Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and the California Energy Commission (CEC) has unveiled a new pilot project to test out technology that is designed to better balance the power needs of the electric grid. The project was made possible thanks to a $3.3 million grant from the CEC to PG&E that will help fund the system’s installation and evaluation.

The Scottish Government has approved Aquamarine Power to develop the world’s largest commercial wave farm off the country’s northwest coast. Aquamarine subsidiary Lewis Wave Power will begin installing Oyster wave energy machines once grid infrastructure has been put in place, a process expected to take a couple of years.

Smart-Grid.TMCnet.com has named EnerNOC’s DemandSMART winner of the 2012 Smart Grid Product of the Year award. Gregg Dixon, EnerNOC senior vice president of marketing and sales says, “As a result of continued innovation, demand response has become a dynamic resource that is increasingly important to the efficient and reliable operation of electric power grids around the world. Today, DemandSMART enables sub-second control of energy consumption and production in diverse operating environments, along with robust measurement and verification features, on a fully internationalized platform. We’re honored to receive this recognition for the outstanding technology developed by our world-class engineers.”

Corey Sinclair, FortisBC manager of regulatory affairs, says the idea that the company would risk the health of its customers is “preposterous. The suggestions of something nefarious have been a bit much.”

  A New York State bill supporting the use of real time pricing smart metering for residential consumers has passed the Finance Committee and is scheduled for a vote. Introduced by New York State Senator Kevin Parker, Bill 1642A says deploying smart meters enables consumers will be able to make informed decisions about their energy use.

E.ON has selected TOA Technologies’ ETAdirect field service management solution for its smart meter roll-out. E.ON expects to replace eight million meters by 2020.

The Illinois State Senate has overridden Governor Pat Quinn’s veto on Senate Bill 9, which denied utilities the right to raise rates to pay for smart grid implementation. The Illinois House of representatives also needs to vote to override the governor’s veto for the measure to become law, but the original bill passed by a large majority so passage is expected.

Itron has signed a five-year contract with British Gas to provide a full suite of services including B2B customer support call centre, prepayment vending transaction management, meter data management, data reporting, technical support, and consulting services.

The United States Federal Smart Grid Task Force has invited Smart Utility Systems (SUS) to make a presentation on its Smart Customer Mobile in Washington D.C.. Ken Roberts, SUS Director of Sales and Marketing  and Lance Brown, SUS VP of Customer Services Solutions will discuss how SCM - Smart Customer Mobile is beneficial for demand response, energy efficiency, smart home, customer energy management, two-way customer communication platform for outages, and service notification.

The UK and Scottish Governments have published a report that found both significant potential benefits to developing renewables on the Scottish Islands and downsides; specifically the considerable costs.

  Endesa reports it has replaced 30 percent of traditional meters at Spanish residences, and has installed more than 3.5 million smart meters, making it the country’s leader in remote management.

  The Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) are collaborating to find out whether businesses, experts and individuals believe being part of the European Union helps or hinders their work on the environment and climate change and what impact EU policies have on the UK.

Duck River Electric Membership Corporation (DREMC) is upgrading their smart grid infrastructure by implementing advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), smart grid meter data management, and other smart grid applications from AT&T.

REpower Systems has signed a contract with Burgerwindpark im Kirchspiel Medelby for 27 wind turbines for four projects totaling approximately EUR 90 million.

According to a new study by Siemens, Europe could save €45 billion by 2030 if renewable energy installations were built on sites that offer the highest power yields.

New research shows that almost half of Britain’s small business owners remain optimistic about the country’s economic fortunes, but 75 percent say red tape and regulations are putting their futures at risk.

NetComm Wireless has been selected to supply the 3G communications component for the mandatory statewide rollout of smart meters in Victoria. Singapore owned SP AusNet will manage the replacement of existing mechanical meters with digital smart meters across northern and eastern Victoria.

  Scotland has opened Europe’s first state of the art electricity grid research centre and test facility, which is designed to investigate how advanced technologies can response to the growing demand for secure, reliable, and environmentally-friendly power while shaping tomorrow’s low-carbon power industry.

Itron has formed a strategic alliance with Brazilian technology company Choice. The deal calls for the companies to integrate and jointly market a non-technical loss (NTL) solution, focusing particularly on Brazilian utilities although the product will be marketed globally. The goal is to develop a solution that enables utilities to quickly identify areas of NTL in their service territory so they can deliver a high return on investment.

The Wi-SUN Alliance now has more than 30 member companies. Recent additions as Contributor members include Access Company, CM Engineering, Exegin Technologies, ISB Corporation, Osaka Gas, Rohde & Schwartz, Semtech, Silicon Laboratories, Tateyama Kagaku Wireless Technology, Tessera Technology, and Toshiba Corporation.