ABB has secured a $25 million deal to supply electrical and control systems for a new 75 megawatt (MW) photovoltaic (PV) power plant in South Africa’s Northern Cape province. The plant is owned by construction company WBHO and Building Energy, an Italian renewable energy developer.

The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority was honored for the Best Smart Infrastructure during the Expanding Excellence Awards, which are presented to utilities that have successfully completed a project during 2011 or 2012 that “optimized an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), meter data management (MDM) or other related technologies. These awards are presented based on complexity, innovation, improved operations, and improvement to customer service.”

  The Kingdom of Bahrain Electricity and Water Authority (EWA) has announced a dramatic IT system overhaul as part of the country’s long-term goal of developing efficient energy management. In what is the Kingdom’s largest ever utility-based IT project, EWA upgrade includes automating key operational processes, initiating changes in customer service, and improving overall performance in keeping with Bahrain’s 2030 economic vision.  

  The United States Department of Energy and the Denali Commission have announced that five Alaska Native communities will receive technical assistance through the Strategic Technical Assistance Response Team (START) program designed to promote local clean energy and energy efficiency projects that advance energy self-sufficiency.

The Natural Sciences and Research Council of Canada (NSERC) has established the Smart Net-zero Energy Buildings Strategic Network (SNEBRN), a nationwide university initiative headquartered at Concordia that recently received $1 million in new funding from Natural Resources Canada (NRCan).

Opower is collaborating with National Grid Rhode Island to deliver the Home Energy Report program to all 425,000 residential customers. The program is designed to provide tips and insight consumers need to compare their energy usage to their neighbors and find ways to reduce consumption and lower their energy bills. National Grid is the first utility to provide the program statewide.

Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) has confirmed that E.ON has completed all aspects of the CERT and CESP energy efficiency obligations.

Florida Power & Light (FPL) Company reports that it has established one of the United States’ first full-scale smart grids, networking 4.5 million smart meters and more than 10,000 other devices in its 35 country service area.

  The National Grid is requiring all new appliances be fitted with sensors that enable utilities to shut them down during period of ultra high demand. These smart appliances affected include refrigerators, freezers, electric ovens, air-conditioning units, and washing machines.

Schneider Electric is transitioning its Lon based MicroNet Series of controllers from the Echelon FT 3150 to the Echelon FT 5000 smart transceiver.

  Newmarket-Tay Power Distribution has announced plans to deploy Energate’s Foundation Smart Thermostat and Home Energy Gateway in residences operating over the Sensus open standards-based FlexNet utility communication network with ZigBee-enabled meters. Following this initial deployment, Energate expects the program will expand over the next two years.

ComEd is reporting that the installation of 470 distribution automation (DA)devices resulted in 82,000 fewer customer power interruptions in 2012.The utility also estimates the DA devices prevented 20,000 service interruptions during the severe storms that hit the Chicago area in mid-April.

Kamstrup has announced the opening of an Austrian subsidiary in Vienna as part of deal with Wien Energie for delivery of a 1,000 unit smart meter pilot. Division Director Lars Bo Kristensen says Austria “has as one of the first many markets decided to adopt the European regulatory roadmap for full-scale introduction of smart meters and smart metering. Being 100 percent focused on smart metering we wish to support this national roll-out and provide an even closer service to existing and coming customers in Austria and this is best done in Austria.”

Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) Minister Gregory Barker advocated the need to embrace solar at the Large Scale Solar Conference held in Cornwall. In his address, the Minister stressed that the Government is committed to solar PV and has an ambitious strategy to drive it forward. He also warned it needs to be deployed carefully to avoid any public backlash.

The ZigBee Alliance has ratified the Smart Energy Profile 2 (SEP 2) standard, which provides IP-based information and control for energy management in home area networks (HANs) for both wired and wireless networks.

The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) has approved a new industry code intended to protect consumers during the smart meter deployment. The Smart Metering Installation Code of Practice includes protections regarding sales and marketing for domestic consumers such as a prohibition on conducting any sales during the installation visit. Face-to-face marketing must be approved by the consumer prior to the installation. The code comes into effect on 1 June 2013.

Echelon is partnering with ITOCHU and Mitsui on a street lighting control system pilots in Japan. Based on technology from Echelon, the systems being piloted are built on the open ISO/IEC 14908 standard and implemented using Echelon’s Power Line Communications (PLC) transceivers and segment controllers.

Oracle has introduced new solutions to help utilities get the most out of their Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI). Oracle reports its Utilities Customer Care and Billing 2.4 enables utilities “to offer integrated program management, more net energy metering options and prepaid metering for AMI, virtually eliminating the need to integrate to other systems. Together with the integration and interoperability with Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management, Oracle offers utilities a solution to the issues typically faced when integrating Customer Information System (CIS) and Meter Data Management (MDM) systems.”

The New York State Smart Grid Consortium (NYSSGC) has selected James T. Gallagher as its new Executive Director. Gallagher takes over for David Mannin, who was appointed as special envoy to Washington D.C. for the Province of Alberta. As part of his responsibilities, Gallagher will help Brookhaven National Laboratory implement its Smarter Electric Grid Research, Innovation, Development and Deployment Center (SGRID3).

SMart Wind has signed lease agreements with the Crown Estate for the Optimus Wind and Breesea wind projects in the UK. The projects are expected to have a combined capacity of up to 1,800MW.