Morgan Stanley predicts that the smart grid market will grow from $20 billion in revenue this year to $100 billion — roughly three times Apple's current revenues — by 2030

Duke Energy pushes NORTH CAROLINA smart-grid plan for 2017 completion

Friday, January 29, 2010

Duke Energy pushes smart-grid plan for 2017 completion

Utilities tout benefits of smart-grid technology, are sketchy about job creation

Charlotte Business Journal - by John Downey Senior staff writer

Duke Energy Carolinas plans to roll out its smart-grid technology years ahead of other major utilities operating in North Carolina, according to presentations made to regulators this week.

Utility representatives jumped at the chance to tell theN.C. Utilities Commission the advantages they expect in power transmission, outage detection and repair, and new services to customers.

They were less eager to speculate on what the new technology might mean for jobs across the state.

Commissioners Lorinzo Joyner and ToNola Brown-Bland questioned Don Denton, Duke’s point person on its smart-grid programs, on the impact the initiatives will have on employment.

Cincinnati among the first to experience DUKE ENERGY smart grid !!!

Cincinnati among the first to experience a smart grid

Saturday, 30 January 2010 02:51

More than 700,000 energy consumers living in the Cincinnati, Ohio area will soon witness the transformation of their power system into a modern smart grid first hand.  Eventually, Duke Energy will install smart meters for its more than 1.5 million customers in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana in a project worth $1 billion.

Supporters of the smart grid initiative in the United States say the transformation will be the most dramatic since Thomas Edison first started generating electricity in New York City back in 1882.  Once a smart grid is deployed nationwide, energy will be used much more efficiently and cleanly as renewable power is integrated into the system.  Fewer power plants will be needed as a result.

“The electric grid we have today is a marvelous thing,” said Todd Arnold, senior vice president at Duke Energy.  “It was the engineering marvel of the 20th century and led to the electrification of America.”  Arnold made his remarks in an interview with the Cincinnati Enquirer.

A new system is needed now that consumers are demanding more and more energy.  The old system was never designed to handle the current level of demand, nor can it handle the intermittent supply of renewable resources.

Duke began installing smart meters in a pilot project last year.  The effort was successful and the power provider was able to win a Department of Energy grant worth $200 million.  Duke officials say the grant could help speed up deployment of the new system by a couple of years.

Much of the focus in smart grid technology has been on electrical transmission but Duke has also rolled out smart gas meters that are also able to share information bi-directionally with customers.  “The technology is a little different, but it’s a common place to gather information and bring it back to the company,” Arnold explained.

Right away the smart meters will trim operational costs for Duke Energy because human meter readers won’t have to be dispatched.  Even with the meter readers Duke still had to send out a million estimated bills because the company couldn’t gain access to customers’ conventional meters.  Estimated bills are often inaccurate and confuse customers when it comes time to reconcile the estimate with actual usage.

Duke says another big advantage is how substations and breakers can instantly communicate.  Equipment that is about to break down can be identified so it can be replaced before there is a problem.  If an outage does happen Duke’s smart grid technology can pinpoint precisely and instantly which customers are without power and service can be promptly rerouted.

This rerouting capability has already been put to the test.  In September, Duke’s smart grid pilot installation at Price Hill experienced a momentary outage when a lightning arrestor failed and service was interrupted for 3,369 customers.  Power was only out for an instant for 2,160 customers as the smart grid re-routed itself.  Another 1,000 customers gained service in just over an hour and the remaining 200 or so had power back on within three hours.

The real benefit for customers is gaining access to real-time consumption data.  At first this information will be available on a two-day lag but the goal is to provide real-time access.  Customers can then choose to use energy based upon how much it costs.

“Over time, over a number of years, you’re in effect building an energy Internet over our grid of wires and poles,” said Arnold.  “Then you have the ability to connect devices, connect to customers; and that gives you opportunities to improve reliability, give customers more options and more control.”

Duke has asked the Ohio Public Utilities Commission to approve a new pilot pricing program based upon the time of day.  “We’d like to see about 1,000 customers, give or take, in the pilot,” said Janine Midgen-Ostrander, of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel.  “People have to get familiar with the technology.”

The Obama administration says that smart grid technology can reduce energy consumption in the United States by more than 4 percent by 2030 – savings that would amount to $20 billion a year.  The DOE says that 40 million smart meters will be in place over the next few years but that is still less than a third of all household.

Ambient Corporation (OTCBB: ABTG) today announced the receipt of purchase orders of approximately $9.9 million for the supply of its fourth generation smart grid node, the Ambient® X-3100, and related technology

Ambient Announces Substantial Increase in Revenue Opportunity X-3100 - Strong Start to 2010


Companies:Ambient Corporation
Press Release Source: Ambient Corporation On Tuesday January 26, 2010, 9:00 am
BOSTON, Jan. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ambient Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: ABTG) today announced the receipt of purchase orders of approximately $9.9 million for the supply of its fourth generation smart grid node, the Ambient® X-3100, and related technology. The Company anticipates delivery of product to substantially be completed during the first six months of 2010.

John J. Joyce, President and CEO of Ambient Corporation stated, "We have spent more than 10 years collaborating with the innovative and early adopters of the smart grid space. To have our team's vision of a platform based on incorporating multiple communication technologies within one enclosure culminate in this latest product offering is gratifying. The initial success of the X-3100 positions the Ambient Smart Grid® platform as a market leading solution, unifying best-in-class products to the utility industry."

Ambient's X-3100 has the networking ability to act as a bridge, router or gateway on the electrical grid and is the Company's third generation of smart grid nodes to be certified for deployment on Verizon Wireless' network.

Utilities can now ramp up their smart grid programs by deploying smart grid assets at strategic locations, connecting current and future smart grid devices without an upfront investment in a full build-out. The X-3100's open standards and IP-based technology provides a communications platform, via both wired and wireless technologies, and can integrate with other smart grid devices, regardless of manufacturer or communication protocol.

For more information on the commercial introduction of the Ambient X-3100 smart grid node, see the Company's press release of January 13, 2010.

$200B expected for smart-grid technology: 84% for Grid Automation; 14% for Smart Meters; 2% for Electric Vehicles

The Smart Grid Means More Than Meters

By Toby Shute 
January 22, 2010

If a tree falls on a power line, and no one's around to detect it, can it take the grid down? As we learned following the blackout of 2003, the answer to that question is yes.

The CEO of Quanta Services (NYSE:PWR), a leading electric transmission contractor, told Bloomberg this week that utilities have cut maintenance spending by up to 50% in recent years, opening the door for increased outages. I can't vouch for that number, but if remotely accurate, the implications are troubling.

Investment in new transmission did pick up significantly over the past decade, but we're also going to need a lot more maintenance spending if we want to improve the reliability of existing infrastructure. The Brattle Group pegs this cost at nearly $300 billion over the next two decades.

Regulated, investor-owned utilities like Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) and Southern (NYSE: SO) aren't going to invest adequately in maintenance and reliability upgrades without the proper incentives in place. Fines for outages are one mechanism -- a "stick," if you will -- for achieving better results. FPL Group (NYSE: FPL) recently agreed to a $25 million penalty for a 2008 Florida outage. As far as carrots, the obvious one is to provide certain cost recovery for reliability investments. Accelerated depreciation and other mechanisms can sweeten the pot.

Then, of course, there's always cash from Uncle Sam. Last year's $3.4 billion smart grid stimulus package, in addition to promoting the installation of two-way meters sold by the likes of Itron and Echelon (Nasdaq: ELON), also awarded $400 million for efficiency improvements. This includes the installation of phasor measurement units (PMUs) that can detect disturbances before they escalate into blackout-sized problems.

This transmission reliability angle may be less sexy than the smart-metering networks that Silver Spring is implementing with partners Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) and General Electric (NYSE: GE), but it's an important step in smartening up our grid that should reap an outsized return on investment. As far as grid reliability businesses go, I've got my eye on a few, but they're mostly microcaps that I can't discuss. If you've got an idea in this area, please share with the group in the comments section below.

How to make a play in the smart electrical grid: executives

PALM SPRINGS, Calif (Reuters) - Investors in clean technology see the expected upgrade to a smart electrical grid in the United States as a massive opportunity, but finding the right investments will require patience.

The sector includes high-flying start-ups and heavily regulated utilities. Technology giants like Google Inc and Microsoft also are moving to the area.

"This is changing. It's going to take some time ... It's the first inning and we got to make sure these early projects are really flawless," said Scott Lang, president and chief executive at Silver Spring Networks, speaking at the Clean-tech Investor Summit being held this week in Palm Springs.

The privately-held Silver Spring Networks is smart grid networking company and is often cited as a candidate for an initial public offering.

The smart grid will allow two-way communications between utilities and their customers. Analysts have said it will marry clean power, electric vehicles, advanced meters, and power storage into a seamless network, modernizing thousands of miles of outdated power lines and allowing for more efficient energy use.

Increased momentum for smart grid technology helped push power storage and energy efficiency stocks to perform the best on the WilderHill New Energy Global Innovation Index in 2009, which tracks the performance of 86 global clean energy stocks.

The sector also has seen a boost from the Obama administration, which announced a $3.4 billion package in 2009 to help build a smart electric grid meant to trim utility bills, reduce blackouts and carry power generated by solar and wind energy.

"The scale is even bigger than the Internet ... but the speed of adoption is still going to be slow," said Adrian Tuck, chief executive at Tendril, a Boulder, Colorado-based smart grid company that GE recently acquired a stake in.

Yet risk-averse utilities and still emerging technologies pose challenges to the smart grid, often likened to the Internetization of how energy is moved and managed.

"There is very little tolerance for problems in this industry and I think that's what distinguishes it from the telecom industry," said Anne Pramaggiore, president and COO at Exelon Corp's ComEd.

Pramaggiore explained that in the early days of cellphones consumers tolerated dropped calls, but consumers of electricity might not be so tolerant of problems with new smart grid technology.

MAKING A PLAY

Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Steve Milunovich views the sector in layers much like the Internet industry: hardware in new advanced meters and transmission upgrades; networking; and applications for the network infrastructure.

That analogy can give investors a sense of timing, and a play book, Milunovich said, noting the smart grid finds itself where the PC industry was in the 1980s.

"That's why we first see the opportunity in smart meters," Milunovich said, citing advanced meter maker Itron. A smart meter can provide electric use information to a utility as often as every 15 minutes.

With technology still evolving, Milunovich recommends buying a broad portfolio and waiting for the sector to mature.

Investors can make a pure-play with companies like EnerNOC Inc and Comverge Inc, called demand response for their role in limiting electricity use during peak demand.

"Demand response is the killer application in this market, at least the first killer app," said Robert W Baird analyst Michael Horowitz.

"These guys already have built fairly good business momentum over the last couple of years, as consumers and utilities alike are looking for better ways to manage delivering electrons," he added.

While bigger players are moving into the sector, they may not be the fastest way to profit from the smart grid. Google has invested in smart grid player Silver Spring Networks while Cisco and Microsoft are seeking to leverage their existing networking and software expertise in the emerging sector.

"Our view is the pure play companies are going to give a lot more bang. This is going to be very small to incremental for a company like Cisco and Microsoft," said RBC Capital Markets analyst Stuart Bush.

(Reporting by Laura Isensee; editing by Carol Bishopric)

Ambient is a proud sponsor of the Smart Grid RoadShow hosted by Duke Energy

http://www.smartgridroadshow.com/4/ Smart Grid RoadShow May 11th & 12th, 2010 The Westin Cincinnati Hotel | Cincinnati, Ohio USA

Verizon Wireless and Ambient Corporation Launch Open Smart Grid Communications Architecture

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., and BOSTON, Jan. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Wireless and Ambient Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: ABTG) today announced the launch of their jointly developed Open Smart Grid Communications Architecture, an integrated smart grid solution and open communications network for utilities deploying smart grid programs.

The Open Smart Grid Communications Architecture accelerates the deployment of secure smart grids, saving utilities the operational investment and maintenance cost of deploying a proprietary communications network.  The Ambient Smart Grid®, operating on Verizon Wireless' network infrastructure, leverages the reliability and breadth of the Verizon Wireless network.  The architecture provides utilities with private IP clouds of connectivity creating virtual private networks, allowing the utility to benefit from Verizon Wireless' continuous investment in network security, speed and reliability.

"The Ambient Open Smart Grid Communications Architecture offers customers best-in-class solutions with the nation's largest and most reliable wireless 3G network," said Michael Brander, associate director of enterprise data for Verizon Wireless.  "This is a high growth industry and Ambient gives utility customers an optimum set of solutions for long-term growth and expansion of services."

Key features of the Open Smart Grid Communications Architecture include:

• Proven, reliable, flexible architecture
• End-to-end security measures built in
• Allows utilities to easily and rapidly deploy a communications network from the network operations center to the end-user
• Leading smart metering companies' products already incorporated into the architecture
• Allows utilities to pick their own best-in-class smart grid applications and devices
• Devices share a reliable, low-cost network with utility-based pricing

"Through our joint marketing agreement, we have worked with Verizon Wireless to create a smart grid network architecture that utilities can rapidly and easily deploy, allowing connectivity to smart meters and other IP-based technologies," stated John J. Joyce, president and CEO of Ambient Corporation.

Ambient's newest smart grid node model, the X-3100, was recently certified by Verizon Wireless for its 3G network.

Continued Joyce, "Our X-3100 is the only commercially deployed node, certified by Verizon Wireless, incorporating core technologies and applications specially engineered to help utilities design and deploy smart grids."

The Ambient X-3100 smart grid node also extends the connectivity of Verizon Wireless' network via Wi-Fi, RF, power line carrier, Zigbee and/or WiMAX communications technology embedded in the node, allowing a utility to connect to end-user devices.

This announcement is a continuation of the joint marketing agreement the companies announced last year

Ambient Announces Its Newest 'All-in-one' Solution, Ambient X-3100 Smart Grid Node

A ‘Future-proof’ Smart Grid

A ‘Future-proof’ Smart Grid

Utilities are careful to protect their customers from unneeded expenses.  When deploying any technology, it is important that it does not become obsolete before the end of a device’s scheduled life. Having experienced AMR evolving to AMI, and AMI to smart grid, it is important to make sure the smart grid deployed today will meet the needs of tomorrow’s smart grid, also known as “Smart Grid 2.0.”

Ambient proactively addresses device obsolescence by relying on an open standard-based platform which includes all of the key and developing communications protocols used by the leading smart grid providers, ensuring devices will be able to communicate through the core, shared communications backbone, the Ambient Smart Grid platform. As one backhaul option, we use cellular to ensure as bandwidth requirements of the smart grid moves beyond smart metering, Ambient’s platform will be capable of scaling along with the functional needs of the supporting network.

Ambient’s smart grid platform is based on Internet Protocol (IP), and each node is uniquely addressable and manageable. This also means from a network management point of view, different end user devices, different generations of technologies and different smart grid applications all fall under the same manageable backbone increasing deployment flexibility and interoperability.

Ambient’s smart grid platform relies on intelligent smart grid communication nodes located throughout the distribution grid. Distributed intelligence contained within each node allows Ambient to process field data, and limit backhaul traffic to critical or requested data. The nodes are also remotely upgradeable which means new applications can continue to be developed and deployed without truck rolls to upgrade equipment.

Smart Grid Companies to Watch in 2010 !!!

http://bit.ly/8tERTG

What are the most valuable attributes of the smart grid today?

http://www.ambientcorp.com/fsg/

An Open Standards-Based Platform

A Secure Smart Grid

A 'Future-Proof' Smart Grid