Infotech Giants Invade Smart Grid

Based on the behavior of solar and wind indexes (see TAN and FAN), there’s not much enthusiasm out there for clean tech stocks these days. But one part of this space that is rocking is smart grid, where companies like EnerNOC and Itron have put up great recent numbers and seen their shares turn into institutional favorites. There’s a good reason for this: Whereas solar, wind, and certainly biofuels and next generation batteries, are still progressing towards stand-alone competitiveness with incumbent (read cheap) sources of energy, smart grid is already here. It’s a branch of information technology, and  managing complex data streams is something we’ve long since figured out how to do.

Not surprisingly, the big players in infotech and industrial automation want in. Name the technology conglomerate and they’ll have a clean tech division pursuing synergies between whatever they currently make and some aspect of smart grid. These three for instance:

Intel powers its way inside the smart grid

Intel wants you to take more interest in your energy use but isn’t fussy about how you do it. The chip giant has developed a broad strategy to make money on smart-grid technologies, touching on everything from high-performance computing to simulate the electricity grid to home energy management systems.

Its efforts have been relatively low-profile because Intel’s microprocessors are embedded in other companies’ products. But the company is seeing some early activity: it expects to pilot test different types of home energy management devices with partners in the next 30 to 60 days in Oregon, said Lorie Wigle, general manager of Intel’s Eco-Technology group, at the Jefferies Clean Tech Conference for investors here on Tuesday.

Also in the works is a project with smart-grid start-up Tendril Networks to let consumers program a home’s energy settings from an IP television, she added. The companies expect to test that product, which will be able to communicate with utilities and a home thermostat, later this year, according to representatives.

Intel is also seeking to put its chips inside other components of the smart grid. One company, Moxa, has built a server for a grid substation using an Intel chip that can make translations between different communication protocols. Wigle said the company is in discussions with incumbent power equipment companies, such as Siemens and ABB.

GE Reinforces Importance of FCC’s Broadband Plan for Smart Grid

The FCC’s recently announced National Broadband Plan has been getting a lot of attention, and for good reason. As consumers, we cannot get enough broadband in our homes, and there are lots of studies out there showing how important broadband is to economic growth as well as overall competitiveness on the global stage. While that topic will rightly get most of the headlines, the Broadband Plan is also highly relevant to the smart grid.

This week GE chimed in, voicing their support for this story line. GE’s message was to reiterate the importance of having a flexible approach in modernizing the utility grid, and to be open to what broadband has to offer. Taking this a step further, they are also advocating for dedicated smart grid spectrum to enable all utilities to modernize on a common path. It goes without saying that GE stands to benefit from smart grid, as they are a major player for both utility infrastructure and home appliances.

GE stresses that there is more to broadband than just faster Internet service. In speaking with Mark Dudzinski, chief marketing officer of GE Energy, there is a more fundamental story to get across. First and foremost, broadband – and all Internet technologies – are built on open, standards-based systems. As utilities modernize their networks, they must recognize the need to integrate with many vendors and technologies, as well as with other utilities. This can only work with standardization; otherwise, utilities will simply evolve independently without any overarching plan to make the grid more efficient.

Aside from their products and technologies, Dudzinski noted that GE is also a major generator of both wind and solar power. Renewable energy is – and should be – an important element of the smart grid, but really needs a broadband infrastructure to add value. The intermittent and non-storable nature of wind and solar energy requires utilities to have near real-time network capability to tap these sources and bring them into the grid when they have value. If the network is too slow or unreliable, they will get limited benefit from these sources, and will instead need to rely on more costly and less green energy supplies to serve peak demand cycles.

Shifting over to the home, the need for broadband is even more evident. Today’s smart grid applications are quite limited, but we all know the future will be very different, and utilities will simply be hamstrung if they cannot provide sufficient bandwidth into the home. Not only will broadband enable utilities to monitor valuable usage data for a wide range of endpoints and appliances, but also open up avenues for new services and revenue streams.

On this front, GE has been particularly proactive, and helps explain their advocacy for the broadband plan. Today, their hot water heaters are smart grid-enabled, but by year end, Mark explained that over 500 GE home appliances will have this capability. Simply put the more smart grid-enabled products a utility can connect with, the more powerful their smart grid deployments will become.

Enmax, Cisco to co-develop Smart Grid power system in Calgary

Calgary power provider Enmax Corp. will work with tech giant Cisco to create a “Smart Grid” system that has the potential to significantly reduce electricity consumption in the city, officials said this morning.

Enmax and Cisco will develop the system, which will be designed to automatically manage the power usage of industrial and commercial customers, officials said. The software will track consumers’ consumption and respond accordingly, allowing Enmax to supply the electricity it produces as needed and ensuring higher efficiency.

The agreement between Enmax and Cisco is part of the power provider’s plan to move to a more high-tech service model – dubbed “Utility 2.0″ – that is also aimed at improving the system’s reliability and better integrating the electricity generated from renewable sources.

“Cisco’s track record in transforming information technology, as well as its grid security and energy management solutions, will help us implement our Utility 2.0 model to transform energy distribution and consumption for Calgarians,” said Helen Bremner, Enmax’s executive vice president of Smart Grid, in a written statement.

Peter Tertzakian, chief energy economist with ARC Financial Corp., said the Smart Grid’s impact on Calgary may go far beyond the utilities market in the city.

Now, this means two things.  First, the smart grid is coming to your home, very soon. Second, the entry of big players complicates matters (in both positive and negative ways) for the existing, much smaller, smart grid companies. In some cases the latter will be smothered by the big guys’ ability to offer broad, comprehensive solutions. In other cases the smart grid pioneers will thrive as suppliers or partners of the big system integrators. And if history is any guide, many of today’s smart grid companies will be bought out for nice premiums.

Tagged as: Smart Grid