The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has announced the publication of ANSI/CEA-2045, a new United States national standard that specifies a modular communications interface (MCI) for energy management signals and messages exchanged among devices in a home and the smart-grid system.

BPL Global (BPLG) has introduced its next generation Connected Energy Substation Automation solution, which enables substations to act as an intelligent hub within the broader smart grid. The solution delivers improved grid reliability, better asset management, and reduced maintenance costs through the integration of data from discrete substation systems and visualization for management and control of substation assets.

Chicago’s Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), which represents downtown office landlords, has announced plans to finance its own unprecedented smart meter program to reduce power consumption in large office buildings such as the John Hancock Center and Willis Tower (formerly known as Sears Tower).

The Energy Information Standards (EIS) Alliance, which was established to develop a common framework for customer equipment to use, generate, and communicate energy data, has begun work on resolving interoperability issues between different manufacturers' Home Energy Management products, and between those products and the smart grid.

TenneT has awarded Alstom a contract for the DolWin3 offshore project, which connects North Sea wind farms to the mainland grid. The project is valued at more than one billion euros and is scheduled to be completed in 2017.

Western Power Distribution (WPD) has selected Airspan to supply a WIGRID broadband wireless access solution for a government funded pilot of a low carbon smart grid network. Airspan’s AirSynergy 2000 pico base station will provide secure high bandwidth wireless connections between primary and secondary power grid sub-stations in and around Milton Keynes, UK. Airspan also reports, “A hierarchical wireless architecture is being adopted whereby AirSynergy 2000 base stations deliver WiGRID M2M access with integrated iBridge wireless backhaul.”

Itron has announced that the Las Vegas Valley Water District (LVVWD), has selected the company’s automated metering solution to improve operational efficiency and streamline meter reading. The project is expected to be installed over the next five years.

The UK Government is supporting the Office of the Gas and Electricity Markets’ (Ofgem) move to a simpler and fairer energy market.  Prime Minister David Cameron notes, “Even in these tough times when we’re having to take the difficult decisions needed to fix our economy, we’re doing everything we can to help hardworking people and families. That’s why I made a personal commitment to help get energy bills down—and I’m delighted that Ofgem are taking that forward. The package announced today is a huge step towards energy bills that are more fair for everyone. This is about putting people before profits. It’s about pensioners being better able to heat their homes in winter, and families better able to cope when the bills arrive.”

Fortum’s Russian subsidiary OAO Fortum was awarded the grand prize in two categories in the annual Golden Kilowatt competition, which primarily targets energy companies in the Urals and West Siberia. The Golden Kilowatt is the first competition to recognize energy industry achievements in Russia and is presented by the Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Urals Federal District.

Itron has appointed Lynda Ziegler to its board of directors. Ziegler, with more than 30 years of experience in the energy industry, Ziegler most recently served as executive vice president of power delivery services at Southern California Edison (SCE).

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has selected Itron’s Automated Meter Reading (AMR) solution for a project in Pakistan, which will provide services for the USAID’s Power Distribution Program. The AMR solution will help Pakistan power distribution companies improve energy efficiency, manage supply and demand, and reduce losses on the network.

MERALCO has selected GE as the systems integrator for the Philippine utility’s s new advanced metering infrastructure integrated solution (AMIIS) project. The contract represents GE’s first AMIIS order in the Asia-Pacific region, which will enable MERALCO to offer prepaid retail electric service.

Despite the much publicized battery problems experienced by Boeing in its new 787, a new report by Frost & Sullivan expects the global lithium-ion battery market to be in excess of $20 billion by 2016. The report notes that although consumer applications account for the highest revenues, the fastest growth is seen in the industrial segment.