Author Archive
Smart grid comes home: Google buys Nest
Yesterday Google announced the purchase of Nest, a company that makes “smart” thermostats. Why would Google pay such a handsome price ($3.2 billion) for something as prosaic as thermostats? In short, because these devices may represent the single largest untapped energy management opportunity available — something that many utilities probably would gladly pay for. Not to mention, smart thermostats also provide a way to bring energy management inside the home.
Full post on Siemens Smart Grid Watch blog: Google’s Nest acquisition brings the smart grid closer to home
Look beyond meter-to-cash for smart metering benefits
Meter-to-cash (M2C) is one of the most common business justifications for deploying smart meters and meter data management (MDM) platforms. But MDM is much more than just M2C. MDM can comprise several strategies that help utilities increase revenues and reduce costs, not just through the billing system.
Full post: Meter-to-cash: What it is, and why it’s only the starting point for smart meter benefits
Europe: New EU guidelines should increase demand response
Last year the European Commission (part of the three-part EU government) published the 2012 Energy Efficiency Directive — which set legally binding measures to step up Member States’ efforts to use energy more efficiently at all stages, from production to distribution to consumption. Last week, the EC explained more about how to implement the EED, by issuing additional guidance on energy efficiency to Europe’s Member States on energy efficiency.
Full post: New guidelines should increase demand response in Europe
Why energy data analytics is getting smarter
The value of energy data goes far beyond simple meter-to-cash billing improvements. New machine learning technology can help utilities spot patterns in energy data that can enhance operations, identify problems, aid long-term planning for assets and networks, and much more.
Machine learning algorithms can help utilities address with a broad range of practical and strategic questions, such as:
- Which customers are more likely to switch providers?
- Which meters are more likely to have problems?
- How to adapt grid operations to accommodate fluctuating levels of renewable resources?
This month, at European Utility Week, Krishan Gupta (Director of Product Management for eMeter, a Siemens business) will give a presentation exploring practical applications of recent advances in AMI analytics technology.
Full post: Machine learning: Why energy data analytics is getting smarter
Energy data ownership: balancing customer privacy and utility service
Smart meters can generate considerable data about how consumers use energy services. But who “owns” that data? This thorny issue makes it challenging to balance the consumer’s reasonable expectation of privacy with the utility’s goal of providing better service while enhancing grid operations.
This month, at European Utility Week, Larsh Johnson (Chief Technology Officer for eMeter, a Siemens business) will participate in a panel discussion exploring these issues…
Full post: Energy data ownership: balancing privacy and service
EnergyIP passes 50MM test: meter data management that scales
The data generated by advanced metering infrastructure can quickly grow huge — both as more meters get rolled out, and as each meter generates a larger amount of data. So utilities need meter data management solutions that can scale up fast. To demonstrate that its EnergyIP MDM platform is up to this challenge, eMeter, a Siemens business, recently conducted a test proving that EnergyIP can easily handle scaling up to the data equivalent of 50 million smart meters.
That’s about as many meters as might be deployed across an entire small country. But some large utilities plan to run at that scale — either in terms of the number of meters, or collecting more sensor data from those meters…
Full post: Scalable meter data management: EnergyIP passes 50MM test
Analytics for utility business intelligence: Training May 29-31
Later this month in San Francisco, eMeter, a Siemens business, will offer a special three-day, hands-on workshop. Here utilities will learn how to use eMeter’s Analytics Foundation to solve problems and support core business goals. This course will cover some key aspects and capabilities of the latest version (1.2) of the Analytics Foundation package for Energy IP 7.X.
Full post: Training May 29-31: Using analytics for business intelligence
Leadership conference on smart grid software: June 4-6, San Francisco
ow can you get the most out of your smart meter and smart grid data? On June 4-6, industry leaders from around the globe will gather in San Francisco for the Siemens Smart Grid Software Leadership Conference – where they’ll discuss trends and best practices, share experiences and get training.
Full post: Smart grid software leaders to gather in June, San Francisco
White House: Smart grid part of energy blueprint
On March 16, President Obama released an energy policy blueprint, which includes a proposal for an Energy Security Trust. A little noticed — but important — element of this Trust is a provision to support demand response and the smart grid.
U.S shows strong gains in energy efficiency, sustainability: new report
Significant data presented in a new market intelligence report on U.S. clean energyindicates that overall U.S. electricity demand is flat or even declining.
According to this report (published by Bloomberg New Energy Finance and the Business Council on Sustainable Energy), total U.S. energy use fell 6.4% from 2007-2012. This was driven largely by advances in state and federal energy efficiency initiatives, which the power sector frequently opposes.
Read full guest post by Doug Todd, director of U.S. Government Affairs for Siemens Corp.: Report: Strong U.S gains in energy efficiency, sustainability
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