Smart Utilities

Renesas Electronics and its alliance partner And Technology Research have announced a complete Zigbee Pro module-based design kit that includes the Smart Energy1.1 profile.

Enecsys has teamed with Ember to bring wireless Zigbee communications to roof-top solar photovoltaic (PV) systems so that households and businesses can better monitor and optimise their systems’ performance.

Sprint and Neptune Technology Group are working together to modernise the water utility infrastructure in the USA by combining the Sprint wireless network and M2M expertise with Neptune’s automated metering.

Bonn, Germany. 28 September, 2011 — Deutsche Telekom has extended its Software as a Service (SaaS) portfolio to include the SAP system, ‘SAP for Utilities’. Energy providers, the housing sector, and meter operators can now lease hardware and software for all processes at a fixed monthly price per meter

According to Bangalore-based Business Line, Intel India plans to add 20 new partners in the country next year to its energy management drive. This project is designed to help homes, commercial establishments and industries reduce power consumption.

At Metering Europe 2011, Navetas Energy Management will showcase its energy disaggregation technology. The technology can transform smart meters into intelligent energy measurement and management systems in homes or businesses, by accurately tracking energy consumption at an appliance-level, from a single point.

Greenpocket has come up with a smartphone app connecting smart metering with the social web, and plans to present the social metering app at next month’s Metering Billing/CRM Europe in Amsterdam.

China is expected to deploy 280 million smart meters by 2016, according to research by In-Stat.

The Proliphix IMT-550 internet managed thermostat has been made available for use with Sprint wireless network connectivity.

Eurotech has won a US$1.7m follow-on order to supply the Zywan cellular router to a US regional power company rolling out smart meters to more than two million customers.

The government of the United Kingdom has announced up to €5.22 billion in seven to nine year contracts, to build a wide area network and data services, to support smart meters.

Electric vehicles, or EVs, offer a compelling option for environmentally sustainable travel and transportation and they are fast becoming a regular part of daily life worldwide.

The Home Gateway Initiative (HGI) is to use its Chicago meeting next week to look at applications of Zigbee profiles for its home energy management (HEM) service specifications.

Boeing and Siemens have formed a strategic alliance for the joint development and marketing of smart grid technologies to improve energy access and security

AT&T and Digi have joined forces to offer Digi X-Grid, a suite of products and services designed to bring connectivity to energy-oriented devices in homes and businesses.

The need for the change toward ‘smart’ utility services is clear. The UK’s electricity delivery system or ‘grid’ was built when energy was relatively inexpensive and, while minor upgrades have been made to meet increasing demand,