This blog bring to you the latest news about smart grid producers and final consumers for easy understanding of this new technology.

Smart Grid is a sustainable energy system that measure, check, and control the generation, transmission, and consumption of electrical energy in grids on all voltage levels. Smart Grid experts are not only driving forward the development of effective communication and information technologies for the build-up of intelligent power supply networks, solutions are already being applied right now on various products. Examples of these are control systems for the realization of virtual power plants, intelligent consumer data acquisition systems, and smart distribution management systems.

The stimulus grant will help fund the following projects, which will begin next month:

Advanced metering infrastructure

MGE will install meters capable of two-way communication for all large commercial and industrial customers. The equipment monitors and analyzes customers’ energy consumption patterns on an hourly, daily and seasonal basis. The information will be used to educate customers about their energy use and how they can conserve energy and lower emissions. The meters also will be used for outage notification and tracking power quality.

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles support

MGE will also install a network of up to 18 public and 25 residential charging stations for electric and electric hybrid vehicles in the Madison area. MGE will study the impacts of vehicle charging on the electric power grid and on home energy use and demand.  

Distribution management

MGE will also install new distribution/management capabilities. During an outage, MGE system operators will be able to quickly identify the best options for restoring and rerouting power to reduce outage times.

MGE generates and distributes electricity to 138,000 customers in Dane County, Wis., and purchases and distributes natural gas to 142,000 customers in seven south-central and western Wisconsin counties. MGE’s parent company is MGE Energy (Nasdaq: MGEE). The company’s roots in the Madison area date back more than 150 years.

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Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have now taken a critical step towards this goal with the discovery that nano-sized crystals of cobalt oxide can effectively carry out the critical photosynthetic reaction of splitting water molecules. Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory  are now in the process of a major breakthrough towards artificial photosynthesis. They are quite hopeful about the properties of nano-sized crystals of cobalt oxide.

They are banking on cobalt oxide that can effectively carry out the crucial photosynthetic reaction of splitting water molecules. Artificial photosynthesis will not add up to the green house gases and hence global warming. This will be a renewable resource for transportation energy. The idea is to create an artificial leaf that can duplicate the few steps of photosynthesis. That leaf can capture the solar photons and have a catalytic system in place that can oxidize water.

Heinz Frei and Feng Jiao have published the findings of their study in the journal Angewandte Chemie. This research was carried out with help of the Helios Solar Energy Research Center (Helios SERC), a scientific program at Berkeley Lab under the direction of Paul Alivisatos. They are concentrating on developing fuels from sunlight. Frei is the deputy director of Helios SERC. Heinz Frei, who is a chemist with Berkeley Lab’s Physical Biosciences Division, explains, “Photooxidation of water molecules into oxygen, electrons and protons (hydrogen ions) is one of the two essential half reactions of an artificial photosynthesis system – it provides the electrons needed to reduce carbon dioxide to a fuel.” He again emphasized why he is putting lots on effort into cobalt oxide, “Effective photooxidation requires a catalyst that is both efficient in its use of solar photons and fast enough to keep up with solar flux in order to avoid wasting those photons.

Clusters of cobalt oxide nanocrystals are sufficiently efficient and fast, and are also robust (last a long time) and abundant. They perfectly fit the bill.” Fredi also explained why they are not very keen on using iridium oxide for artificial photosynthesis. He stated though iridium oxide is efficient and fast enough for light absorption and a good catalyst but this metal is least abundant metal on earth. Hence it is not very practical to use it on commercial scale. He says, “We needed a metal that was equally effective but far more abundant.” First they tried to take the manganese-based organometallic complexes for artificial photosynthesis, which plants use in Photosystem II. But manganese-containing compounds were water insoluble and not very robust. Fredi and his team paid attention to cobalt oxide which is a highly abundant material and fit for commercial use.

Cobalt oxide also dissolves in water. But it was not a success story right from the beginning. The micron-sized particles of cobalt oxide were ineffective and slow to act as catalysts. Then Frei and Jiao turned to nano-sized cobalt oxide. “The yield for clusters of cobalt oxide (Co3O4) nano-sized crystals was about 1,600 times higher than for micron-sized particles,” said Frei. “And the turnover frequency (speed) was about 1,140 oxygen molecules per second per cluster, which is commensurate with solar flux at ground level (approximately 1,000 Watts per square meter).” The next big step, however, will be to integrate the water oxidation half reaction with the carbon dioxide reduction step in an artificial leaf type system.

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Some of the goals are:

• The team is using a cerium-oxide-based system to turn CO2 into carbon monoxide.
• They are aiming to convert water in a similar way into hydrogen with the help of solar power as well.
• Using both of these to produce synthetic fuel.
• The goal is that this will help considerably reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Counter Rotating Ring Receiver Reactor Recuperator (CR5):

Converting CO2:
This two-chambered machine is using rotating rings of cerium oxide and a huge parabolic mirror heating up the solar energy to 1500 degrees which releases oxygen from cerium oxide and the oxygen gets pumped out. The rotation takes off the cooling deoxygenated ring into other chamber where it again reacts with the pumped CO2 to produce cerium oxide and carbon monoxide. A steady stream of carbon monoxide is produced.

Plan is to utilize the CO2 from power-plant chimneys initially, but ultimately they are planning to take CO2 directly from the air.

Converting water:
In a similar process another reactor can produce water in the same way but instead of CO2, water is introduced and a stream of hydrogen is produced.

Syngas – the synthetic fuel:
Now once again solar energy is utilized. By using mirrors, concentrated solar energy at 400 degree Celsius helps in forming calcium carbonate by causing reaction between CO2 and calcium oxide. Now calcium carbonate is again heated to 800 degrees with solar power and another reaction takes place releasing pure CO2 and calcium oxide. In a similar way in another reactor with CO2 and zinc oxide, zinc metal and oxygen molecules are produced. Combining with zinc, steam and CO2 produce synthetic fuel called Syngas and zinc oxide.

CO2 based power:
James Miller, a combustion chemist at Sandia, says in New Scientist, “This area holds out promise for technologies that can produce large amounts of carbon-neutral power at affordable prices, which can be used where and when that power is needed.”

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Indeed, Cisco chief executive John Chambers has said the smart grid promises to be even larger than the Internet, driving the need for the larger address space of IPv6.

“It’s going to be critical for Cisco to forge partnerships with smart grid solution providers–the Accenture’s and ABB’s of the world–who specialize in the utility industry and can engage the utilities at a business and strategic level, not just the IT and operational level,” said Doug Washburn, an analyst, infrastructure and operations, Forrester Research. “I did not hear much from Cisco on this topic, and it’s an important one since these players help utilities determine their smart gird strategy which ultimately drives technology and vendor decisions,” Washburn said.

The Cisco Grid Router 2010 also includes upgraded protocols to identify and prioritize messages from so-called SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) and Goose control networks. The router is based on Cisco’s ISR G2 model 2905 commercial router announced in March.

The Cisco Grid Switch 2520 is based on the company’s Catalyst series switches. It adds RS-232 serial interfaces to link to utility substation control systems.

The new router starts at a list price of $7,800, the switch lists for prices starting at $5,300. The announcements were timed for the opening of the Connectivity Week conference on smart grids.

The routers and switches, which Cisco calls ruggedized, are designed to integrate Internet Protocol communications with grid monitoring.

Cisco executives have spoken publicly about just how big an opportunity the company sees in the smart grid: Marie Hattar, a Cisco vice president, told CNETin May of 2009 that the smart grid could be a hundred to a thousand times the size of the Internet, and represent a $20 billion market over the next five years. President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package included $4.5 billion aimed at smart grid technologies, and required any recipients to match that spending, adding another $9 billion to the mix.

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GM’s latest plan to work with Google Android phones for a next-gen mobile app for the Chevy Volt (offering services like location-based services in addition to scheduling battery charge times) is an important step for GM to adapt its in-vehicle communication system to the specific needs of electric vehicle drivers. At the same time, Android, Google’s open operating system for mobile phones, could eventually take on a much larger role in connected vehicles — a topic we’ve delved into for a new research note over on GigaOM Pro (subscription required).

Android has already made some headway in automotive applications. Last year, auto supplier Continental AG announced plans to build a new hardware and software system called AutoLinQ that’ based on Android, aiming to begin demonstrating apps to automotive customers in the second half of 2010. Chinese automaker SAIC has also debuted a car called the Roewe 350 that includes an infotainment system built on version 2.1 of the Android OS.

According to the research firm iSuppli, while many concepts have emerged for bringing apps into the car, Android is the “most intriguing” because it allows automakers to easily create a custom interface and accesses a massive community of open-source developers and a ready supply of apps built for Android phones.

Being open source means vendors can access the Android source code freely and add proprietary extensions — something that could hold appeal to automakers looking to maximize both control and upgradability of operating systems for next-gen vehicles. With electric cars, the ability to upgrade as data comes in about battery, vehicle and device performance in real-world settings, and as new devices become available, will be a key element to keeping early adopters happy and delivering enough value to win over a broader swath of the market.

Still, automakers have a number of alternatives to Android for their next generation of vehicle communication systems. A source involved with the GM-Android project has told us some contenders include not only Android but also Microsoft, QNX Software Systems or some type of “homegrown” solution.

For alternative options beyond Google, some of the key points include Microsoft’s track record and experience with Ford, having developed the Sync system and recently moved more into the EV space to tackle smart charging for Ford electric vehicles using the home energy management tool Microsoft Hohm (both Ford and Microsoft have said they hope other automakers will sign on with Hohm).

A year ago GridPoint bought up stealthy Canadian energy management startup Lixar SRS, which had developed software to help businesses and consumers manage energy use. Lixar’s interface and design had gotten praise from its users, and at the time of the acquisition GridPoint said it would use the Lixar tool to “enhance its enterprise-class software.”

Buying up energy management players has become a bit of a trend for the larger smart grid infrastructure companies. Wireless network player Silver Spring Networks acquired Greenbox, and demand response company EnerNOC has bought up five various energy management startups.

For GridPoint, and these other smart grid firms, a contract like the one with USPS is a solid win. The organization has thousands of locations across the U.S., which means more sales, but also an interesting test bed to pilot the system at similar sites but with different geographies (energy consumption trends can be very regional). USPS has also been experimenting with green cars, and Bright Automotive, which makes a plug-in hybrid car called the IDEA, has a contract to retrofit a standard postal service fleet vehicle with its electric drive train and test the vehicle in Washington, D.C., for a year.

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Smart meters are all the rage right now, but Smart Grid is far more than just meters, and it’s coming faster than you ever expected. Driven by aggressive public policies and funding, Smart Grid is reshaping the utility industry and how utilities build and manage their information and communication technology (ICT) networks. This vital symposium:

• Examines best practices and case studies of utilities on the front line of Smart Grid implementation today
• Reveals unexpected effects and costs of Smart Grid on planning and development
• Highlights new and anticipated regulations, business change drivers, and technical standards that will affect your ICT networks now and in the future

Attend this symposium for actionable information and deep insights into how Smart Grid is transforming everything in our industry.

This event is from May 23 to May26th at Indiana Convention Center , IN.

Some of the topics are :

• Building the Smart Grid for Electric Cars—How You Can Plug in
• Smart Networks Council Open Meeting
• Smart Grids: Managing Data from Massive Numbers of Networked Devices—Better Planning for Better Results
• New Wireless Options for Utilities
• and more….

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Disclosure: This is what we are trying to do at EcoFactor. We use the Internet to help consumers automatically manage their home energy use through a SaaS (software as a service) platform.  Our industry experience has given us a front-row seat for both the historical revolution in IT and the impending one in the smart grid, and we see some specific parallels between the two. We’re not alone, but many trends in clean tech really do look a lot like the IT revolution.

Trend #1: The Internet changes everything

Remember CompuServe? Prodigy? AOL? At the dawn of what became the Internet, their “walled gardens” defined the online experience for millions of users. Today, the idea that your service provider told you what you could do with your connection seems quaint.

We see a number of efforts now to fence in the smart grid — to define and limit what can be done and who can do it. But just as the World Wide Web made such finger-in-the-dyke efforts futile last time, the Internet ‘s furious pace of innovation will again overwhelm those kinds of defenses.

The smart grid will enable automated energy management, automated dynamic price response, and a host of innovations we can’t yet imagine. It will reward companies that find innovative ways of leveraging diverse data sources, devices and technologies. And if those applications aren’t welcomed inside the walled gardens, the applications will simply route around them.

Ironically, these Internet-based products won’t just benefit consumers, they will benefit utilities, energy retailers, and home service providers, too. Terabytes of new data will offer grid managers greatly increased visibility into demand — and not just yesterday’s, but tomorrow’s — all the way down to the individual home level.

Trend #2: Consumer value and ease-of-use will drive the market

At the beginning of the PC revolution, early adopters bought Osbornes and KayPros and Apple IIs because they were innovative and cool. But those users had to put up with awkward interfaces and the need for considerable effort and expertise to keep them running. As long as even basic word processing required a mastery of command line syntax, there could be no mainstream consumer adoption of PCs. Getting past that barrier required both improved technology and a shift in philosophy: market growth means insulating consumers from the bits and bytes. It also means offering new applications (like browsers) that effectively leverage the connected world.

Many consumer-facing smart grid offerings today are, in effect, all about the bits and bytes. Home energy dashboards and reporting tools ask customers to know, care about and pay attention to the details of their energy consumption, but provide no easy way for consumers to take action and benefit from them. DR solutions ask consumers to accept discomfort in order to address grid-level problems like peak demand.

Today, new solutions allow consumers to maintain complete control over the temperature in their homes and achieve significant cost savings without ever thinking about therms or kilowatt hours or setback schedules — from any device, or automatically, and with no device at all. Just as the iPod and iTunes let users focus on the music, the winning smart grid applications will let users focus on the results, not the process.

Trend #3: The entrance of big tech speeds market maturation

Most early PC makers — Kaypro, Osborne, Apple — were just PC makers. As long as it looked like a not-ready-for-prime-time niche market, the giants in adjacent industries stayed on the sidelines. Just as IBM’s entrance into the PC market took that industry to the next phase of its evolution, today’s IT giants like Microsoft, Google, and Cisco are indicating their own perception that the smart grid market is ready to sustain the behemoths. In a sense, they have brought us to the end of the beginning of the smart grid.

As with the PC revolution, the presence of these blue chip companies legitimizes the industry for potential customers, and that legitimacy benefits not just the blue chip players, but competitors large and small. That said, the fact that the grid gains from Google’s entrance does not necessarily mean that the opposite is also true.  Mainframe giant IBM could not translate that strength into long-term dominance of the PC market; there is no guarantee that the IT giants will dominate the smart grid. But their presence will almost certainly propel it forward.

What does it all mean?

The Internet, the growing importance of the user experience, and the entrance of large tech companies should all be seen as good omens for the future of the smart grid.  These trends will lead to better products and services, which will in turn drive consumer adoption. And consumer adoption will be the key to fulfilling the environmental and economic potential of the smart grid.

The dashboard is very clean and easy to read. The GPS seems quite sophisticated and is inlaid, like a TV set.

It starts up just like a normal car. There are only three speeds: neutral, drive and reverse–very simple. You don’t have to press very hard to accelerate. The car will go from 0 to 30mph in 6.5 seconds, and has an electronically limited top speed of 60 mph. Of course, there is no sound when driving since it is electric.

It drives easily and responsively. We drove on a test track with lots of winding roads and a traffic-free straight away and it was a peppy, but not really speedy, ride.

It has a lithium battery which is included in the cost price and should last 8 to 10 years. It also has ESP, ABS brakes two airbags and seat belt pre-tensioners, and also features a NCAP tested tridion safety cell. It is air-conditioned which is a nice, although not that necessary, plus. The 30kW electric motor is built by Zytek Automotive, a UK technology company.

As the first step of its electric drive program, smart has been running 100 demonstration vehicles in the United Kingdom since 2007. The series production of the smart fortwo electric drive has now started with 1,000 vehicles, which will be run in both Europe- starting by the end of 2009- and the United States- starting in the second half of 2010 in several cities. The series production in large numbers will start for model year 2012 vehicles, which can be bought in all smart centers.

The smart fortwo electric drive will be equipped with a 16.5 kWh lithium-ion battery powering a 30 kW motor positioned over the rear drive wheels. The battery can be charged with either 100V or 220V systems and will require between 3.5 and 8 hours of charging time, depending on the voltage used and the starting state of the battery charge. An 85 mile range is anticipated.

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