Finland’s largest utility announces smart grid project

Fortum, the largest utility in Finland, has selected Echelon Corporation to provide smart grid-supporting software in a new project involving some 550,000 customers in the country. Telvent, a value-added reseller for Echelon, will provide Echelon’s Networked Energy Services (NES) system.

Fortum is a leading energy company among the Nordic countries and Russia along the Baltic Rim. The company generates, distributes, and sells electricity and aims to become the leading sustainable utility. The new project will be the largest smart meter deployment in Finland where there are approximately 3.1 million electricity customers. The new project will include more than one-sixth of them.

Depending on which type of system configuration is selected, Echelon expects the new contract to be worth between $50 and $60 million. The smart meter installations are scheduled to begin sometime in 2011 with completion coming by the end of 2013.

Fortum picked Echelon’s system for its ability to meet key objectives involving energy savings and home automation. The NES system can provide precise hourly measurements to retail customers as well as bi-directional measurement of renewable power generated at the home.
“With the new smart meters invoicing will be based on real electricity consumption,” says Timo Karttinen, senior vice president for corporate development at Fortum. “Better knowledge in turn improves energy efficiency and makes it easier to operate and manage network capacity when actual customer electricity consumption is known. In addition, the smart meters will be used for faster power failure resolution and as a platform for future services within electricity solutions.”

“We are pleased to be chosen by Fortum for this project,” said Manuel Sanchez Ortega, chairman and CEO for Telvent. “Finnish regulators have specified a rich set of high-level requirements that the smart grid infrastructure must meet, a trend we see growing throughout the world.”
“Utilities and regulators are looking to leverage their investments to build a truly smart grid, and together with Echelon, we are confident that we will help Fortum to achieve that goal,” Ortega continued. “Echelon has been a great partner, and I am sure that we will continue our successful relationship for many years.”

Echelon’s NES system includes smart meters that are connected by an IP-based network. The solution provides a high level of visibility into the power grid in addition to advanced billing services. Utilities benefit from the system through streamlined operations processes and enhanced customer service. Equipped with a secure ZigBee wireless interface, Fortum will be able to transmit information between smart meters and other devices within the home.
“This win demonstrates the vast capability of the NES system,” said Ken Oshman, chairman and CEO of Echelon. “We believe it provides the most advanced, flexible, and cost-effective smart grid infrastructure solution available. This win also demonstrates the strength and experience that our partner, Telvent, has in building powerful solutions that meet the growing needs of electric utilities worldwide.”

Echelon Corporation550 Meridian Ave.San Jose, CA 95126 USAhttp://www.echelon.com/
Fortum CorporationKeilaniementie 1, EspooP.O. Box 1FI-00048Finlandhttp://www.fortum.com/
Telvent Git, S.AValgrande, 6 28108Alcobendas, MADSpainhttp://www.telvent.com/

http://www.smartmeters.com/the-news/618-finlands-largest-utility-announces-smart-grid-project.html

Industry Events from across the Sector Energy et Utilities

http://www.energyandutilities.org.uk/events

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The Energy Event 2009
National Motorcycle Museum, Birmingham, 09 September 2009 - 10 September 2009
An Audience with Tony Wray
Oracle, One South Place, London, EC2M 2RB, 09 September 2009
European Offshore Wind 2009
Stockholm International Fairs (Stockholmsmässan), Sweden, 14 September 2009 - 16 September 2009
Utility Metering - The Challenge of a Smart Roll-out
The National Motorcycle Museum, Birmingham, 17 September 2009
Energy Prices - will they have to go through the roof to finance record levels of investment?
London, 24 September 2009
Energy from Waste
Crowne Plaza Hotel - St James, London, 28 September 2009 - 29 September 2009
24th World Gas Conference 2009
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 03 October 2009 - 09 October 2009
Metering Europe 2009
Fira Barcelona, Spain, 06 October 2009 - 08 October 2009
20/20 Vision
Royal College of Physicians, London, 15 October 2009
BWEA31
ACC, Liverpool, 20 October 2009 - 22 October 2009
Gas 2009
Imago, Holywell Park, Loughborough, 05 November 2009
AEP Annual Reception and Lunch
The Brewery, Chiswell Street, London, 05 November 2009
Scottish Renewables Marine Seminar 2009
Drumossie Hotel, Inverness, 12 November 2009
Combined Heat & Power Association Annual Conference
One Great George Street, Westminster, London, 25 November 2009
Combined Heat and Power Awards
London, 25 November 2009
Combined Heat & Power Association Awards Dinner
Banqueting House, Whitehall, London, 25 November 2009
Transforming Utility Performance
Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon, Warwickshire, 26 November 2009
2009 NJUG Awards: Recognising and Rewarding Street Works Best Practice
House of Commons, London, 01 December 2009

Alerte électricité

Recevez une alerte à chaque pic et réduisez votre consommation d'électricité (en phase de test, feedback bienvenu)

http://twitter.com/alertricity_fr

Exemple de Tweet:

TWEET-A-WATT! A Power Monitor That Twitters Your Energy Use

Tweet-a-watt est un projet qui permet de monitorer les consommations de votre maison directement sur Twitter. Ce projet qui se défini comme un projet “Open source hardware” permet a n’importe qui de modifier leur kit pour l’adapter a n’importe quel produit. La démo d'un compteur qui gazouille sur twitter est ici http://twitter.com/tweetawatt



The Tweet-a-Watt is one such example. Using a modified version of a $20 off-the-shelf wattage meter, the Tweet-a-Watt kit, now available online for $90, tracks daily power usage for an outlet. It then reports that information back to your followers via your Twitter account, including the daily average and your daily goal.

The kit includes the wireless transmitters and receivers needed to report the data, plus cables and various components needed to get it all wired up. It's the product of an open-source hardware project that had the main goal of wirelessly tracking power usage for a household. The Twitter aspect is a fun byproduct of this idea.

For DIY'ers, there are instructions for making your own kit and links to download the software for your project.

It's great for people who want to keep track of their carbon footprint, and even better for those who like to show off their conservation efforts to their fellow smug friends. You know they're out there.

The meter tracks a specific outlet, though you can buy multiple kits for other outlets and have them all report to the same Twitter feed (that seems excessive). I'd love to see a kit like this for household power, maybe something you plug in at the main terminal for your house. Or maybe I could just bypass Twitter and give my apartment its own blog? I'm sure it's got wonderful things to say about me.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10205534-1.html

Micro-Blogging + Metering = Micro-Metering

Definition (EN): Micro-metering is a metering service integrated to social network of a consumer which base on Micro-Blogging technologies . My meter is my Friend.
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Définition (FR): Le Micro-Metering est un service de comptage qui est intégré au réseau social du consommateur et qui utilise les technologies du Micro-Blogging. Mon compteur est mon ami.
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Yello Strom brings smart metering to Twitter

German utility Yello Strom announced that it has developed a prototype where smart meters “tweet” customers’ energy consumption information. Yello Strom seems to be the first utility company to offer the service as an integral part of their smart meters. The forward-thinking energy provider is already the first in Europe to offer access to Google’s PowerMeter service and has successfully integrated broadband Internet with energy management.




Yello Strom, a subsidiary of the third largest German utility, is banking on the idea that broadband connections will transform how consumers use energy. “There’s close to a revolution happening,” said Martin Vesper, executive director of Yello Strom, regarding the combination of the Internet and energy management.

The Internet has already revolutionised how consumers access and consume media, purchase products, work, and communicate. It’s not much of a stretch to consider what broadband Internet can do for energy conservation and the environment. Yello Strom believes the energy revolution will redefine the role utilities play as well.

Germany’s energy industry is deregulated and open to competition. The emergence of Yello Strom reflects the need to innovate in order to attract customers. Germans are free to choose what company will provide their energy. Realising that consumers want more than the lowest rate from their utility, new and revolutionary products and services have become available as a result. Deregulation demands that utilities differentiate from one another to survive. After all, prices can only be lowered to a certain point.

Yello Strom has developed and marketed its own smart meters after finding disappointment in what was available, according to Vesper. Called the Sparzähler meter [savings meter], the device was built upon the Microsoft Windows CE operating system and includes a Web server and client application.

With that kind of processing power, the Sparzähler meter is more expensive than your typical smart meter but customers have the option to rent the device at price ranges that depend upon the type of services desired. The services, which cost between €3.99 and €8.00 monthly, can also be included the purchase price of a new home. Once again, these costs aren’t forced on German consumers – homeowners have the choice to participate and Vesper says that many are.

Since the Sparzähler meter first became available in December of last year, sales have hovered between 100 and 200 a day. While those numbers don’t approach the size and scope of the Pacific Gas & Electric smart meter project in California, the sales to reflect a market that is eager to actively participate in managing energy consumption. “Those with the biggest interest in managing energy will buy it,” said Vesper.

Building around a broadband connection guarantees that Yello Strom’s consumers will have fast access to their energy usage information. Other utilities are building their own proprietary networks utilising various wireless protocols or rent access to telecom networks. Vesper says that Yello Strom makes consumption data available to customers within 10 minutes while other utilities may only make this information available once a day. Researchers at Stanford University’s Precourt Energy Efficiency Centre found that the more current the data is for energy consumers the more active their role will be in managing their consumption.

Building around public networks is a much more cost-effective option than developing a proprietary one. It’s also much easier to introduce new services, such as the new Twitter application. The Sparzähler meter has a Twitter account that is automatically updated with energy consumption data. When a consumer “follows” the account, Twitter pushes the Sparzähler meter’s “tweets” and the customer is prompted to read them. Vesper says that the service can also be integrated with Microsoft’s Hohm when it becomes available.

http://www.smartmeters.com/the-news/573-yello-strom-brings-smart-metering-to-twitter.html