Norcross, GA, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- February 5, 2013 - American consumers increasingly want a single location to manage their energy efficiency and demand response efforts, and there is also a growing desire to access energy-related information online, a recent survey by Comverge, Inc. has found.

The survey, which was based on interviews with more than 1,000 adults in early January 2013, highlights a growing appetite for utilities to further engage customers and provide better tools to manage energy use, according to Comverge.

Arnhem, the Netherlands --- (METERING.COM) --- February 5, 2013 - A new strategic research unit focused exclusively on the further development of smart grids and super grids is to be opened by DNV at DNV KEMA’s global headquarters in Arnhem, the Netherlands.

As the world prepares for an energy transition towards the low carbon economy, the share of renewables in the fuel mix is expected to grow strongly over the next decades. Smart grids and super grids are key elements and a prerequisite to integrate such large scale renewable energy in the future energy system.

Brussels, Belgium --- (METERING.COM) --- February 4, 2013 - Europe’s standardization organizations CEN, CENELEC and ETSI have recently completed a first set of standards enabling or supporting the deployment of smart grid systems in Europe.

In all, the first set of standards includes about 24 types of smart grid systems, with more than 400 standard references coming from more than 50 different bodies. In addition, it also indicates the standardization work which may have started, stating the user impact (use case) this may have in a near future, in order to fill the identified gaps.

New York, NY, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- February 4, 2013 - The long range objectives for the modernization of New York State’s grid have been set out in a new white paper from the New York State Smart Grid Consortium (NYSSGC).

Completed in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the white paper seeks not only to address the environmental challenges of reducing CO2 emissions and increasing the supply of renewable energy generation, but also to make the grid more resilient to such extreme events.

Holden, MA, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- February 4, 2013 - The Universal Plastic Meter Socket Cover offering a high level of security for use when the electric meter is removed has been introduced by Inner-Tite Corp.

The unique design fits both ring style and ringless style meter sockets,and features a deep dish security ridge that provides enhanced protection against common tampering and removal techniques.

Washington, DC, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- February 1, 2013 - The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability has released four new reports reviewing the impacts to date of the projects funded under the Smart Grid Investment Grant (SGIG) program.

These are in the areas of demand reduction, operations and maintenance savings, reliability improvements, and application of automated controls.

Concord, MA and San Jose, CA, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- February 1, 2013 - Concord Municipal Light Plant (CMLP), a municipal utility responsible for electric service to the town of Concord, Massachusetts, has successfully completed a trial of Echelon’s Edge Control Node (ECN) 7000 control node.

The pilot demonstrated valuable applications and set the foundation for CMLP’s continued exploration of additional smart grid functionality such as transformer monitoring, power quality monitoring, and more.

San Diego, CA, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- February 1, 2013 - An advanced power quality monitoring solution is available integrating ABB’s DistribuSense current and voltage sensors with Ambient Corporation’s AmbientPQM solution.

The integrated product is a combination of hardware and software, Ambient Smart Grid Communications Nodes enabled with AmbientPQM, that enhances the ABB DistribuSense offering by adding local intelligence, management, communications, and alarm reporting at the location of the sensors.

Austin, TX, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- January 31, 2013 - Smart grid venture capital funding in Q4 2012 came in at $69 million in 10 deals, bringing the total for the year to $434 million in 40 deals, according to Mercom Capital Group’ latest quarterly update and annual review.

Rome, Italy --- (METERING.COM) --- January 31, 2013 - The ADVANCED (Active Demand Value ANd Consumers Experiences Discovery) project was launched in Europe in December 2012,with the aim to stimulate the wider scale deployment of active demand and the harnessing of its benefits in the region.

Active demand has the potential to contribute to solving the challenges of electricity systems and offers significant benefits to consumers. It is considered one of the largest untapped energy resources, mainly because of insufficient consumer awareness regarding their own energy consumption and the benefits of altering it in line with the network constraints. There is also a lack of insight into active demand behavioral barriers and lack of availability of best practices for active demand design.

San Diego, CA, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- January 31, 2013 - Oracle Utilities has announced the completion of several projects as well as some new ones in the United States and Japan.

Among the implementations,Atlanta-based Red Clay Consulting and Oracle have completed implementation of Red Clay’s meter-to-cash MDM solution Smart Grid ONE (SG1) powered by Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management at Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC). Notably the implementation went live in less than six months.

Montpelier, VT, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- January 30, 2013 - Vermont has become the latest U.S. state to investigate the radio frequency effects of smart meters, finding, like other studies, that the actual exposure levels are only a fraction of the maximum permissible exposures (MPE) set by the FCC.

But while several previous studies, such as the recent review from Texas, have been based on the published literature, the Vermont study is based on RF measurements of meters that have been deployed in the state. In total measurements were made at no less than 37 different locations in two different service territories, including 18 residential sites, six banks of smart meters (four of which were on residences), two data collection points, one isolated meter and 14 general environmental measurement sites – and they included meters from both Elster and Itron (in the Green Mountain Power and Burlington Electric Department service areas respectively).

Brussels, Belgium --- (METERING.COM) --- January 30, 2013 - As part of an initiative to ensure that their standardization needs are met and to support the ongoing standardization process, Europe’s distribution grid operators (DSOs) have released a paper setting out their priorities for smart grid standardization.

The paper, published by Eurelectric and EDSO for Smart Grids, identifies the main application areas for the DSOs as peak demand management, grid optimization and power quality management, and the connection of renewables and other types of energy resources to the distribution grid.

Liberty Lake, WA, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- January 30, 2013 - The CENTRON® Bridge meter has been released by Itron, with the aim to bridge communication architectures to enable seamless migration from automated meter reading (AMR) to smart grid communications.

The meter may be incorporated alongside existing Itron electric meters with a mobile collection system, delivering advanced metering benefits associated with interval data, remote service switch operations and demand reset capabilities. When a utility is ready, the Bridge meter can easily migrate from Itron’s mobile collection system to its OpenWay® smart grid solution that is compatible with Itron and Cisco’s IPv6 communication network, offering demand response and distribution automation benefits.

Google has given a $2.65 million grant through its philanthropic arm google.org to the Energy Foundation “to support policy reforms that will lead to more intelligent energy use,” the company’s senior policy counsel, Energy & Sustainability, Michael Terrell, announced in a recent blog post.

London, England and New York, NY, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- January 28, 2013 - Utility spending globally on smart grid technologies reached $13.9billion in 2012, up 7 percent on the previous year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Further, the company expects just over 10 percent compound annual growth for the next five years, nearly doubling the market to $25.2billion per annum by 2018.

Bath, U.K. --- (METERING.COM) --- January 28, 2013 - Southwest England water supplier Wessex Water has launched a trial to engage customers at both individual and community levels to build customer support while also encouraging water efficiency.

The trial, the first of its kind in the U.K. according to the company, will involve about 1,000 customers, including residential customers, local businesses and schools.

London, England --- (METERING.COM) --- January 28, 2013 - The LE70-868 point-to-point, startopology shortrange wireless module for the European multi-kilometer range wired-to-wireless network migration market has been introduced by Telit Wireless Solutions.