Sustainable Energy's feed | Diigo Group

IBM to prime pump for smart-grid start-ups | Green Tech - CNET News.com

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:51:53 -0000

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

The idea is to create a common set of communication protocols and data formats that utilities and smart-grid start-ups can adhere to.

The benefit of a more intelligent infrastructure is that load can be curtailed as needed and problems spotted more quickly. By flattening out spikes in demand, utilities may not need to build new power plants, which are expensive and opposed in some places for environmental and health reasons.

Tags: demand management electricity smartgrids storage

Posted by: keulenae

Navigant Consutling Launches Renewable Energy Multi-Client Study: The Convergence of the Smart Grid with Photovoltaics (PV)

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:33:34 -0000

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

Navigant Consulting, Inc. (NYSE: NCI) today announced the launch of a major multi-client study on the convergence of the Smart Grid with Photovoltaics (PV). This comprehensive and focused study is helping the eighteen participating organizations identify the key technology components of a PV Smart Grid; understand how the Smart Grid could create additional value for distributed PV; gain insight to the implications for utilities; and identify trends and valuable market opportunities.

Tags: navigant photovoltaics projects smartgrids watch

Posted by: keulenae

EU Energy Law Newsletter

Fri, 09 May 2008 07:53:34 -0000

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

In summary, the Committee voted overwhelmingly 31-17 yesterday evening to approve the Commission's proposed electricity Directive, but has proposed amendments on the following key issues

Tags: energy.poverty eu europe liberalisation metering parliament smartgrids

Posted by: keulenae

Focus on European Smart Grids

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 21:07:16 -0000

Tags: smartgrids

Posted by: ggarcia

GridWise trial finds 'smart grids' cut electricity bills | Green Tech blog - CNET News.com

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 16:44:34 -0000

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

Results from a year-long study on high-tech electricity meters found smart grid technology performed as intended, saving consumers about 10 percent on their bills while easing strain on the power grid.

Tags: costs electricity gridwise smartgrids usa

Posted by: keulenae

Cleantech Blog: Smart Grids and Electric Vehicles

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 09:22:15 -0000

Comments:

Well ... time will tell whether plug-in hybrids will be a "licence to print money scheme" or a technology to balance the grid. Because there is a reason for the peak - we all use energy according to the same pattern, driven by day-night, office hours and schools. posted by keulenae

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

In the future, utilities will pay you to plug-in your vehicle. Millions will plug-in their electric vehicles (EV), plug-in hybrids (PHEV) and fuel cell vehicles (FCV) at night when electricity is cheap, then plug-in during the day when energy is expensive and sell those extra electrons at a profit. Vehicle to Grid (V2G) technology is a bi-directional electric grid interface that allows a plug-in to take energy from the grid or put it back on the grid.

Tags: electric vehicles smartgrids

Posted by: bennett

Electric grid meets Web 2.0, savings results

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 12:49:13 -0000

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

The Department of Energy has just wrapped up a fascinating experiment in Washington State in which it provided both homeowners and their appliances with tools that can sense stress on the power grid. Homeowners who made use of the tools saved money—approximately 10 percent on their electric bills—and the grid was more stable, too.

Tags: costs demand side management distribution economics real-time.pricing responsive.load smartgrids

Posted by: keulenae

IEEE Spectrum: Can plug-in hybrid electric vehicles keep the electric grid stable?

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 11:54:53 -0000

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

After safety, the longevity of the batteries in a plug-in hybrid is the greatest unknown. Can a plug-in hybrid’s battery pack retain the bulk of its energy capacity over 10 years of daily use and more than 4000 full-discharge cycles? (For a deeper look at the challenges facing plug-in hybrid batteries, see “Lithium Batteries Take to the Road”.)[ LINK: http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/sep07/5490 ] As Don Hillebrand of Argonne National Laboratory, in Illinois, said tartly, “Batteries are the showstopper.”

Periodic demands from the grid, even for only a small fraction of the battery’s stored energy, would clearly affect the cells’ life span—but no one has data on how much. Another open issue is the development of creative financing models for replacement battery packs costing several thousand U.S. dollars even after mass production is achieved.

Third-party battery leasing could be one answer, if combined with a secondary market for batteries whose performance has fallen below automotive levels. Carmakers, electric utilities, and large consumer-financing groups are quietly batting around these notions to see if they can build a financial model that makes sense for all three parties.

Tags: plug-in hybrids smartgrids storage usa

Posted by: keulenae