Upcoming Smart Grid Conferences in India

The Smart Grid buzz is growing louder and louder in India. The country has few upcoming conferences in next two weeks. The first one is being hosted by Echelon which is going to be held in Mumbai from August 25 -26. The second is going to be hosted by The Institution of Engineering and Technology on August 27 at New Delhi.

Energy Efficiency and Smart Grid
Dates : August 25 -  26, 2010
Venue : Mumbai

International Conference on Smart Grids
Date : August 27, 2010
Venue : Crown Plaza, Delhi
Hosted by : IET

Echelon to host Smart Grid conference in Mumbai, India

Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ: ELON) today announced that it will host an energy efficiency and smart grid conference in Mumbai, India, August 25-26, 2010. The conference will address energy management technologies and strategies, economic and market drivers, regulatory developments and industry trends in energy efficiency and will provide best-practice case studies for implementing smart grids and energy management systems

Southeast Asia's rapid economic growth has raised substantial energy concerns for the region. India suffers from high energy costs, electricity transmission and distribution losses, inadequate use of natural resources for power generation, and chronic power shortages. The Government of India is analyzing over 750 large energy users in an effort to reduce energy consumption by approximately 10,000 megawatts (MW) per year. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency in India is mandating specific energy consumption decreases in large energy-consuming industries such as railways, manufacturing plants, steel industries and power generation plants. 

Using smart energy infrastructures in the form of both advanced metering and control networks reduces energy demand and helps offset the pressure to increase generation capacity while enabling demand management in real-time in response to grid conditions.

"India will soon implement industry targets regulating energy usage, and the drive towards energy efficiency is rapidly accelerating. The time to act is now, and we must make significant changes in how we view and use energy," said Dalip Singh, president of The Society of Energy Engineers and Managers.

"We aim to bring together government officials, energy solution providers, installers and end-users to discuss how to save money and the environment by improving energy efficiency," Anders Axelsson, Echelon's senior vice president of LWI sales and market development. "Decision makers from business, industry and government are now seeking integrated energy solutions to ensure a reliable and affordable power supply, and effective management of energy-related costs which affect ROI."

Axelsson continued, "According to a recent U.S. Department of Commerce trade mission to India regarding energy efficiency, the market potential for industrial energy efficiency is approximately $27 billion and the potential for green buildings is over $3 billion. India represents a tremendous opportunity for energy service companies."

Key topics to be discussed at the conference include:

• Smart grid concepts including automated demand response for energy conservation;
• Energy management systems for commercial buildings, schools and manufacturing facilities;
• Indoor and outdoor lighting systems technology and case studies showing up to 50% reduction in energy use;
• Concepts and technologies for Advanced Meter Infrastructure (AMI);
• Enterprise energy management systems – technology and case studies;
• Alternative energy sources – Echelon powered solar systems;
• LonWorks Open System case studies and best practices.

About Echelon Corporation
Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ: ELON) is leading the worldwide transformation of the electricity grid into a smart, communicating energy network, connecting utilities to their customers, enabling networking of everyday devices, and providing customers with energy aware homes and businesses that react to conditions on the grid.

Echelon's NES System – the backbone for the smart grid – is used by utilities to replace existing stand-alone electricity meters with a network infrastructure that is open, inexpensive, reliable, and proven. The NES System helps utilities compete more effectively, reduce operating costs, provide expanded services and help energy users manage and reduce overall energy use. Echelon's LonWorks® Infrastructure products extend the smart grid, powering tens of millions of energy aware, everyday devices made by thousands of companies – connecting them to each other, to the electricity grid and to the Internet. LonWorks based products work together to monitor and save energy; lower costs; improve productivity; and enhance service, quality, safety, and convenience in utility, municipal, building, industrial, transportation, and home area networks.

Source : www.echelon.org

Countries across the world embracing Smart Grid .. Part-1

Smart Grid is a hot buzz these days on the news, commercials, business, technology, and political spectrum. Over the years various technologies have changed but the energy grid, designed over 80-100 years ago has remained more or less the same. As it is said, if Graham Bell is to visit the earth today he would not recognize the communication technologies, but if Edison were to visit he would very well figure out the energy grid. The challenges of Global warming, limited conventional energy resources, increasing demand of energy, global energy security, and energy efficiency are the key concern for countries across the world. Smart Grid, which is an umbrella term for collection of technologies is set to play key role in meeting these energy challenges facing us today.    Smart Grid for India takes a closer look of the countries that are pursuing this technology to revolutionize their energy infrastructure which is said to have potential to transform the energy and utility industry the way Internet transformed the computer industry and may have same impact as internet has in our lives.

The United States : The US is at the forefront of Smart Grid technology race. Almost a year ago the Obama government allocated $3.4 billion stimulus budget for the Smart Grid technologies,  so far the government has allocated most of the stimulus fund to the selected companies,  universities, and organizations.  The United States has largest Smart Grid program going on in the world where governments, organizations, companies, universities, and utilities are collaborating for new Smart Grid standards, developing innovative products, setting up training institutes, initiating pilot projects, starting companies, and establishing consumer advocacy groups.

Smart Grid Projects in USA (Courtesy Smart Grid Clearing house)

Key developments

• Xcel Energy has started Smart Grid pilot projects to transforms Boulder, Colorado into Smart Grid city. When completed, Boulder will be the first Smart City in the world.
• Almost every utility in the US has some or other form of Smart Grid focus or project going on
• All major US companies including IBM (Smart Planet), Cisco(Smart Grid products), GE (ecomagination), Google (PowerMeter), Microsoft(Hohm), Itron, Accenture have strong Smart Grid focus
• National Institute of Science and Technology, IEEE, Department of Energy are actively collaborating with the stakeholders to set up Smart Grid standards
• More than 10 Smart Grid organization (GridWise Architecture, GridWise Alliance, ZigBee Alliance, Smart Grid Consumer Coalition)  have been established and are actively pursuing Smart Grid related development.
• Smart Grid Clearing house and www.smartgrid.gov provide comprehensive information about smart grid and smart grid projects sponsored by government respectively
• The US government and 15 other countries have launched International Smart Grid Action Network for global smart grid collaboration.

Canada : The northern neighbor of US is equally active in transforming its archaic grid  to Smart Grid. Canadian government is funding the utilities smart grid initiatives under the clean energy fund. The government plans to invest $1 billion over the next five years in clean energy. Ontario is leading the Smart Grid movement in Canada through its energy conservation responsibility Act of 2006 by which it has mandated that all the businesses and household be equipped with smart meter by 2010.


Key developments

• Canadian provinces Calgary, Alberta, Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island have received $2.5 to $20 million funding from the government for various Smart  Grid demonstration projects.
•  Hydro One, the Ontario utility with its Smart Grid partner Trilliant is actively pursuing Smart Grid initiative in Ontario region. It has installed more than 1.2 million Smart Meters in Ontario. Soon, Hydro One will have Time-of-Use(TOU) pricing mechanism for its consumers
•  BC Hydro (British Columbia), EnMax (Calgary), Fortis Alberta(Alberta) and other provincial utilities across the nation have started Smart Grid projects which are at various stages of implementation.
• Toronto Hydro, the Toronto energy provider has completed Smart Meter installation in Toronto. It has started Time-of-Use(TOU) pricing mechanism for its residential consumers.
• Organizations like Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) are spearheading the Smart Grid movement through Ontario Smart Grid Forum and Ontario Smart Grid Task Force

Mexico : Mexico is taking active interest in Smart Grid developments in North America, but  as of now the country do not have any national Smart Grid plans. The Country is participating in International forums like International Smart Grid Action Network (ISGAN) and is member for many of the ISGAN working groups. The Mexico city power supplier CFE is planning to upgrade its aging infrastructure for which it is actively considering to used Smart Grid technologies for the new upgrades.

Part -1, Part -2, Part-3, Part-4