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The complexity of the energy industry. The article notes that according to Oracle's "Smart Grid Challenges & Choices, Part 2: North American Utility Executives' Vision and Priorities" study, utilities that have implemented pilot programs or system-wide s

The September/October issue of Electric Energy T&D includes the following interview with Oracle Utilities' Rodger Smith on the future of the smart grid and improving operational efficiency and customer service with big data and analytics.

Highlighting that a network of public charging stations for electric vehicles has been installed across Portugal by Oracle and Portuguese not-for-profit company Inteli. The article notes that the Portuguese project, known as MOBI.E, incorporates Oracle's Customer Care and Billing service, enabling monthly flat rate and time-of-day rating of electricity consumption, network usage and/or additional charging such as parking, roaming between electric vehicle (EV) operators and energy retailers. The article also includes comments from Bastian Fischer, vice president, Oracle Utilities, EMEA noted that with an estimated 800 million motor vehicles on the road worldwide, e-mobility solutions are crucial to meet the European Union's target to reduce carbon emissions by 20 percent by 2020.

Highlighting that Oracle Utilities sees Africa as a strong smart grid market. The article notes that in South Africa, smart grids will enable better electricity management as power generation becomes more decentralized through greater use of renewable energy. The article includes comments from Bastian Fischer, vice-president and general manager, Oracle Utilities, EMEA noting that smart grids enable utilities to align the consumption of more volatile and less predictable renewable energies.

Highlighting that the Department of Energy chose Oracle software in its deployment of an integrated reporting system that will manage some of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding. The article notes that the software utilized includes Oracle

Highlighting that U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has deployed Oracle Business Intelligence, Oracle Financials, Oracle's PeopleSoft Enterprise Human Resources, Oracle Portal, Oracle WebCenter Suite, Oracle Beehive and Oracle's Primavera Enterprise Project

Highlighting that Oracle released Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management 2.0 to help utilities manage customer energy and water consumption data gathered from smart meter deployments. The article notes that Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management 2.0 feat

Highlighting that Lakeland Electric chose Oracle solutions to help manage the vast quantity of customer energy consumption data that it will gather from a deployment of 125,000 smart electric meters. The article notes that Lakeland Electric plans to use

Highlighting that CURRENT Group is teaming with Oracle to further improve the efficiency and reliability of the distribution grid. The article notes that the partnership enables utilities to conserve energy, improve efficiency and reduce outages.

Highlighting that GE Energy announced the release of the Smallworld Enterprise Gateway solution. This article notes that GE's new software product enables users of GE's geospatial solutions to directly use Smallworld data for applications operating on Or

Highlighting the future of demand response and energy efficiency and how it may be dependent on the quality of the interface we build between the customer, utility and the grid. The article includes insights from the "Reaching the End Users - Revolutioni

The Dec. 6 edition of Smart Grid News includes the following article about how an increasing proportion of consumers over the next ten years will be "digital natives" - a generation of consumers who have grown up in a world with constant Internet and smart phone availability. The article notes that this demographic shift will change the way customers access information and monitor their usage of scare water and energy resources. The article includes comments from Oracle Utilities' Rodger Smith suggesting that the transformation of customer engagement from a reactive approach to a proactive one has already begun, noting that technologies are offering utilities the opportunity to have better relationships with their customers.

Article highlighting that Oracle has released a new study, "Water for All?," which offers insight into water utility executives' perceptions of national water demand risks. The article notes that 30 percent of the senior water utility executives surveyed believe it is highly likely and another 54 percent believe it is moderately likely that national water demand will outstrip supply due to increasing populations and changing environments. The article discusses that the study found the biggest threats to water supply is wasteful consumer behavior, climate change and low tariffs that fail to stimulate greater investment, respectively, and that these challenges are prompting technology innovations, such as desalination, network sensors and smart meters that help moderate demand and resolve issues efficiently, to make their way into the water industry.

The Aug. 15 edition of GreenTechMedia includes the following article discussing the future of the smart grid. The article highlights smart grid expert Andres Carvallo's presentation from The Soft Grid 2012 conference, and notes his comments regarding utilities' adoption of cloud computing and the utility "big data" challenge. The article mentions that Austin Energy is working on with Oracle on an IT-based project. The article also includes a comment from Oracle Utilities' Linda Jackman noting that utilities have their own reasons to keep as much of their IT work in-house as possible, but investor-owned utilities in particular are under pressure to spend on IT capital expenses, which they can recover in rate cases, rather than on operational expenses like cloud services that do not offer such guaranteed payback.

Highlighting that Inteli is working with Oracle to install 1,300 slow charging stations and 50 fast charging stations as part of Portugal's MOBI-E vehicle electrification project. The article notes that with Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing, utilities like Inteli can benefit from insight into energy usage and patterns which will be delivered by the charging stations, enabling utilities to tailor services accordingly, and increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty. The article also includes comments from Bastian Fischer, vice president of industry strategy, Oracle Utilities noting that utilities, electric vehicle operators and electric vehicle charging service providers are advised to implement customer care and billing solutions in order to address the anticipated electricity flow as the number of electric vehicles increase, as well as tackling scenarios in which electric vehicle batteries feed electricity back into the distribution network.