Mahindra Satyam announces development of Smart Grid Research & Innovation Center at University of Waterloo

Mahindra Satyam, a leading global consulting and IT services provider, today announced the development of Ontario's first Smart Grid Research and Innovation Center (RIC) on the University of Waterloo Campus in Ontario, Canada. The RIC will provide students, teachers and IT professionals the tools to foster and evaluate innovative developments of next generation smart grid technology. The Center development is part of an ongoing strategic memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Mahindra Satyam and the University of Waterloo. "We are eager to work with the University of Waterloo as it takes a leadership role in the academic and technology communities by investing in smart grid initiatives and technologies," said Arvind Malhotra, Senior Vice President at Mahindra Satyam. "The Center will showcase the benefits of the ongoing smart grid technological revolution and will allow students, faculty and industry professionals to conduct cutting edge research with real world implications."

The RIC, developed in collaboration with the University of Waterloo's Institute for Sustainable Energy (WISE), will draw upon the collective expertise of University faculty members from areas including mathematics, chemistry, mechanical, computer, electrical and systems engineering. Mahindra Satyam's institutional expertise in smart grid data analytics, renewable systems integration, electric vehicles and integration with the distribution grid and micro-grids for rural and remote applications, will help to safely and responsibly develop innovative solutions for the Canadian and global community. The objective of the RIC will be to develop a curriculum and related training programs at the University for highly qualified professionals in the smart grid sector, validate and test innovative products and technologies before large scale implementation and provide facilities to University faculty and industry leaders for collaborative work in the sector. "Ontario is now a leading global jurisdiction in the Smart Grid sector. This has been achieved through a judicious combination of far reaching Government policy initiatives and legislation. The next steps are to convert this advantage to provide Ontario companies a leg up to capture the opportunities in the global market place for solutions that are Ontario innovations," said Dr. Jatin Nathwani, Professor and Ontario Research Chair in Public Policy for Sustainable Energy Management. Mahindra Satyam is uniquely positioned to deliver comprehensive services for the RIC by collaborating internally with the Mahindra Group: Bridge Strategy Group for Advisory and Strategy Consulting, Tech Mahindra for Communication and Security services, Mahindra Reva for EV technologies and Mahindra Solar for Renewable Energy technologies. The company recently announced the completion of its Smart Grid Customer Demonstration Center (CDC) in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. The announcement also reflects Mahindra Satyam's ongoing momentum and investment in the Canadian market. Most recently, through its sister company, Tech Mahindra, the company established the Innovation Center for Mobility Solutions in, Ontario in June 2011.

Mahindra Satyam 

Mahindra Satyam is a leading global business and information technology services company that leverages deep industry and functional expertise, leading technology practices, and an advanced, global delivery model to help clients transform their highest-value business processes and improve their business performance.

The company's professionals excel in enterprise solutions, supply chain management, client relationship management, business intelligence, business process quality, engineering and product lifecycle management, and infrastructure services, among other key capabilities. Mahindra Satyam is part of the $12.5 billion Mahindra Group, a global federation of companies and one of the top 10 business houses based in India. The Group's interests span automotive products, aviation, components, farm equipment, financial services, hospitality, information technology, logistics, real estate and retail. Mahindra Satyam development and delivery centers in the US, Canada, Brazil, the UK, Hungary, Egypt, UAE, India, China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Australia serve numerous clients, including many Fortune 500 organizations.For more information, see www.mahindrasatyam.com For clarifications, write to us at:MediaRelations@mahindrasatyam.com

University of Waterloo

The University of Waterloo, located at the heart of Canada's Technology Triangle, is one of Canada's leading comprehensive universities. Waterloo is home to 30,000 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students who are dedicated to making the future better and brighter. Waterloo, known for the largest post- secondary co-operative education program in the world, supports enterprising partnerships in learning, research and discovery. For more information about Waterloo, visit www.uwaterloo.ca.

Contribution: Mithun Bhaskar

India among the top 10 Smart Grid Investment countries

A recent research report published by Innovation Observatory reveals that utilities worldwide will spend US$378 billion in Smart Grid technologies by 2030. However, the lion share (almost 80%)  of the total investment will be taken by only 10 countries. The United States will be leading the Smart Grid investment for the next five years. By 2030, it will spend US$66 billion for intelligent smart grid infrastructure. Apart from smart meters, the investment will be geared towards grid automation, communication infrastructure, IT systems and hardware, home area network, and system integration. China, which will take over the US as the leading Smart Grid market by 2016, will supposedly spend US$99 billion by 2030, which includes roll-out of 360 million Smart Meters.

The two emerging nations India and Brazil also have massive smart grid investment plans and are among the top 10 list. India, which will be the third largest smart grid investment market, is set to install 130 million Smart Meters by 2021. At present, the market in India is nascent with only few smart meters roll out happened. But it seems to gather pace from 2012 onwards. During the same period, Brazil, which will be the sixth largest smart gird market, is set to replace 63 million smart meters.

The other members of the top 10 includes leading European countries the UK, Germany, France, and Spain and Japan and South Korea from the Asia Pacific region.

The competition to win the contracts will be fierce among the technology suppliers to tap the massive market opportunity. Companies will have to tailor their strategy based on the scale of the project, the region of the market, their expertise, and smart grid value chain they operate in.

Top 10 List

1) China

2) USA

3) India

4) France

5) Germany

6) Brazil

7) Spain

8) The UK

9) Japan

10) South Korea

Countries across the world embracing Smart Grid (Europe) ... Part 2 .

In Part -2 and 3, we have covered countries of Europe in this continuous series of smart grid profiling of countries across the world.

Europe : European countries are actively collaborating for smart grid through Smart Grid European Technology Platform (ETP), which was set up in 2005 to foster and support smart grid deployment in Europe. ETP is playing an important intermediary role in developing Smart Grid infrastructure in Europe through joint working groups, knowledge and expertise exchange, sharing best practices ,  developing common standards, and collaborative projects. Its smart grid vision comprises of four key elements viz. flexible, accessible, reliable, and economical. European union plans to equip every European home with smart meters by 2022. Though European countries have joint Smart Grid collaboration through ETP, they also have their own  independent Smart Grid plans.

Italy : Italy can be considered the pioneer of the Smart Grid technology, In 2001, when the smart grid was relatively unknown lexicon, Italian utility Enel became the first utility in the world to roll out smart meters to its 40 million customers. By 2006, Enel had spent $3 billion for smart grid infrastructure and was reaping $750 million in annual savings. Today 85 % of Italian home are covered with smart meters. By 2011, the government plans to cover 95% of the consumers with smart grid infrastructure and if it goes as planned, Italy could well be the second Smart Grid country after Malta.

Germany : The largest economy of Europe is one of the early adopters of Green energy and its related technologies. The government of Germany is pursuing Smart Grid under the E-Energy - "The Internet of Energy"  initiative through which it plans to connect giant solar plants located in desert, gigantic offshore and onshore wind farms, and mini power plants located on house rooftop and in the basement of buildings. Under this initiative, it has selected 6 project that will develop Smart Grid pilots in 6 different region. The six selected projects are being funded by  Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMUi) and Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) with €40 million and  €20 million euro respectively, another €80 million will be generated by the 6 selected companies. 

E- Energy Concept Germany

The selected companies are
1) eTelligence for model region of Cuxhave coordinated by EWE AG  

2) E-DeMa for model region of Rhein-Ruhr coordinated by RWE Energy AG

3)MEREGIO for model region of Baden-Württemberg coordinated by EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG

4) Model Ciy of Mannheim for model region of Rhein-Neckar coordinated by MVV Energie AG

5) RegModHarz for regenerative model region of Harz coordinated by RegenerativKraftwerk Harz GmbH & Co KG

6) Smart Watts for model region of Aachen coordination by utilicount GmbH & Co. KG

Germany has mandated that all the building in the country should be equipped with Smart Meter starting with 2010 and will roll-out  Demand Response program or Time of Use (TOU) features from 2011. Apart from the government push, companies like Siemens AG, ABB, Cisco, and others are collaborating with utilities like Yello Strom for Smart Grid projects, overall, Germany alone represents €40 Billion Smart Grid investment opportunity by 2020.

United Kingdom : The Prime Minister of UK, David Cameroon laid out strong vision for Smart Grid in UK in 2009. His government plans to invest £1bn in Smart Grid which includes putting Smart Meter in every UK home. Prime Minister Cameroon visualizes Smart Grid as the internet of the electricity that may help transform UK into low carbon economy. In total, £10 billion will be injected in the UK economy between 2010 and 2020 on a full smart meter roll-out, smart grid trials, and deployment under the Low Carbon Networks Fund and electric vehicle infrastructure. The Electricity Network Strategy Group (ENSG), which is jointly chaired by The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem), is the primary nodal agency working for Smart Grid action plan and development.

 UK Smart Grid Plan Layout

According to the ENSG, carbon reduction, energy security, and economic competitiveness & affordability are the three broad objectives of UK Smart Grid. Between 2010 and 2012, the UK will develop detailed prospectus and design through coordination between government, private companies, and other stakeholders. It will start full mass scale smart meter roll out from mid 2012 that it plans to complete by 2020.

Part -1, Part -2,  Part -3, Part -4

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