by Susan DeFreitas

You may have heard that New Jersey is one of the leading states on solar power. Now it has a chance to lead on home energy management systems as well, as Verizon has announced a pilot program for its new home energy management system that will debut in exclusively in the Garden State, starting in January.

According to the company, its Home Monitoring and Control service will allow home owners to access to lights, thermostats, appliances and monitoring systems at home, anytime and anywhere, via smartphone, computer or FiOS TV. Starting in the New Year, New Jersey homes selected for the program will receive an energy reader, smart appliance switches and thermostats, a smart power strip, a smart door and window locks, motion sensors, an advanced pan-and-tilt camera, and a fixed indoor and outdoor camera–the kind of gear we can expect to see more of as the dream of the futuristic ”smart home” becomes a reality.

Eric Bruno, vice president of product management for Verizon, sees this service as a way for customers to cut their bills and their energy footprint at home by remote control. ”The concept of the connected home has been discussed for many years, and now Verizon’s high-IQ networks are making that concept a reality by converting customers’ homes into bandwidth-rich ecosystems that enable a wide variety of customizable options,” he said, in a statement.

For those who live outside New Jersey, Verizon will debut its new Home Monitoring and Control service at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Jan. 6-9.

Reprinted with permission from EarthTechling

GE (NYSE: GE) and its venture capital partners announced this week a collective investment of $55 million in power grid technology companies as part of the $200 million “GE ecomagination Challenge” announced earlier in July.

This is the first of several planned funding rounds aimed at accelerating the development and deployment of power grid technology through open collaboration.

GE has formed and accelerated a dozen new partnerships to date with entrants to develop and commercialize technologies vital to helping build the next-generation power grid. These technologies include energy storage, utility security, energy management software and electric vehicle charging services. GE said it expects these markets to grow rapidly into a $20 billion opportunity by 2015.

Twelve concepts have been selected for partnerships and GE is negotiating investments and other commercial agreements with the companies and academic partners listed below, including two co-investments with venture capital partners.

ClimateWell, Stockholm, Sweden (Efficient Appliances)

ClimateWell’s energy-efficient cooling and heating systems run on solar-powered hot water rather than electricity, maximizing energy efficiency. This technology translates into a significant reduction of power consumption and carbon emissions. While initially targeting operations like hospitals or commercial buildings, GE is working with ClimateWell on deploying this technology in additional markets already served through GE’s appliances business.

Consert, Raleigh, NC (Energy Management Systems and Software)

Consert’s demand side energy management solution empowers utilities, municipalities and co-ops to manage load curtailment, increase operations efficiency and act as a virtual power plant. Consert’s technology complements GE Digital Energy’s existing solutions to meet the unique needs of these market segments.

FMC-Tech, Ltd., Shannon, Ireland (Intelligent Sensor Technologies)

The power line monitoring system for medium voltage networks serves as a nervous system for the smart grid and has applications for GE’s Smart Grid Delivery Optimization. It integrates overhead line sensing, data storage, and wireless communication to a local controller to detect and locate faults in the smart grid and manage distribution communications, providing a platform for the present and future needs of the network.

The Fu Foundation School for Engineering and Applied Science, Columbia University, New York, NY (EV Charging Stations)

A new collaboration with GE, Columbia Engineering, FedEx Express (NYSE: FDX), and Con Edison (NYSE: ED) to enable the conversion from hydrocarbon to electric delivery vehicles in New York City. Columbia Engineering’s technology, developed by its Center for Computational Learning Systems, manages load and delivery and links electrical vehicle charging stations to the utility’s electric distribution management system in real-time. FedEx is providing and operating the all-electric vehicles that the collaborative team will study. In addition to providing funding, GE will supply expertise from its Digital Energy division and GE’s Global Research Center to support this program.

JouleX, Atlanta, GA (Energy Management Systems and Software)

JouleX provides a single, network-based, energy-management solution. The JouleX Energy Manager monitors, analyzes and automatically adjusts the energy usage of a network’s connected devices and systems. It has the potential to reduce energy consumption by 30 to 60 percent. It will enhance GE’s data center solutions to help customers reduce energy consumption in the data center. In addition, the technology will enhance Demand Response Management System capabilities in GE’s Digital Energy business.

OPOWER, Arlington, VA (Energy Management Systems and Software)

OPOWER integrates consumer demographics, energy consumption data and behavioral analytics to encourage households to make intelligent choices around power consumption in their homes. The average user reduces consumption by about 2.5 percent per month, helping to deliver savings. With GE’s global work in Smart Metering and Automatic Metering Infrastructures, OPOWER can help utilities secure buy-in from consumers and public utility commissions.

Scientific Conservation, San Francisco, CA (Energy Management Systems and Software)

This platform monitors and manages energy drift in commercial buildings through predictive maintenance of core energy systems: heating, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration, lighting, controls and renewable sources. Using its patent pending diagnostics, it typically improves efficiency covering the cost of installation in less than two years. The technology has applications for GE’s Intelligent Platforms building management software business and provides conservation opportunities for GE’s real estate portfolio and GE buildings.

SecureRF Corporation, Westport, CT (Utility Security)

SecureRF provides security solutions that address lower-powered embedded devices that will be used throughout the Smart Grid. Its Algebraic Eraser is a public-key cryptography method designed for resource-constrained devices like meters and sensors. GE’s Digital Energy business can draw on this security technology for the smart grid to help utility customers alleviate consumer privacy and data security concerns.

Sentient Energy, Burlingame, CA (Intelligent Sensor Technologies)

Sentient develops advanced grid monitoring solutions that consist of modular intelligent monitoring devices and software applications, enabling cost-effective distribution automation. It improves fault location, cause analysis and remediation, grid capacity management, and utility workforce utilization, presenting integration and partnership opportunities for GE Energy’s Digital Energy offerings.

Soladigm, Milpitas, CA (Building Efficiency)

This window technology electronically switches glass from clear to tinted, enabling control of heat and glare. It can reduce energy usage for heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems by 25 percent and reduce the HVAC peak load by 30 percent, an important tool to level demand for the future smart grid infrastructure. With GE’s green homes and green hospitals ecomagination programs, its zero energy home program and other energy efficiency initiatives, there are multiple paths for commercial relationships with the technology.

SustainX, West Lebanon, NH (Energy Storage)

This technology provides isothermal, compressed-air energy storage technology to enable cost effective, grid-scale energy storage. SustainX’s approach has the potential to be less than half the cost of traditional compressed-air energy storage. The technology presents opportunities for collaboration with GE’s Global Research Center and commercial partnership opportunities with GE Energy to commercialize energy storage applications and to enable a higher percentage of renewable power generation in markets like Europe.

SynapSense Corporation, Folsom, CA (Data Center Services)

Using a robust wireless sensor network, SynapSense’s solutions measure and manage the environmental conditions and power usage throughout data centers, resulting in a 10 percent reduction in overall energy consumption for typical, enterprise-class data centers. The technology offers commercial relationship opportunities with GE’s Digital Energy business and its Intelligent Platforms business with its visualization and energy management offerings.

One of the largest initiatives of its kind, the 10-week Challenge attracted 70,000 technologists, students, entrepreneurs and start-ups submitting their best ideas to build the next-generation power grid. The open innovation platform generated nearly 4,000 entries from more than 150 countries. The business evaluation process by GE and its venture capital partners RockPort Capital, Foundation Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Emerald Technology Ventures continues, but the $55 million represents a significant portion of the investment just over four months after the Challenge officially opened.

Proposals were sought in three categories: Renewables, Grid and Eco Homes/Eco Buildings. Candidates for investments and commercial relationships with GE were evaluated by a committee of representatives of GE businesses and the challenge partner firms.

Photo by quapan/flickr/Creative Commons

Reprinted with permission from Sustainable Business

by Joshua S. Hill

Life in the universe can be difficult for inhabited planets, especially when you’re directly in the path of a massive coronal mass ejection (CME) shot out from your own life-sustaining star. Even without a massive network of interconnecting power lines sweeping across the planet, these solar storms can wreak havoc; but add in that same network of power lines and life becomes very tricky.

Theorists have predicted nationwide blackouts with year long delays if such a storm were to hit and be strong enough to blow up transformers. One such storm hit on March 13 of 1989 and damaged transformers in Quebec, New Jersey and Great Britain, and is reported to have caused more than 200 power anomalies across the United States.

Naturally, there is concern.

This concern has led NASA scientists to develop a new project called “Solar Shield,” which is aimed at protecting transformers in the 30 minutes before the solar storm hits.

“Solar Shield is a new and experimental forecasting system for the North American power grid,” explains project leader Antti Pulkkinen, a Catholic University of America research associate working at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “We believe we can zero in on specific transformers and predict which of them are going to be hit hardest by a space weather event.”

How it Works

Solar Shield doesn’t have any of the cool futuristic components that its name suggests it does, but what it does have is just as impressive. “Solar Shield springs into action when we see a coronal mass ejection billowing away from the sun,” explains Pulkkinen. “Images from SOHO and NASA’s twin STEREO spacecraft show us the cloud from as many as three points of view, allowing us to make a 3D model of the CME, and predict when it will arrive.”

A CME takes somewhere between 24 and 48 hours to travel the distance between its ejection point on the Sun and our planet, which gives us plenty of time to model the cloud.

The last 30 minutes before impact are the most important, however. The cloud will sweep past ACE – a spacecraft stationed 1.5 kilometres upstream from Earth – and will take measurements of the CME’s speed, density, and magnetic field, and immediately transmit that data to the Solar Shield team working at Goddard’s Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC).

“We quickly feed the data into CCMC computers,” says Pulkkinen. “Our models predict fields and currents in Earth’s upper atmosphere and propagate these currents down to the ground.”

The team are then able to make predictions based on the information which has been garnered and warn utility companies which transformers need to be taken out of the grid – temporarily – to prevent a lasting blackout. The Future

While Solar Shield has yet to be tested under actual geomagnetic storms and is therefore extremely experimental, the scientists behind the design are hopeful.

“We’d like more power companies to join our research effort,” he adds. “The more data we can collect from the field, the faster we can test and improve Solar Shield.”

Reprinted with permission from Planetsave

by Susan DeFreitas

The smart grid is supposed to save customers money, not cost them more. Customers in Pacific Gas & Electricity’s San Joaquin service, however, have reported a spike in bills around the utility’s deployment of smart meters. A new independent survey of Pacific Gas & Electricity (PG&E) initiated by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) recently took a look at this claim.

The survey, conducted by The Structure Group at the behest of the CPUC, independently tested more than 750 smart meters and 147 electromechanical meters and determined that all of the tested smart meters and systems were working accurately and that customer billing matched the expected results. The problem behind the customer complaints, according to the survey, is not a mechanical error, but a human one–more specifically, PG&E’s lack of a human touch.

In reviewing 1,378 electric smart meter complaints, issues were found with PG&E’s customer service management and best practices. Customer questions regarding smart meters and individual customer usage patterns were apparently not effectively addressed by PG&E–and in some cases, customers experienced multiple canceled bills followed by re-billing, which exacerbated confusion and frustration. Customers also reported a lack of communication and notification from PG&E about their smart meter installation.

This news comes amidst a number of issues with PG&E’s smart meter program, with public concerns ranging from perceived adverse health effects to information disclosure. As utilities in other regions of the country prepare to roll out similar technology, they may be wise to heed the words of California Commissioner Nancy E. Ryan, via a recent statement: ”The Structure report makes clear that the transition to a Smart Grid is not just a technological event. Consumers won’t fully realize the many potential benefits of Smart Meters and other grid upgrades unless utilities and regulators place more emphasis on the human side of the equation,” she said. ”Better communication and customer service will help ensure that consumers see Smart Meters as something that is done for them, not to them.”

Reprinted with permission from EarthTechling

by Jeremy Gross

Our nation’s electricity infrastructure will be upgraded into an efficient, secure, reliable, adaptable machine! But the slow smart grid evolution will be achieved with smaller steps. What does the short term smart grid future look like? Read on for current smart grid trends.

Upgrading our nation’s electricity infrastructure has the potential to reduce costly capital investments (costs that get passed on to us) and increase energy efficiency (more bang for your buck is always appreciated!).

As technology advances and environmental issues rotate into the spotlight of 24 / 7 news coverage and dinner table conversations, smart grid solutions will continue to have a growing impact on our lives. This is especially true as the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that the demand for electricity will increase 30 percent from 2008 to 2035 – or about 1 percent a year.

As discussed in my prior article, Smart Grid 101, the smart grid is a growing component of utility and business strategy. One of the main concepts is that before we continue building just to meet future needs, there are ways to use what we already have more efficiently. For example, the Department of Energy (DOE) estimates that if the grid efficiency increased by 5 percent, we would save enough energy with the same impact of permanently removing the fuel and greenhouse gas emissions from 53 million cars. I did some reading and wanted to recap some information I found, along with some of my own thoughts, regarding some current smart grid trends.

1. Increased Smart Meter Roll Outs

A key component to the smart grid is the smart meter – allowing the two-way communication and measurement of data and power for households and businesses. Utilities will continue to expand their smart meter pilots. I wasn’t able to find updated numbers, but Parks Associates report 33 million smart meters from last summer indicated that smart meters made up 6 percent of all meters in the U.S. This was an increase from 4.7 percent a year earlier.

2. Increased Billing Structure Changes

For the majority of customers, electricity is priced at the same rate without regard to grid demand or the time of consumption. With this structure, customers have less incentive to change behavior during peak or off-peak time. If electricity prices were based on time-of-use, and businesses were empowered with detailed information on how much it actually costs to run devices and processes, they would work to minimize the impact to the bottom line.

Also, demand response opportunities will continue to grow. Demand response is an agreement between customers (mostly businesses, but also households) and the utility to automatically reduce electricity demand when the available supply is restricted in exchange for pricing incentives.

3. Increased Customer Education

Without customer adoption, there will not be any progress! Why should a business adopt smart meters, smart grid services, change operations, etc? Utilities will need to educate businesses by providing energy consumption details and offer clear benefits that show a return on any investments. One possible way to provide education is by promoting energy audits. Energy audits can help a business identify how to reduce energy usage without affecting the business – and smart grid components will play a role in this.

4. Government Action and Policy

With the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA 2009) stimulus package, the smart grid was allocated $4.3 billion. The government will continue awarding the money to smart grid projects. Additionally, as Smart Grid News points out in their Stimulus Toolkit, there are other buckets of ARRA funds that can be used to support smart grid-like initiatives:

- New loan authority for Bonneville Power and Western Area Power Authority for transmission projects ($6.5B)

- Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant ($3.2B)

- Transportation, including electric vehicles ($1.7B)

- Renewable energy loan guarantees ($6B)

- Research in energy efficiency, renewables, batteries and clean fossil energy ($8.4B)

- Broadband Technologies Opportunities Program ($7.2B)

All of these items have government support and will help in securing the nation’s current and future electric infrastructure.

5. Development of Near-term Electric Transportation

Trends in transportation indicate that plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) will continue to play a transforming role in our lives and the smart grid. BMW announced that their electric car, currently called the Mega City Vehicle (MCV), will be offered in 2013. On a shorter time frame, we have the PHEV Chevy Volt (coming November 2010) and the all-electric Nissan Leaf (coming December 2010). And Telsa, the electric vehicle manufacturer founded by PayPal entrepreneur Elon Musk, intends to build a middle-range car by 2012.

Also, CE’s Five Technology Trends To Watch cites a 2006 study by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory which stated an estimated 73 percent of the United States’ current light vehicle fleet (passenger cars, pickup trucks, SUVs, and vans) could be charged without adding new power plants to the current grid. That could save 6.5 million barrels of oil.

6. Closer to Smart Grid Standards

Solidifying standards is important as utilities, equipment manufacturers, and other players look to integrate all of the different pieces of the smart grid puzzle into a common architecture. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) received ARRA funding to help develop a standards framework for smart grid devices and systems. The NIST has indicated the implementation of a testing and certification framework for standards in 2010.

7. Company Pipelines with Smart Grid Products

As standards fall in place and technology evolves, we’ll see an expanding list of products that interact with the smart grid. Everything from dryers and refrigerators to lighting, HVAC, and security systems.

8. Energy Guzzling Industries will Lead Adoption

As one example, the data center and telecommunications industries consume a lot of energy. Energy and cost management is very important. I bet that smart grid applications will be adopted faster with open arms as these businesses will be able to better track and manage their energy usage.

9. Big Name Players Branch into The Smart Grid

Cisco. Google. Microsoft. GE. AT&T. Having household names entering the smart grid game shows the business is no longer just a niche market. These companies are gigantic and need big opportunities to sustain their quarterly numbers over the long term. It also adds a certain level of legitimacy when making the smart grid pitch to potential customers.

Reprinted with permission from Green Economy Post

by Elisa Wood

And now for a dose of reality.

No doubt smart meters are a good thing, but even their most ardent fans must admit that a degree of hoopla surrounds these little digital boxes. We hear that if consumers can just see how much power they use in real time, and what it costs, our energy woes will be no more.

Smart meters will even cure the blind. The energy blind that is.

“It can be difficult to separate the hype from legitimate claims,” said the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy in a new report that evaluates what works – and what doesn’t – when it comes to smart meters.

ACEEE points out that we no longer load the stove with coal and wood for our primary energy. Instead, gas and electricity flow unseen to take care of our needs. Since we see only a monthly bill, we have no idea what energy costs in real time, how much we use, or even the acceptable social norm for energy consumption.

Thus, most people in the US are “among the energy blind,” says the report. Asking us to save energy based on our monthly bills alone is like asking a dieter to lose weight without a scale. “Perhaps it can be done, but the task is a lot more difficult,” the report says.

But seeing how much energy we use is one thing; acting on it another. Smart meters will not do their job if we rely on the technology alone. The consumer needs good reason to act, according to ACEEE.

These findings are important because the US and other nations are making a huge investment in smart grid technology. Smart meters represented only about 4.7 percent of US household meters in 2008. But their market share is expected to grow to 40 percent over the next five to seven years, according to the report.

The report looked at 57 studies, three decades of research in Europe, North America, Australia and Japan, and found that smart meters can be effective. In fact, households using them have reduced electricity use 4 percent to 12 percent.

But much depends on how the meters present information and feedback and how we respond. Ultimately, the smartness of smart meters relies on utilities understanding human psychology.

The report offers several interesting insights about our energy behaviour. For example:

- We are less apt to respond to programs that focus on reducing energy at specific times (peak periods when costs are high) than reducing energy all the time.

- We need to feel our actions truly make a difference.

- An energy crisis is more likely to motivate us to conserve than arguments about climate change, especially if we live in the US.

- Smart meters may be unnecessary. We like our cell phones, and if only 20 percent of US consumers used them to manage household energy use, we could significantly reduce energy waste.

- We need feedback on a long-term basis to continue to save energy.

- When we receive feedback on energy use, we tend to change our habits and make small changes like installing weather stripping. To a lesser degree, we replace appliances, although they offer the most energy savings.

There has been a lot of talk about how smart grid will marry two giant industries: energy and information technology. True. But the ACEEE study makes apparent that a third field needs to play a big role: behavioural science.

“The bottom line here is very simple: Smart meters in and of themselves are just not ‘smart’ enough to get the job done for consumers and our economy. While advanced metering provides a useful tool to save energy, cut consumer electric bills and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, utilities need to use these advanced meters to provide consumers with information on their consumption in ways that grab consumers attention and encourage them to take action,” said John “Skip” Laitner, ACEEE’s director of economic and social analysis.

Elisa Wood is a long-time energy writer whose work appears in many of the industry’s top magazines and newsletters. She is publisher of the Energy Efficiency Markets podcast and newsletter.

Reprinted with permission from Cleantechies

by Deborah Warner

Today’s utilities face unprecedented challenges to improve performance and efficiency at a time when infrastructure costs are up, energy consumption is down and regulatory policy is uncertain.

Utilities are looking for low investment solutions that are easy to deploy and deliver fast, measurable results. That’s the market need that Verizon and CURRENT Group are looking to solve with their new joint smart grid offering.

By combining intelligent distributed sensing from CURRENT Group with an Internet Protocol-based solution from Verizon, the joint solution enables real-time power consumption and analysis communications between electric companies and sensors deployed on their networks.

The solution will help improve efficiency and reliability of the electric distribution grid, allowing electric utilities adopt smart grid capabilities more quickly.

The two companies will leverage their core capabilities to deliver a joint smart grid solution. Verizon will provide the underlying wireless and IP network services, managed network and security services, and advanced IT security consulting services to help electric companies identify and mitigate risks to critical cyber assets, including data, applications, IT systems and networks.

CURRENT will provide its intelligent sensors, which monitor distribution grid performance; its OpenGrid utility element management system; and its System Optimization and Reliability analytical software solutions.

Spokespersons for the joint partnership believe that providing utilities with a turn-key package of essential ingredients will jump-start power industry efforts to employ smart grid technologies in their day-to-day business operations. They say it will help electric utilities speed integration of renewable energy sources, improve overall grid operations, and realize a secure, IP-enabled smart grid.

The relationship between Verizon and CURRENT leverages the extensive experience of both companies to deliver key building blocks for an IP-enabled smart grid. Specifically, the ability for electric utilities to process information securely, reliably and more quickly will be central to making production, distribution and consumption more efficient.

The new offering is immediately available and designed for simple and speedy implementation. Electric companies can adopt the solution on a substation-by-substation, application-by-application or enterprise-wide basis.

Reprinted with permission from GreenTech TV

Change to current operating practices would allow the US power grid to integrate significant amounts of wind and solar power without extensive additional infrastructure, according to a new report by DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

The Western Wind and Solar Integration Study examines the benefits and challenges of integrating enough wind and solar energy capacity into the grid to produce 35 percent of its electricity by 2017. The study finds that this target is technically feasible and does not necessitate extensive additional infrastructure, but does require key changes to current operational practice.

The results offer a first look at the issue of adding significant amount of variable renewable energy in the West and will help utilities across the region plan how to ramp up their production of renewable energy as they incorporate more wind and solar energy plants into the power grid.

The study focuses on the operational impacts of wind, photovoltaics, and concentrating solar power on the power system operated by the WestConnect group of utilities in the mountain and southwest states.

Though wind and solar output vary over time, the technical analysis performed in this study shows that it is operationally possible to accommodate 30 percent wind and 5 percent solar energy penetration. To accomplish such an increase, utilities will have to substantially increase their coordination of operations over wider geographic areas and schedule their generation deliveries, or sales, on a more frequent basis. Currently generators provide a schedule for a specific amount of power they will provide in the next hour. More frequent scheduling would allow generators to adjust that amount of power based on changes in system conditions such as increases or decreases in wind or solar generation.

“When you coordinate the operations between utilities across a large geographic area, you decrease the effect of the variability of wind and solar energy sources, mitigating the unpredictability of Mother Nature,” Dr. Debra Lew, NREL project manager for the study, said.

The study also finds that if utilities generate 27 percent of their electricity from wind and solar energy across the Western Interconnection grid, it would lower carbon emissions by 25 percent to 45 percent. It would also decrease fuel and emissions costs by 40 percent, depending on the future price of natural gas.

Other key findings from the study include:

- Existing transmission capacity can be more fully utilized to reduce the amount of new transmission that needs to be built.

- To facilitate the integration of wind and solar energy, coordinating the operations of utilities can provide substantial savings by reducing the need for additional back-up generation, such as natural gas-burning plants.

- Use of wind and solar forecasts in utility operations to predict when and where it will be windy and sunny is essential for cost-effectively integrating these renewable energy sources.

The study was undertaken by a team of wind, solar and power systems experts across both the private and public sectors. The study complements the recently released Eastern Wind Integration and Transmission Study, which examines the feasibility of integrating up to 30 percent wind in the eastern states.

The study can be downloaded at the link below.

Website: www.nrel.gov/wwsis

Reprinted with permission from Sustainable Business

GE (NYSE: GE) and Nissan (NSANF.PK) signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to explore new technologies for electric vehicle smart-charging infrastructure.

GE and Nissan have outlined two key areas for potential collaborations. The first relates to the integration of electric vehicles with homes and buildings. The second focuses on electric vehicle charging dynamics with the larger electric grid. In coming months, GE and Nissan plan to identify specific projects they can partner on in each of these areas.

Much of the GE work will be conducted at GE’s global research operations located in Niskayuna, New York, where the latest electric transportation research and smart grid technology will facilitate the collaboration. Nissan will participate mainly through it Nissan Technical Center North America, located in Farmington Hills, Michigan, with support by the Nissan Advanced Technology Center in Japan.

Nissan's all-electric, zero-emission Nissan LEAF is scheduled to launch later this year in Japan, the United States and Europe. Nissan--like Mitsubishi Motors (MMO.F)--has gone "all in" on its electric car initiative, rather than developing its own hybrid or plug-in hybrid technology. But it is yet to be seen, whether consumers will prefer all-electric models or plug-in hybrids, that have the option of burning gasoline for extended driving.

The creation of convenient, reliable charging infrastructures is key to widespread public adoption. Nissan, more than any other car company, is developing collaborative projects to create charging systems. These systems, such as the DOE-funded project led by Ecotality (OTCBB: ETLE), are being designed with open standards, so that any brand of vehicle can be juiced up, but Nissan looks to have the head start on its all-electric competitors.

In January the company closed a $1.4 billion loan agreement with the DOE to retool its manufacturing facility in Smyrna, Tennesse to produce the Nissan Leaf and battery systems.

Reprinted with permission from Sustainable Business

GE (NYSE: GE) announced plans to open a new smart grid technology center in Atlanta, Georgia that is expected to create 400 cleantech jobs over the next three years.

The center will combine the world headquarters for GE’s Digital Energy business, a smart grid engineering laboratory and a smart grid customer solutions showcase.

GE said funding from the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 will be used to help train the center's workforce.

The smart grid lab features collaboration between GE and the Georgia Institute of Technology. The partnership will work to develop and test new smart grid technologies that can help improve the efficiency, reliability and environmental impact of energy transmission, distribution and consumption--from integrating more renewable energy sources, like wind and solar, to lowering the peak power demand that lowers the need for new power plants, to improving the ways consumers manage their power usage.

The smart grid customer solutions showcase will feature hands-on interactive displays that can help visitors from throughout the world understand the challenges and opportunities inherent in delivering electricity over the power grid. Visitors will see how changes in the ways power is generated, delivered and consumed can improve the ways they live--from plug-in car charging and home energy management to renewable generation and automated grid communications networks. The showcase also will feature in-depth demonstrations to help educate grid engineers about the proven energy-saving solutions available.

GE will move into the new headquarters in July, and the customer showcase is scheduled to open in September.

Utility Solar Study

In a separate announcement, GE said its solar researchers are working with Arizona Public Service, the state’s largest electric utility, to understand how large amounts of solar power can best be integrated into today’s grid. APS, along with four partners, including GE, recently was awarded a $3.3 million High Penetration Solar Deployment grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The first-of-its-kind study, which was approved earlier this month by the Arizona Corporation Commission, will take place in Flagstaff, Arizona. The team will help identify methods and technologies to optimize grid reliability and efficiency with the high concentration of distributed solar generation.

Kathleen O’Brien, Project Leader for GE, said to date most solar research has focued on new cell developments and cost improvements, but learning how to reliably integrate higher penetrations of solar power is equally important.

The utility plans to integrate 1.5 MW of solar power on a single “feeder”, or energy distribution area. Approximately 600 kilowatts will come from residential photovoltaic rooftop installations; 400 kilowatts will be generated from installations on commercial business properties; and 500 kilowatts will be incorporated from a utility-scale solar park installation.

GE’s solar inverter will be used by the utility to handle power conversion from the utility-scale solar installation. This inverter was built from the same platform of power electronics, monitoring and controls that GE uses to enhance wind energy grid integration. GE said the inverter was developed to make solar plants “smarter,” coordinating the components of a large-scale installation to behave similar to a conventional power plant.

In addition to providing the solar inverter, GE researchers will be collecting data and doing power systems analysis on how the large influx of solar into this distribution network impacts the grid.

GE researchers will be collecting and analyzing data over the next couple of years, with a full report to be completed by 2013.

Reprinted with permission from Sustainable Business