High-Tech Firms Seek Out Utilities as They Upgrade
1 CISCO SYSTEMS
2 TENDRIL NETWORKS
3 DUKE ENERGY CORP.
4.AMBIENT CORP.
BY REBECCA SMITH AND BEN WORTHEN
After struggling to sell cutting-edge products to utilities, technology companies are sensing better times ahead with the influx of $4.5 billion in federal stimulus funds for so-called smart-grid projects.
The federal grants are expected to speed transformation of the power grid from a largely electromechanical system into a digital network that gives utilities more efficient ways to send electricity to customers. That could help cut pollution and electric bills.
Smart meters, one component of a smart grid, allow utilities to monitor usage almost in real time, letting them charge variable prices based on demand, for example. Corporate and residential customers ...
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Ambient Corp. of Newton, Mass., started working with Duke in 2005, suggesting ways the utility might use Ambient's communications modules to scoop up data from smart meters to boost grid intelligence. But activity picked up only recently. Ambient last month wrote a letter to the DOE supporting Duke's smart-grid application and this month inked a deal to sell large numbers of modules to the utility, said John Joyce, Ambient's president.
The influx of stimulus dollars "is clearly significant for a firm like Ambient" because it stimulates investment in general and "will make us bigger" as utilities add projects, he said. Ambient had 2008 sales of $15 million but declined to give the value of its deal with Duke.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Smart Grid Standards Roadmap Unveiled
Smart Grid Standards Roadmap Unveiled
Smart Grid Jeff St. John September 24, 2009
The 90-page draft lays out 77 proposed standards for smart grid, and 14 “priority” areas where it will rush standards development. Expect a lot of attention from utilities, vendors and regulators.
The federal government released its anxiously awaited draft of smart grid standards on Thursday, laying out a host of specific standards utilities and vendors will be expected to meet in smart grid deployments, as well as 14 "priority" areas and an ongoing cybersecurity standards-setting process it hopes to complete by 2010.
It's the next stage in a process begun this spring to rush a standards development process that might otherwise take several years into a months-long timeframe.
"At stake is America's energy future and the economic competitiveness of our nation," Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said in introducing the report at the GridWeek conference in Washington, D.C.
The 90-page report is now open for a 30-day comment period, and is meant to lead eventually to a certification and testing process required of all smart grid technologies deployed in the nation, Locke said.
With the commercial viability of competing technologies potentially on the line, the report is likely to be read very closely by the utilities, companies and state and federal regulators involved in tying the nation's 5.4 million miles of transmission lines, 22,000 electricity substations and roughly 130 million electric meters into a networked, intelligent system.
Much of the existing electricity grid, including many devices and systems that can be considered "smart," are built on disparate proprietary technologies (see Smart Grid: A Matter of Standards).
But the federal government has said it will demand a more standardized set of technologies, both to ensure that smart grid systems deployed by the nation's hundreds of utilities can be integrated and to open the industry to more open competition and thus lower cost products and services.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology released its first draft of 16 preferred standards in May. Those included standards already in use by many utilities for managing substation automation devices, meter revenue data collection, and other standard operations, as well as standards being developed by the ZigBee Alliance and the HomePlug Powerline Alliance for home area networks (see DOE Lifts Smart Grid Stimulus Cap to $200M).
Thursday's report from NIST expanded that list to 77 standards, all available for review in the full report.
But there were about 70 other broad sectors of the smart grid where NIST has yet to come up with specific recommended standards. Of those, NIST has keyed in on 14 priority areas where key regulators – namely, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission – has said it needs them sooner rather than later, Locke said.
Of those 14 "action plans", only one – a standard for upgrading existing smart meters – has been completed, Locke said. The National Electrical Manufacturers Association was responsible for that, he said.
And only one more – a plan for common scheduling mechanisms for energy transactions – is set to be done by year's end, the report stated.
Next up in early 2010 are plans for demand response signals, energy use information and electricity pricing.
Due in mid-2010 are standards for wireless communications, electricity storage interconnection and one of the most talked-about standards issues, which is guidelines for the use of internet protocol (IP) in smart grid deployments.
How to use IP in smart grid deployments – and how deeply it can or can't be integrated across different parts of the smart grid – has been a thorny issue. In January, companies including smart meter makers Itron, Sensus, Landis+Gyr and Aclara lodged a protest against language in the then-draft version of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act that would have mandated the use of IP in smart grid deployments (see Green Light post).
Since then, companies like Cisco Systems have come out as strong backers of an IP-based smart grid architecture. Still, many existing utility communications and control systems are based on older technologies both proprietary and standardized, meaning a lot of integration for IP-based systems.
By the end of 2010, NIST expects to have plans for interoperability standards for plug-in electric and hybrid vehicles, as well as standard meter data profiles and a common information model for distribution grid management, the report stated.
As for cybersecurity, "This is an area where we must take the time to do it right, because security must be designed" into the smart grid systems being deployed, Locke said. At the same time, "We cannot take forever."
A 200-member "Cyber Security Coordination Task Group" under NIST's direction expects to have a 200-plus page report on the issue "available soon," the report states. Locke said the cybersecurity work should be complete in nine months.
Along with that report will come suggested security requirements for smart meter deployments, the report stated. Smart meters have emerged as the most publicly contentious realm for enhanced security, after reports from cybersecurity experts claimed they can be hacked to propagate malware that could shut down thousands of meters at once (see Smart Meter Security: A Work in Progress).
Smart Grid Jeff St. John September 24, 2009
The 90-page draft lays out 77 proposed standards for smart grid, and 14 “priority” areas where it will rush standards development. Expect a lot of attention from utilities, vendors and regulators.
The federal government released its anxiously awaited draft of smart grid standards on Thursday, laying out a host of specific standards utilities and vendors will be expected to meet in smart grid deployments, as well as 14 "priority" areas and an ongoing cybersecurity standards-setting process it hopes to complete by 2010.
It's the next stage in a process begun this spring to rush a standards development process that might otherwise take several years into a months-long timeframe.
"At stake is America's energy future and the economic competitiveness of our nation," Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said in introducing the report at the GridWeek conference in Washington, D.C.
The 90-page report is now open for a 30-day comment period, and is meant to lead eventually to a certification and testing process required of all smart grid technologies deployed in the nation, Locke said.
With the commercial viability of competing technologies potentially on the line, the report is likely to be read very closely by the utilities, companies and state and federal regulators involved in tying the nation's 5.4 million miles of transmission lines, 22,000 electricity substations and roughly 130 million electric meters into a networked, intelligent system.
Much of the existing electricity grid, including many devices and systems that can be considered "smart," are built on disparate proprietary technologies (see Smart Grid: A Matter of Standards).
But the federal government has said it will demand a more standardized set of technologies, both to ensure that smart grid systems deployed by the nation's hundreds of utilities can be integrated and to open the industry to more open competition and thus lower cost products and services.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology released its first draft of 16 preferred standards in May. Those included standards already in use by many utilities for managing substation automation devices, meter revenue data collection, and other standard operations, as well as standards being developed by the ZigBee Alliance and the HomePlug Powerline Alliance for home area networks (see DOE Lifts Smart Grid Stimulus Cap to $200M).
Thursday's report from NIST expanded that list to 77 standards, all available for review in the full report.
But there were about 70 other broad sectors of the smart grid where NIST has yet to come up with specific recommended standards. Of those, NIST has keyed in on 14 priority areas where key regulators – namely, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission – has said it needs them sooner rather than later, Locke said.
Of those 14 "action plans", only one – a standard for upgrading existing smart meters – has been completed, Locke said. The National Electrical Manufacturers Association was responsible for that, he said.
And only one more – a plan for common scheduling mechanisms for energy transactions – is set to be done by year's end, the report stated.
Next up in early 2010 are plans for demand response signals, energy use information and electricity pricing.
Due in mid-2010 are standards for wireless communications, electricity storage interconnection and one of the most talked-about standards issues, which is guidelines for the use of internet protocol (IP) in smart grid deployments.
How to use IP in smart grid deployments – and how deeply it can or can't be integrated across different parts of the smart grid – has been a thorny issue. In January, companies including smart meter makers Itron, Sensus, Landis+Gyr and Aclara lodged a protest against language in the then-draft version of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act that would have mandated the use of IP in smart grid deployments (see Green Light post).
Since then, companies like Cisco Systems have come out as strong backers of an IP-based smart grid architecture. Still, many existing utility communications and control systems are based on older technologies both proprietary and standardized, meaning a lot of integration for IP-based systems.
By the end of 2010, NIST expects to have plans for interoperability standards for plug-in electric and hybrid vehicles, as well as standard meter data profiles and a common information model for distribution grid management, the report stated.
As for cybersecurity, "This is an area where we must take the time to do it right, because security must be designed" into the smart grid systems being deployed, Locke said. At the same time, "We cannot take forever."
A 200-member "Cyber Security Coordination Task Group" under NIST's direction expects to have a 200-plus page report on the issue "available soon," the report states. Locke said the cybersecurity work should be complete in nine months.
Along with that report will come suggested security requirements for smart meter deployments, the report stated. Smart meters have emerged as the most publicly contentious realm for enhanced security, after reports from cybersecurity experts claimed they can be hacked to propagate malware that could shut down thousands of meters at once (see Smart Meter Security: A Work in Progress).
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
This Week's Smart Grid Conference in D.C. Could Cause Several Stocks to Pop
This Week's Smart Grid Conference in D.C. Could Cause Several Stocks to Pop
September 22, 2009 | about: ABB / ABTG / CSCO / GE / GOOG / IBM / INTC / ITRI / MSFT / SI / TLVT
An unprecedented overflow crowd at this week’s “smart” grid conference in Washington, D.C., could put a pop in the shares of several companies that are likely to garner media attention.
While definitions vary widely, the “smart grid” generally is a multi-year project (strongly backed by the Obama administration) whose cost has been estimated at up to $75 billion. It is intended to give the nation’s power grid a new telecommunications backbone, transforming it into an “energy Internet.” Over time, this new smart grid is expected to save the nation trillions of dollars by eliminating blackouts and the need to build hundreds of new power plants. It’s further expected to significantly reduce consumers’ and business’s power bills.
Among the companies likely to get favorable attention during Grid Week 2009 is Itron Inc. (ITRI), which plans to show off its advanced metering application for the grid, called “Openway.” Another is Ambient Corp. (ABTG), which plans to highlight how its open, scalable IP-based communications technology is being employed in utilities’ smart-grid pilot projects.
While they may be too big for their stocks to pop right away, Grid Week 2009 also may open the eyes of many more investors to the potential for a lot of telecomm heavyweights to make a lot of money, in particular: Cisco Systems (CSCO), IBM (IBM), Intel Corp. (INTC), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Google Inc. (GOOG).
Alert investors will also see how the move to “smarten up” the grid – which, after all, is occurring not just in the U.S. but also throughout Asia and Europe – could fatten the bottom lines of foreign-based firms such as Siemens AG (SI), ABB Ltd. (ABB), and Telvent Git SA (TLVT).
The list goes on and on, but another name that could stand out at next week’s conference is South Korea’s NURI Telecom Co. (Symbol KDQ:040160). General Electric Co. (GE), another heavyweight that could make hay on the smart grid, will be announcing a “collaboration” with NURI intended to “accelerate the advancement of smart grid globally.”
September 22, 2009 | about: ABB / ABTG / CSCO / GE / GOOG / IBM / INTC / ITRI / MSFT / SI / TLVT
An unprecedented overflow crowd at this week’s “smart” grid conference in Washington, D.C., could put a pop in the shares of several companies that are likely to garner media attention.
While definitions vary widely, the “smart grid” generally is a multi-year project (strongly backed by the Obama administration) whose cost has been estimated at up to $75 billion. It is intended to give the nation’s power grid a new telecommunications backbone, transforming it into an “energy Internet.” Over time, this new smart grid is expected to save the nation trillions of dollars by eliminating blackouts and the need to build hundreds of new power plants. It’s further expected to significantly reduce consumers’ and business’s power bills.
Among the companies likely to get favorable attention during Grid Week 2009 is Itron Inc. (ITRI), which plans to show off its advanced metering application for the grid, called “Openway.” Another is Ambient Corp. (ABTG), which plans to highlight how its open, scalable IP-based communications technology is being employed in utilities’ smart-grid pilot projects.
While they may be too big for their stocks to pop right away, Grid Week 2009 also may open the eyes of many more investors to the potential for a lot of telecomm heavyweights to make a lot of money, in particular: Cisco Systems (CSCO), IBM (IBM), Intel Corp. (INTC), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Google Inc. (GOOG).
Alert investors will also see how the move to “smarten up” the grid – which, after all, is occurring not just in the U.S. but also throughout Asia and Europe – could fatten the bottom lines of foreign-based firms such as Siemens AG (SI), ABB Ltd. (ABB), and Telvent Git SA (TLVT).
The list goes on and on, but another name that could stand out at next week’s conference is South Korea’s NURI Telecom Co. (Symbol KDQ:040160). General Electric Co. (GE), another heavyweight that could make hay on the smart grid, will be announcing a “collaboration” with NURI intended to “accelerate the advancement of smart grid globally.”
Monday, September 21, 2009
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Friday, September 18, 2009
GRIDWEEK: The Annual Gathering for Smart Grid !!!
Energy Boss Steven Chu speaking
Ambient showcase Booth #104
Ambient CEO presenting
Ambient Event Gold Sponsor
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
The Smart Grid: IT vendors' new cash cow?
Tue Sep 15, 2009 3:00am EDT
By Preston Gralla - Greener World Media
The Smart Grid will certainly help greeen the planet. But increasingly, IT vendors are looking to it for another kind of green --- cash. Multiple billions of dollars are at stake annually.
Cisco, IBM, and other big-name IT vendors have already targeted the Smart Grid. But there are plenty of other vendors in the hunt for Smart Grid market share that might surprise you. Take Siemens, for example. Siemens is in IT as well as industries such as building technology, motors, automation, and others. Increasingly, it's targeting energy as well.
The firm has set sizable goals for itself when it comes to the Smart Grid --- €6 billion annually by 2014, according to the Web site Reliable Plant.
The site notes that Siemens already has Smart Grid-related orders of nearly €1 billion in the current fiscal year. It also claims that:
The market being addressed by Siemens totals around €30 billion over the coming five years. Siemens is aiming at seven percent annual growth and a market share of over 20 percent in the Smart Grid business.
Siemens isn't alone, of course. One bit of proof of that is the response that the U.S. Department of Energy received for federal dollars to fund projects related to the Smart Grid. The New York Times reports that
a Department of Energy program to distribute $615 million to fund projects demonstrating smart-grid technology had attracted 140 proposals requesting a total of $2.3 billion.
By Preston Gralla - Greener World Media
The Smart Grid will certainly help greeen the planet. But increasingly, IT vendors are looking to it for another kind of green --- cash. Multiple billions of dollars are at stake annually.
Cisco, IBM, and other big-name IT vendors have already targeted the Smart Grid. But there are plenty of other vendors in the hunt for Smart Grid market share that might surprise you. Take Siemens, for example. Siemens is in IT as well as industries such as building technology, motors, automation, and others. Increasingly, it's targeting energy as well.
The firm has set sizable goals for itself when it comes to the Smart Grid --- €6 billion annually by 2014, according to the Web site Reliable Plant.
The site notes that Siemens already has Smart Grid-related orders of nearly €1 billion in the current fiscal year. It also claims that:
The market being addressed by Siemens totals around €30 billion over the coming five years. Siemens is aiming at seven percent annual growth and a market share of over 20 percent in the Smart Grid business.
Siemens isn't alone, of course. One bit of proof of that is the response that the U.S. Department of Energy received for federal dollars to fund projects related to the Smart Grid. The New York Times reports that
a Department of Energy program to distribute $615 million to fund projects demonstrating smart-grid technology had attracted 140 proposals requesting a total of $2.3 billion.
New York Times: A Mad Dash for Smart-Grid Cash
September 15, 2009, 10:13 AM
A Mad Dash for Smart-Grid Cash
By JOHN COLLINS RUDOLF
By the time the late August application deadline had expired, a Department of Energy program to distribute $615 million to fund projects demonstrating smart-grid technology had attracted 140 proposals requesting a total of $2.3 billion.
“The response is very encouraging,” said Jen Stutsman, a spokeswoman for the Energy Department. “We expect some very competitive projects.”
With companies required to chip in 50 percent of the cost, the $615 million in grants will support at least $1.2 billion in smart-grid projects.
The term “smart grid” covers a number of approaches to modernizing the nation’s aging electrical infrastructure (see video above). Innovations run the gamut, from home thermostats that automatically adjust in response to overall demands on the grid, to advances in power transmission and energy storage, which will help integrate resources like wind and solar into the nation’s electrical mix.
The aim of the Energy Department program — part of the $3.9 billion in stimulus funds targeting the nation’s electrical system — is to take smart-grid technologies out of the laboratory and test their wide-scale viability and cost-effectiveness.
So far, the Department of Energy is keeping details of the proposals confidential, but a number of the nation’s largest utilities, including American Electric Power, Pacific Gas & Electric, and Southern California Edison, have publicized their applications.
Defense contractors like Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon are also in the mix, in partnership with utilities to provide security for the digital communication network at the heart of many smart-grid technologies, as well as other technical expertise.
(The green energy blog Earth2Tech.com has compiled a list of companies applying for funds.)
Several proposed demonstration projects seek to build a narrow, top-to-bottom smart-grid system — what Paul De Martini, a vice president of advanced technology at Southern California Edison, called “a deep vertical slice of a smart grid.”
That company’s $40 million grant proposal, planned for Irvine, Calif., incorporates smart meters, solar panels, home energy storage and plug-in electric vehicles. It also includes “self-healing” transmission circuits and other advances in grid-level power distribution. “We have an opportunity to see how all of these will really work together in a single system,” Mr. De Martini said.
Pilot projects that help consumers manage energy use within their homes – by installing devices like programmable communicating thermostats, which can respond to systemwide changes in electrical demand – could yield some promising results, said Sunil Sharan, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a former director of a smart-grid initiative at General Electric.
“If you asked me what is realistic, I would say in-home energy management technology,” Mr. Sharan said.
Energy storage is another area of interest for the smart-grid demonstration grant program. Devising cost-effective, reliable and scalable energy storage is seen as a major challenge for utilities, as larger and larger sources of intermittent energy, like wind and solar, come online.
“Energy storage is pretty tricky,” said Mr. Sharan, who added that federal funding was unlikely to be enough to tackle the problem.
Still, storage proposals abound. Several companies are exploring compressed air energy storage, in which air is pumped underground at high pressure and released later to generate power.
And Southern California Edison has applied for an additional $25 million from the Department of Energy to build the world’s largest lithium-ion battery.
A Mad Dash for Smart-Grid Cash
By JOHN COLLINS RUDOLF
By the time the late August application deadline had expired, a Department of Energy program to distribute $615 million to fund projects demonstrating smart-grid technology had attracted 140 proposals requesting a total of $2.3 billion.
“The response is very encouraging,” said Jen Stutsman, a spokeswoman for the Energy Department. “We expect some very competitive projects.”
With companies required to chip in 50 percent of the cost, the $615 million in grants will support at least $1.2 billion in smart-grid projects.
The term “smart grid” covers a number of approaches to modernizing the nation’s aging electrical infrastructure (see video above). Innovations run the gamut, from home thermostats that automatically adjust in response to overall demands on the grid, to advances in power transmission and energy storage, which will help integrate resources like wind and solar into the nation’s electrical mix.
The aim of the Energy Department program — part of the $3.9 billion in stimulus funds targeting the nation’s electrical system — is to take smart-grid technologies out of the laboratory and test their wide-scale viability and cost-effectiveness.
So far, the Department of Energy is keeping details of the proposals confidential, but a number of the nation’s largest utilities, including American Electric Power, Pacific Gas & Electric, and Southern California Edison, have publicized their applications.
Defense contractors like Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon are also in the mix, in partnership with utilities to provide security for the digital communication network at the heart of many smart-grid technologies, as well as other technical expertise.
(The green energy blog Earth2Tech.com has compiled a list of companies applying for funds.)
Several proposed demonstration projects seek to build a narrow, top-to-bottom smart-grid system — what Paul De Martini, a vice president of advanced technology at Southern California Edison, called “a deep vertical slice of a smart grid.”
That company’s $40 million grant proposal, planned for Irvine, Calif., incorporates smart meters, solar panels, home energy storage and plug-in electric vehicles. It also includes “self-healing” transmission circuits and other advances in grid-level power distribution. “We have an opportunity to see how all of these will really work together in a single system,” Mr. De Martini said.
Pilot projects that help consumers manage energy use within their homes – by installing devices like programmable communicating thermostats, which can respond to systemwide changes in electrical demand – could yield some promising results, said Sunil Sharan, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a former director of a smart-grid initiative at General Electric.
“If you asked me what is realistic, I would say in-home energy management technology,” Mr. Sharan said.
Energy storage is another area of interest for the smart-grid demonstration grant program. Devising cost-effective, reliable and scalable energy storage is seen as a major challenge for utilities, as larger and larger sources of intermittent energy, like wind and solar, come online.
“Energy storage is pretty tricky,” said Mr. Sharan, who added that federal funding was unlikely to be enough to tackle the problem.
Still, storage proposals abound. Several companies are exploring compressed air energy storage, in which air is pumped underground at high pressure and released later to generate power.
And Southern California Edison has applied for an additional $25 million from the Department of Energy to build the world’s largest lithium-ion battery.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Ambient Extends Smart Grid Contract With Duke - could worth HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of Dollar for Ambient !!!
Ambient Extends Smart Grid Contract With Duke
Jeff St. John September 9, 2009
Ambient will supply communications gear for Duke’s multi-million smart meter deployments. It’s just one of a number of confirmed and unconfirmed smart grid partners working with the country’s third-largest utility.
Ambient Corp. is extending its smart grid partnership with Duke Energy, with plans to supply its multi-modal communications modules to support the millions of smart meters the utility plans to deploy in multiple states over the coming years.
But as with many of the partnerships Duke has announced in support of its smart grid plans, the contract announced Wednesday doesn't necessarily preclude others with similar technology – in this case, Mississippi-based smart meter maker SmartSynch – from playing a role.
Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed Wednesday. But it could extend into the hundreds of millions of dollars for Ambient, depending on the size and speed of Duke's smart meter rollout, according to estimates from John Joyce, Ambient's president and CEO.
One example is Ohio, where Duke intends to install about 700,000 smart meters. Ambient's X-series communications nodes serve multiple meters, so the Newton, Mass.-based company could see about 150,000 of the nodes deployed in Ohio – and that's worth "in excess of" $50 million, Joyce said.
While Joyce wouldn't speculate on how those dollars could add up for Duke's other smart meter deployments, the utility does intend to install 1.5 million meters in Ohio and Indiana over the next five years. If Duke gets the $200 million federal stimulus grant it has asked for, that timeline could be cut in half (see Smart Grid Stimulus Applications at $2.85B and Counting).
Ambient's new agreement with Duke runs through 2015, Joyce said. The company has already seen roughly $15 million in revenues from its four-year relationship with Duke, which includes devices installed to support the utility's 50,000 smart meter deployment in Cincinnati.
San Jose, Calif.-based Echelon Corp. supplies the smart meters for that deployment, and recently announced a similar open-ended deal with Duke for an initial $15.8 million smart meter order that could expand to as much as $150 million (see Echelon Expands Smart Meter Contract With Duke Energy).
The idea is to link Echelon's smart meters, which use powerline carrier technology to transmit data over low-voltage power lines, to Ambient's communications nodes that typically sit at the transformer.
Ambient's nodes then convert that into various modes of IP-based long-range communications, most prominently using Verizon Wireless' cellular networks, Joyce said.
Duke has stood out amongst U.S. utilities for keeping its smart grid communications choices wide open. Besides Ambient and Echelon, Duke has also asked Jackson, Miss.-based SmartSynch to develop communications modules that can be updated to link a variety of communications (see SmartSynch's Smart Grid in a Box).
And, of course, Duke has said it will turn to Cisco Systems and the smart grid networking gear it is busy building, though details on that partnership haven't yet emerged (see Duke Energy Enlists Cisco in its Smart Grid Efforts).
While Joyce said he anticipated Ambient's communications nodes being the backbone of Duke's smart meter deployment, he said SmartSynch or others could serve the roughly 20 percent of situations where Ambient's solution might not be best suited for the task.
It's a common choice facing utilities, since communications technologies that work well for rural areas don't work well in densely populated urban areas, and visa versa. Echelon's power line signaling technology, for example, might not be the most cost-effective solution for sparsely populated areas where a transformer may serve just one customer.
Duke has also separated itself from the majority of U.S. utilities in choosing powerline carrier communications for its chief mode of getting smart meters to network locally. Most of the utilities in North America are using wireless mesh systems instead (see RF Mesh, ZigBee Top North American Utilities' Smart Meter Wish Lists).
Joyce did say that Duke is looking to Milwaukee, Wis.-based Badger Meter Inc. to supply smart gas and water meters to the utility. Those meters use wireless mesh communications, which Ambient's nodes will take up and translate as well, he said.
Duke has said it intends to install about 450,000 smart gas meters in Ohio, but hasn't publicly announced its intention to work with Badger on that project.
Duke has also declined to confirm or deny reports that it is working with North Carolina-based wireless networking developer Sequentric Energy Systems to design in-home energy management networks for a pilot project it's doing in its headquarters city of Charlotte, N.C. (see Sequentric Working on Duke Pilot Project).
Nor has the utility commented on reports that it is using in-home energy management displays from Toronto-based startup Lixar, which was recently acquired by well-funded smart grid software startup GridPoint (see GridPoint Buys Home Energy Management Startup Lixar).
As for Ambient's other utility prospects, Joyce said that New York utility Consolidated Edison is an investor in the company, and that the two may seek to "deploy some of the newer technology" from Ambient in the "very near future."
But he wouldn't confirm whether or not that meant that Ambient might be involved in the stimulus-seeking smart grid projects the utility has proposed. Those include an unspecified request in support of a $375 million smart meter deployment, as well as a $46 million request to support a smart grid demonstration project involving Boeing Corp., Viridity Energy, the city of New York and Columbia University (see Green Light post).
Jeff St. John September 9, 2009
Ambient will supply communications gear for Duke’s multi-million smart meter deployments. It’s just one of a number of confirmed and unconfirmed smart grid partners working with the country’s third-largest utility.
Ambient Corp. is extending its smart grid partnership with Duke Energy, with plans to supply its multi-modal communications modules to support the millions of smart meters the utility plans to deploy in multiple states over the coming years.
But as with many of the partnerships Duke has announced in support of its smart grid plans, the contract announced Wednesday doesn't necessarily preclude others with similar technology – in this case, Mississippi-based smart meter maker SmartSynch – from playing a role.
Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed Wednesday. But it could extend into the hundreds of millions of dollars for Ambient, depending on the size and speed of Duke's smart meter rollout, according to estimates from John Joyce, Ambient's president and CEO.
One example is Ohio, where Duke intends to install about 700,000 smart meters. Ambient's X-series communications nodes serve multiple meters, so the Newton, Mass.-based company could see about 150,000 of the nodes deployed in Ohio – and that's worth "in excess of" $50 million, Joyce said.
While Joyce wouldn't speculate on how those dollars could add up for Duke's other smart meter deployments, the utility does intend to install 1.5 million meters in Ohio and Indiana over the next five years. If Duke gets the $200 million federal stimulus grant it has asked for, that timeline could be cut in half (see Smart Grid Stimulus Applications at $2.85B and Counting).
Ambient's new agreement with Duke runs through 2015, Joyce said. The company has already seen roughly $15 million in revenues from its four-year relationship with Duke, which includes devices installed to support the utility's 50,000 smart meter deployment in Cincinnati.
San Jose, Calif.-based Echelon Corp. supplies the smart meters for that deployment, and recently announced a similar open-ended deal with Duke for an initial $15.8 million smart meter order that could expand to as much as $150 million (see Echelon Expands Smart Meter Contract With Duke Energy).
The idea is to link Echelon's smart meters, which use powerline carrier technology to transmit data over low-voltage power lines, to Ambient's communications nodes that typically sit at the transformer.
Ambient's nodes then convert that into various modes of IP-based long-range communications, most prominently using Verizon Wireless' cellular networks, Joyce said.
Duke has stood out amongst U.S. utilities for keeping its smart grid communications choices wide open. Besides Ambient and Echelon, Duke has also asked Jackson, Miss.-based SmartSynch to develop communications modules that can be updated to link a variety of communications (see SmartSynch's Smart Grid in a Box).
And, of course, Duke has said it will turn to Cisco Systems and the smart grid networking gear it is busy building, though details on that partnership haven't yet emerged (see Duke Energy Enlists Cisco in its Smart Grid Efforts).
While Joyce said he anticipated Ambient's communications nodes being the backbone of Duke's smart meter deployment, he said SmartSynch or others could serve the roughly 20 percent of situations where Ambient's solution might not be best suited for the task.
It's a common choice facing utilities, since communications technologies that work well for rural areas don't work well in densely populated urban areas, and visa versa. Echelon's power line signaling technology, for example, might not be the most cost-effective solution for sparsely populated areas where a transformer may serve just one customer.
Duke has also separated itself from the majority of U.S. utilities in choosing powerline carrier communications for its chief mode of getting smart meters to network locally. Most of the utilities in North America are using wireless mesh systems instead (see RF Mesh, ZigBee Top North American Utilities' Smart Meter Wish Lists).
Joyce did say that Duke is looking to Milwaukee, Wis.-based Badger Meter Inc. to supply smart gas and water meters to the utility. Those meters use wireless mesh communications, which Ambient's nodes will take up and translate as well, he said.
Duke has said it intends to install about 450,000 smart gas meters in Ohio, but hasn't publicly announced its intention to work with Badger on that project.
Duke has also declined to confirm or deny reports that it is working with North Carolina-based wireless networking developer Sequentric Energy Systems to design in-home energy management networks for a pilot project it's doing in its headquarters city of Charlotte, N.C. (see Sequentric Working on Duke Pilot Project).
Nor has the utility commented on reports that it is using in-home energy management displays from Toronto-based startup Lixar, which was recently acquired by well-funded smart grid software startup GridPoint (see GridPoint Buys Home Energy Management Startup Lixar).
As for Ambient's other utility prospects, Joyce said that New York utility Consolidated Edison is an investor in the company, and that the two may seek to "deploy some of the newer technology" from Ambient in the "very near future."
But he wouldn't confirm whether or not that meant that Ambient might be involved in the stimulus-seeking smart grid projects the utility has proposed. Those include an unspecified request in support of a $375 million smart meter deployment, as well as a $46 million request to support a smart grid demonstration project involving Boeing Corp., Viridity Energy, the city of New York and Columbia University (see Green Light post).
Ambient signs smart-grid communication deal- worth a minimum of $50 million
Wednesday, September 9, 2009, 12:53pm EDT
Ambient signs smart-grid communication deal
Boston Business Journal
Ambient Corp. announced Wednesday it has signed a long-term agreement with Duke Energy Corp. to provide the communications infrastructure for the next phase of Duke Energy’s smart-grid deployment project.
Newton, Mass.-based Ambient said the deal, worth a minimum of $50 million, calls for the company to supply its communications node, which transmits data from smart meters to Charlotte, N.C.-based Duke’s (NYSE: DUK) operations center. The company has been working with the utility on smart-grid projects since 2005.
“Duke is pleased to expand our relationship with Ambient through the execution of this agreement. Ambient’s two-way communication node advances our vision of building a smart grid intelligent network that supports the integration of numerous devices on the grid,” Todd Arnold, Duke Energy’s senior vice president of smart grid and customer systems, said in a statement.
The utility is looking to expand its smart grid to about 700,000 end users in Ohio as well as communities in Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina and Kentucky.
Ambient signs smart-grid communication deal
Boston Business Journal
Ambient Corp. announced Wednesday it has signed a long-term agreement with Duke Energy Corp. to provide the communications infrastructure for the next phase of Duke Energy’s smart-grid deployment project.
Newton, Mass.-based Ambient said the deal, worth a minimum of $50 million, calls for the company to supply its communications node, which transmits data from smart meters to Charlotte, N.C.-based Duke’s (NYSE: DUK) operations center. The company has been working with the utility on smart-grid projects since 2005.
“Duke is pleased to expand our relationship with Ambient through the execution of this agreement. Ambient’s two-way communication node advances our vision of building a smart grid intelligent network that supports the integration of numerous devices on the grid,” Todd Arnold, Duke Energy’s senior vice president of smart grid and customer systems, said in a statement.
The utility is looking to expand its smart grid to about 700,000 end users in Ohio as well as communities in Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina and Kentucky.
Duke Energy Selects Ambient Corporation's Technology for Next Phase of Smart Grid Deployment
Duke Awards Smart Grid Contract to Ambient
Press Release
Source: Ambient Corporation
On Wednesday September 9, 2009, 8:00 am EDT
BOSTON, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ambient Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: ABTG - News) today announced a long-term agreement with Duke Energy to provide communication technologies for the utility's next phase of its smart grid deployment.
"Duke is pleased to expand our relationship with Ambient through the execution of this agreement. Ambient's two-way communication node advances our vision of building a smart grid intelligent network that supports the integration of numerous devices on the grid," said Todd Arnold, Duke Energy's SVP of Smart Grid and Customer Systems.
The contract calls for Ambient to provide its X-series communications node as the central communications technology to transmit data from residential and commercial smart meters, and other applications back to the utility's network operations center. This communications node allows for the efficient collection, analysis and management of energy demand through collected usage data to promote more reliable, affordable and environmentally friendly operations.
"This contract continues a strong collaboration with Duke Energy from early smart grid development projects begun in 2005," said John J. Joyce, President and CEO of Ambient Corporation. "We are pleased to work with Duke Energy to provide a key component of its communications platform, helping to achieve its vision for a smart grid network."
Duke Energy, one of the largest electric power companies in the United States, has committed to building smart grid deployments over the next five years throughout its service regions, and recently received regulatory approval for an approximate 700,000 electric smart meter deployment in Ohio. The company also has plans for smart grid initiatives in Indiana, the Carolinas and Kentucky. (See Duke Energy's http://smartenergynewsroom.com).
About Ambient Corporation
Ambient designs, develops and markets Ambient Smart Grid® communications technologies and equipment. Using open standards-based technologies along with in-depth industry experience, Ambient provides utilities with solutions for creating smart grid communication platforms and technologies. Headquartered in Newton, MA, Ambient is a publicly traded company (OTC Bulletin Board: ABTG - News). More information on Ambient is available at www.ambientcorp.com.
Press Release
Source: Ambient Corporation
On Wednesday September 9, 2009, 8:00 am EDT
BOSTON, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ambient Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: ABTG - News) today announced a long-term agreement with Duke Energy to provide communication technologies for the utility's next phase of its smart grid deployment.
"Duke is pleased to expand our relationship with Ambient through the execution of this agreement. Ambient's two-way communication node advances our vision of building a smart grid intelligent network that supports the integration of numerous devices on the grid," said Todd Arnold, Duke Energy's SVP of Smart Grid and Customer Systems.
The contract calls for Ambient to provide its X-series communications node as the central communications technology to transmit data from residential and commercial smart meters, and other applications back to the utility's network operations center. This communications node allows for the efficient collection, analysis and management of energy demand through collected usage data to promote more reliable, affordable and environmentally friendly operations.
"This contract continues a strong collaboration with Duke Energy from early smart grid development projects begun in 2005," said John J. Joyce, President and CEO of Ambient Corporation. "We are pleased to work with Duke Energy to provide a key component of its communications platform, helping to achieve its vision for a smart grid network."
Duke Energy, one of the largest electric power companies in the United States, has committed to building smart grid deployments over the next five years throughout its service regions, and recently received regulatory approval for an approximate 700,000 electric smart meter deployment in Ohio. The company also has plans for smart grid initiatives in Indiana, the Carolinas and Kentucky. (See Duke Energy's http://smartenergynewsroom.com).
About Ambient Corporation
Ambient designs, develops and markets Ambient Smart Grid® communications technologies and equipment. Using open standards-based technologies along with in-depth industry experience, Ambient provides utilities with solutions for creating smart grid communication platforms and technologies. Headquartered in Newton, MA, Ambient is a publicly traded company (OTC Bulletin Board: ABTG - News). More information on Ambient is available at www.ambientcorp.com.
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