. GPRS meters and GPRS concentrators both contain 3GPP certified communication modules enabling them to connect to a GSM/GPRS network for data transmission. At a later stage, Grid operators might use alternative technologies for communication, for example UMTS, HSDPA, LTE, Wimax, SMS and/or Mesh.
Whenever the term Communication Unit is used within this document this applies for both the
communication unit of the meter and the communication unit of the DC since both can make use of a GPRS connection.
(01/09) Dutch Smart Meter Requirements: P1 Companion Standard V2.31
The goal of this companion standard is to reach an open, standardized protocol implementation and functional hardware requirements related to the communication between several types of Service Modules and a Metering System. Any specification in this standard is intended to encourage suppliers to develop their hardware and software in a common direction. Standardised protocols and hardware specifications are referred to as much as possible.
(01/09) Dutch Smart Meter Requirements: P2 Companion Standard V2.31
The goal of this companion standard is to reach an open, standardized protocol implementation and functional hardware requirements related to the communication between several types of meter and an electricity meter. The communication bus is based on the M-Bus and wirless M-BUS
(01/09) Dutch Smart Meter Requirements: P3 Companion Standard V2.31
This companion standard focuses on the P3 interface for Electricity meters. The goal of this companion standard is to reach an open, standardized protocol implementation based on DLMS/COSEM. This companion standard is the result of a combined effort of the major Dutch grid operators and different manufactures who defined the necessary DLMS/COSEM object mapping.
(01/09) Dutch Smart Meter Requirements: P3.1 Companion Standard V2.31
This companion standard focuses on the P3 interface for Electricity meters. The goal of this companion standard is to reach an open, standardized protocol implementation based on XML/Webservices. This companion standard is the result of a combined effort of the major Dutch grid operators and different manufactures who defined the necessary XML/Webservices object mapping.
Source:
Smart Grid Technology
All told, the municipality, energy outfits, and private companies are expected to invest more than $1 billion over the next three years. That figure includes a $383 million investment by local electricity network operator Alliander in so-called "smart grid" technology that uses network sensors and improved domestic energy monitoring to trim electricity use. Also part of the plan: up to $255 million to be spent by local housing cooperatives on boosting household energy efficiency, and $383 million from companies including Phillips and Dutch utility Nuon to be invested in other energy-efficient technology.
"In the next year and a half, we expect to be the leading smart city in Europe," says Ger Baron, senior project manager at the Amsterdam Innovation Motor, a public-private joint venture that is overseeing the project. "We're in the right place at the right time."
The focus on cutting cities' emissions could have a major impact on the battle against global warming. As of 2006, more people now live in urban areas than in the countryside, and the sprawl surrounding megacities such as Mumbai and Saõ Paolo is only likely to increase. Consultancy Accenture reckons cities produce almost two-thirds of total global carbon dioxide emissions through a combination of car fumes, household energy use, and industrial manufacturing. In the coming years, policy shifts from the US and elsewhere will put even more pressure on controlling carbon output.
"Until now, there's been an underemphasis on what cities can do to cut emissions," says Mark Spelman, Accenture's global head of strategy.
Cutting Household Energy Use
That's why Accenture has teamed up with utilities in North America, Europe, and Asia to figure out the best way to reduce cities' carbon dioxide emissions. In the first project -- a $100 million venture in Boulder, Colo., led by Xcel Energy -- some 60,000 households will be connected to a smart electric grid by June 2009. In early trials, households have been able to cut their energy output by as much as 50 percent thanks to real-time network monitoring and the installation of smart meters that let customers adjust their energy use by time of day or other factors.
In Amsterdam, city planners are taking things a step further. Dutch grid operator Alliander, which is 30 percent owned by the province that includes Amsterdam, will spend €100 million ($127 million) annually until 2016 to upgrade its entire network to a smart grid. That will include installing new meters in homes that detail consumer energy use and relay the data back to utilities. By 2011, says Paulus Agterberg, Alliander's director of strategy and innovation, almost all of Amsterdam will be on a smart grid. "You have to spend your money (on infrastructure) in the right way," he adds.
As the city's energy infrastructure gets a face-lift, local policymakers also are devising ways to maximize the new smart grid technology. On tap are a dozen projects, split across consumer and commercial markets, that will begin as pilots but are expected to ramp up over the next three years depending on their success. One plan will give 728 households in Amsterdam access to microfinancing to buy energy-efficient products for their homes. Once installed, the investment will be repaid through savings on households' utility bills.
"Banks see this as a huge business opportunity, but they're still not sure how big the market will be," says Amsterdam Innovation Motor's Baron.
IBM and Cisco's Home Energy Display Panels
Another project, in conjunction with IBM and Cisco, will involve installing energy display panels into 500 homes that convert data from smart meters into comprehensible info for customers. That will allow households to more easily monitor their electricity use, as well as permit companies to offer additional services, such as appliances that could be controlled from the central display panel or domestic power points for electric cars. Amsterdam Innovation Motor's Baron says 200,000 homes, or almost one-third of the city's housing units, will be using the technology by 2011.
"The scope of the Amsterdam project is more ambitious (than plans in the US)," says Jeff Taft, Accenture's global smart grid chief architect.
Ambitious yes, but Amsterdam's plans come with a hefty price tag. According to estimates, it will cost $410 per household over 15 years to install smart grid technology alone. Additional outlays, particularly the up-to-$255-million estimated to make the city's homes energy-efficient, could be a tough sell for consumers already suffering in the economic downturn.
Yet by converting Amsterdam into a smart city, local planners expect to bolster the economy through public and private investment, as well as cut emissions by 40 percent by 2025. Says Amsterdam Innovation Motor's Baron: "The aim is to create innovation."
Scott is a reporter in BusinessWeek's London bureau.
source: http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,613503,00.htmlIBERDROLA a consacré énormément d'efforts à la définition et aux tests d'une nouvelle architecture de télécommunication CPL (courants porteurs en ligne) ouverte, publique et libre de droit, compatible avec la technologie de compteur intelligent et l'évolution vers les réseaux électriques intelligents.
Première étape : définition et test de la couche physique (PHY), rendue publique en février dernier, reposant sur le procédé de modulation numérique des signaux OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) qui offre jusqu'à 130 Kbps sur la bande CENELEC-A et présente comme autres avantages une robustesse et une portée accrues pour un coût peu élevé.
IBERDROLA a maintenant présenté les spécifications MAC (Medium Access Control) et CS (Convergence Sublayer) après une série de tests probants.
C'est un pas radical vers une solution ouverte, publique et standard AMI (Advanced Meter Infrastructure) dans le cadre du projet PRIME (Power line Related Intelligent Metering Evolution) dirigé par IBERDROLA. Les partenaires du projet PRIME sont Advanced Digital Design, le groupe CURRENT, Landis+Gyr, STMicroelectronics, Usyscom et ZIV. Un certain nombre de distributeurs européens d'électricité et de fabricants mondiaux de semi-conducteurs participeront bientôt au projet.
C'est une étape cruciale vers l'objectif final, celui de définir un ensemble exhaustif de normes internationales qui permettra une interopérabilité entre les différents fabricants et stimulera la concurrence sur le marché du comptage, au bénéfice de tous les acteurs, et en particulier des usagers. Contrairement à d'autres solutions déjà commercialisées, cette solution ne sera pas protégée par des droits de propriété intellectuelle.
En plus des spécifications complètes déjà disponibles, IBERDROLA devrait, dans les semaines à venir, publier le code de référence rédigé en langage de programmation standard C ANSI totalement compatible, pour la fonctionnalité des couches MAC et CS. Ce code de référence commun contribuera à l'interopérabilité entre les produits de différents fournisseurs, tout en améliorant le délai de mise sur le marché.
IBERDROLA prépare un projet pilote portant sur l'installation de 100 000 compteurs CPL et 635 concentrateurs en 2009, avant de passer au marché intégral comptant plus de 10 millions de particuliers espagnols. IBERDROLA profitera également de ce projet pilote pour mettre en œuvre sa solution de réseau électrique intelligent (Smart Grid).
Les spécifications complètes, PHY + MAC + CS, sont disponibles sur le site AMI.info@iberdrola.es Un livre blanc sur le projet PRIME peut également être téléchargé depuis le site http://www.iberdrola.es/wcorp/corporativa/iberdrola?IDPAG=ENSMART_METERING
En plastique vert anis, "Linky", haut de 19 cm, large de 10 cm et profond de 6 cm, fabriqué en France, est un compteur "communicant", c'est-à-dire qu'il permet de transmettre et de recevoir des données à distance.
Il sera expérimenté en Touraine où 100.000 compteurs seront installés entre mars et septembre 2010, selon un communiqué d'ERDF, filiale distribution d'EDF.
"Ce compteur est une révolution technologique pour les clients et les acteurs de la chaîne électrique. Equipé d'un micro-ordinateur, il permet de mieux maîtriser sa consommation, réduit le temps d'intervention et améliore la facturation", a déclaré Jean Vigneron, directeur du projet, lors d'une conférence de presse, mercredi à Tours.
A l'aide d'une clef USB, glissée dans le compteur, le client peut charger des informations sur sa consommation, sur les incidents éventuelles survenues sur la ligne, sur sa puissance et sur les tarifs du distributeur et du fournisseur, pour les afficher ensuite sur son ordinateur.
"Aujourd'hui, le changement de puissance demande un delai de deux à cinq jours. Avec ce compteur, en deux heures, le changement est effectué. Les techniciens interviennent directement, sans se déplacer", explique le responsable.
Le particulier pourra reconstituer son historique de consommation, comprendre pourquoi il a consommé plus ce mois-ci que le mois précédent. Il n'aura plus besoin d'attendre chez lui la venue d'un agent chargé de relever les compteurs pour sa facturation établie désormais sur un relevé de consommation réelle.
ERDF (électricité réseau distribution France) remplacera en Touraine, les anciens compteurs, en grande majorité électro-mécaniques, par "Linky", à raison de 1.000 par jour à partir de mars 2010. Cent vingt techniciens seront mobilisés pour cette opération qui ensuite sera généralisée à toute la France. Le nouveau compteur doit également être testé à Lyon, à la même période.
Source: http://fr.news.yahoo.com
AMEE’s aim is to map, measure and track all the energy data on Earth. This includes aggregating every emission factor and methodology related to CO2 and Energy Assessments (individuals, businesses, buildings, products, supply chains, countries, etc.), and all the consumption data (fuel, water, waste, quantitative and qualitative factors). It is a web-service (API) that combines measurement, calculation, profiling and transactional systems. Its algorithmic engine applies conversion factors from energy into CO2 emissions, and represents data from 150 countries and regions.
AMEE aids the development of businesses and other initiatives - by providing common benchmarks for measurement, tracking, conversion, collaboration and reporting.
AMEE is designed to add to and support your business. Its role is to help create, stimulate and be part of the emerging ecosystems around energy data; whether you are creating a calculator or a marketplace, tracking a building or a supply chain. AMEE is complimentary to and can facilitate Smart Grids, information systems, legislative frameworks and compliance schemes.
We aim to assist with the development of energy as a global carbon currency, assisting governments and companies that need to account for and trade internationally in CO2 emissions.
The AMEE platform is used internationally by many organisations including The UK Government (Defra/DECC), The Irish Government, The Welsh Assembly, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Google, Morgan Stanley, Nesta, the Energy Saving Trust, BRE, Radiohead, Sun Microsystems, plus numerous other IT, business services and software companies.
AMEE has been designed to deliver a new standard in functionality, transparency and interoperability.
Example: Real-time, automated carbon footprints
Sending smart-meter data directly into AMEE, and retrieving CO2 in real-time via an Atom feed
AMEE now supports the UK standard assessment procedure (SAP and RD-SAP) for buildings and any future standards. This enables the calculation of an “Energy Performance Certificate” in line with the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.
Source: http://www.amee.com/
The foundation of the European Smart Metering Industry Group (ESMIG) recognises the fact that the relevant industries have a key role to play in
* the general roll out and adequate use of Smart Metering technology,
Traditionally, the primary role of utility metering has been to accurately measure usage of electricity, gas and water. Until now this usage data has been - with some exceptions - manually collected by the utilities. But the metering market is currently undergoing considerable change, and as smarter metering systems become available, they are being viewed as the future for utility metering.
ESMIG will give advice and provide its expertise to key stakeholders and actors, such as the European Union institutions, EU Member States governments and authorities, regulators, consumers and utilities on all aspects related to Smart Metering.
ESMIG has a number of objectives including:
By Jeff St. John march 03, 2009
Echelon Corp. (ELON) has released a new version of LonWorks, its widely used technology for building automation to better integrate it into the company's smart grid efforts.
Now the question is, will utilities pick up on it?
Echelon's "LonWorks 2.0" platform announced Tuesday is meant to ease the integration of energy monitoring and control systems and devices into existing LonWorks networks, said Steve Nguyen, director of corporate marketing.
Hundreds of thousands of buildings are now using LonWorks as part of building management systems installed by Honeywell (HON), Siemens (SI) and other big players in the field.
LonWorks 2.0 promises to add a host of new products that can be integrated with existing and new systems, adding improvements that will cut the costs of installing those products by as much as 50 percent compared to the old systems, Nguyen said.
How the new and improved LonWorks platform might help the company's smart grid efforts remains to be seen.
Echelon's smart meter business – called Networked Energy Services – is based on smart meters that communicate data over power lines to concentrators that use IP-based communications networks to get information back to utilities.
Echelon's system has been widely adopted in Europe, with 1.5 million of its smart meters installed and 90 pilot projects underway, Nguyen said. Echelon also provided power line networking to a 27 million home smart meter project with Italian utility Enel (see Will Smart Grid See a Push for Power-Line Networking?).
But Echelon's system has been less popular in the United States, where most utilities have opted for radio mesh or other wireless communications to connect smart meters, citing the higher costs associated with power line networking (see SCE Preps $1.63B Smart-Meter Program and Smart Grid: A Matter of Standards).
While Echelon is working with several U.S. utilities to control streetlights, including major California utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PCG), so far Duke Energy (DUK) is the only U.S. utility to use Echelon for a major smart meter deployment.
The Charlotte, N.C.-based utility is working with Echelon in a project in Cincinnati, that has seen 60,000 smart meters installed so far, said David Mohler, Duke's chief technology officer.
Duke also is seeking regulatory permission to bring smart meters to more than 800,000 homes in its service area in Indiana. Nguyen said Echelon hopes to work on that project as well.
Duke plans to spend $1 billion to bring smart meters to its entire 4 million-household area in the next five years, so Echelon will likely be seeking to prove itself in the utility's initial deployments to get involved in those larger projects, according to a January research note from Deutsche Bank Securities analysts.
Could LonWorks 2.0 help Echelon win those contracts? It's hard to say, but given that LonWorks is already deployed in a large number of commercial buildings, "In the back of our mind is the idea of being able to connect some of that stuff" to Duke's smart meter network, Mohler said. The utility hasn't made any hard plans to do that yet, he added.
But Echelon would like to see Duke and other utilities look to commercial buildings as the target for energy savings, Nguyen said.
"That's really and truly the most near-term alternative energy in the market," as compared to homes, he said. The Department of Energy estimates that 70 percent of all electricity in the United States is consumed in commercial buildings, and 70 percent of that is consumed by lighting and heating, ventilation and air conditioning, he said.
While Nguyen wouldn't say what new products are coming out in conjunction with LonWorks 2.0, he did say the first would be aimed at the commercial market.
Bringing out a new version of LonWorks could be another way to "kickstart" Echelon's smart meter business in the United States, said John Quealy, managing director in equity research for Cannacord Adams.
"Echelon is at the nexus of two trends – utility communications and building communications," Quealy said. "But so far they haven't capitalized on it as such."
The company saw a slowdown in business in 2008, with a net loss of $25.8 million on revenues of $134 million, compared to a loss of $15.7 million on revenues of $137.6 million in 2007.
But the continuation of Duke's smart meter deployments, as well as the federal stimulus package signed into law this month, could boost Echelon's business in the long term, Quealy said (see Obama Signs Stimulus Package).
The bill contains $11 billion to modernize the nation's electricity grid, along with $4.5 billion in grants for smart grid technology deployments. It also has $5.5 billion for improving the energy efficiency of federal buildings, a market where Echelon's LonWorks has some penetration given that the U.S. Army uses it, Nguyen said.
Of course, others are looking to capitalize on making commercial buildings more efficient as well, including the companies that install LonWorks in their building control systems. Honeywell and Siemens are among those increasingly using their own proprietary networks in place of LonWorks, according to Deutsche Bank Securities' January research note.
And then there's Cisco Systems, which last month announced it was getting into the commercial building energy management business with its EnergyWise product running over its own networks. Schneider Electric – another huge building automation systems installer –has agreed to work with Cisco on that effort (see Cisco Jumps Into Energy Management for Computers, Buildings).
As for home energy monitoring and control systems, Echelon is already working with Samsung electronics for devices that monitor energy use in apartments in China and Korea, Nguyen said. Apartments are natural venues for power line communications, since the distances between meters (often located in the basement) and apartments above make wireless communications difficult.
Whether Echelon's power line signaling technology for carrying data from a smart meter over a building's electrical wiring will win out over competing standards is an open question. Another power line carrier technology is being developed by the HomePlug Powerline Alliance, a group of companies that is working with the ZigBee Alliance to integrate their efforts to bring communications technology into homes.
Given that ZigBee is emerging as a front-runner in the race to become the meter-to-home wireless communications protocol of choice for home energy management systems, that partnership could give HomePlug an advantage over Echelon's technology.
But Nguyen pointed out that Echelon's technology is the de-facto standard for building controls and power line carrier technology in Europe. The company's technology has also been accepted by a host of standards bodies including the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), he said.
As for using ZigBee instead of power line signaling, Echelon's smart meters can be retrofitted to carry ZigBee radios, Nguyen said, though no customers have done so yet.
source: seekingalpha.comLes compagnies d'électricité et d'eau de l'île de Malte, Enemalta Corporation et Water Services Corporation (WSC), ont confié à IBM, pour 70 millions d'euros, le soin de mettre en place un réseau intelligents d'eau et d'électricté pour les 400.000 Maltais .
Le géant américain va d'abord remplacer par des compteurs intelligents électroniques les 250.000 compteurs électriques analogiques de l'île, qui intégreront désormais à la fois l'eau et l'électricité. Ils seront consultables et gérables à distance, et constitueront la première étape d'un réseau intelligent d'un bout à l'autre de la chaîne.
Les nouveaux compteurs permettront toute une série de nouveaux services, tant pour les consommateurs que pour les compagnies de distribution: le paiement de la consommation réelle et non estimée, des tarifs flexibles, la génération automatique des factures, le pré-paiement, le suivi de la consommation via un portail internet, qui permettra de choisir les forfaits les plus adaptés. En outre la consommation d'eau et d'électricité seront optimisées (réduction des pertes, gestion à distance du réseau, analyse en temps réel de la consommation sur le réseau).
Le système doit être entièrement terminé en 2012.
C'est peu sans doute face aux 40 millions de compteurs que Barack Obama veut installer aux Etats-Unis, aux quelques 35 millions que veulent déployer la France comme la Grande-Bretagne pour équiper tous les foyers, sans oublier les 28 millions de compteurs déjà installé en italie, pays pionniers, mais avec ce système intégral Malte servira de test grandeur nature à ses plus grands voisins, et de vitrine à IBM qui se positionne en force sur ce créneau convoité aussi par Google (voir: http://www.greenunivers.com/2008/11/google-un-pas-de-plus-dans-le-secteurs-des-reseaux-electriques-et-compteurs-intelligents926/ ).
IBM: It's All About Smart Grid in 2009
by: Greentech Media December 22, 2008
source: seekingalpha.comEthanol and fuel investing exploded in 2007. Solar went bonkers in 2008. And in 2009, the money is set to flow into smart grid companies.
"I'm more convinced than ever that it's just about to happen," said Drew Clark, of IBM's Venture Capital Group in an interview today. "Cleantech may be the only category [of venture investing] that is left relatively unscathed and [VCs] are looking to put new money into traditional IT type of companies and smart grid is exactly that."
Clark in some ways is a human weathervane of VC trends. IBM's VC group does not invest directly in startups. Instead, it meets with startups and VCs, tries to determine future trends and promising companies and then devises out ways to dovetail IBM's strategies and service divisions with these emerging ideas.
IBM then acts as a conduit for bringing these ideas to large customers. Thus, if Big Blue is excited about something, there is a good chance that a channel for bringing a new idea to market is already being assembled.
Smart grid is attractive on a number of levels. For one thing, a substantial amount of the power in the U.S. is wasted. UC Berkeley's Arun Manjumar recently said that the U.S. consumes 100 quads (or 100 quadrillion BTUs) of energy a year and 50 to 60 quads get lost as waste heat or by other means before it can be used. Smart grid technologies that can help shuttle around power loads over a network conceivably could put a dent in that.
Second, the technology better fits into the VC mold for building companies. Unlike solar or biofuel companies, most smart grid outfits don't need to build huge factories. They develop software or networking devices for controlling various aspects of power transmission or consumption.
Standout smart grid companies that have received VC funding in the past year include networks.com, Trilliant, GridPoint, eMeter, Silver Spring Networks, Smart Synch, GainSpan, Grid Net and Onzo. Smart grid actually passed biofuels in the second quarter in the number of VC deals completed and then passed biofuels in the amount of money and number of deals in the third quarter, according to VenturePower, a newsletter published by Greentech Media.
Third, the grid right now is ... uh ... pretty dumb. It was made to send electrons in one direction and was not designed for two-way communication.
"Smart grid may be the largest cloud," said Clark. "It will be expensive, but that also means it will be lucrative" for companies selling networking gear.
Fourth, because smart grid doesn't really exist yet, the time exists for startups to set standards and practices. Energy storage, for instance, could be a lucrative area. Right now, many companies are talking mostly about planting energy storage facilities where power like solar or wind is generated. But why not put energy storage where it gets consumed, sort of the way Akamai figured out how to cache network data closer to consumers. [Side Note: We hereby reserving the acronym NASE for Network Attached Storage for Energy, for these types of devices.]
The market, however, will likely evolve in a different manner than the computer revolution. The customer base for computers and networking equipment was huge: companies with five to seven people need at least some services and hardware. Utilities, which are fairly finite, will be the main customers for smart grid technologies and they will conduct lengthy trials before massive deployments.
That will be good for IBM, Clark noted. Pacific Gas & Electric is not going to want to deal with a bunch of startups. You can imagine the scene, he joked: Hundreds of people outside of PG&E headquarters touting laptops with business plans. Instead, they will effectively look to large companies that can integrate a bunch of these technologies into a platform.
Source: Energo
