Utilities to test Google’s PowerMeter gadget

Google has confirmed partnerships with eight national and international energy companies to allow consumers to access data about their energy usage through Google’s PowerMeter gadget.

Google PowerMeter receives information from utility smart metres and energy management devices and provides customers with access to their home electricity consumption right on their personal iGoogle homepage.

Over the past several months, Google has been looking to partner with utilities that are installing (or have already installed) this equipment in their customers’ homes.

Its partners are: San Diego Gas & Electric® (California); TXU Energy (Texas); JEA (Florida); Reliance Energy (India); Wisconsin Public Service Corporation (Wisconsin); White River Valley Electric Cooperative (Missouri); Toronto Hydro–Electric System Limited (Canada); Glasgow EPB (Kentucky).

Google PowerMeter is an opt-in service and users must sign up to participate. All energy data received by Google PowerMeter will be stored securely, and users will be able to delete their energy data or ask their utility to stop sending data to Google PowerMeter at any time. Google PowerMeter is not widely available yet.

Google joins GridWise Alliance

The GridWise Alliance has announced that Google, Bridge Strategy Group, Sharp Laboratories and 3Tier have joined the national coalition.

The GridWise Alliance, founded in 2003, advocates a vision of an electric system that integrates the infrastructure, processes, devices, information and market structure so that energy can be generated, distributed, and consumed more efficiently and cost effectively. Its members include utilities, IT companies, equipment vendors, new technology providers and educational institutions.

On joining the Alliance, which mainly focuses on transforming the nation's electric power system, Dan Reicher, Google's director for Climate Change & Energy Initiatives said, "Smart grid technologies will empower consumers with real time, money-saving information about their energy use. Building a smart grid -- essentially an energy Internet -- will also enable plug-in electric vehicles, speed the development of utility-scale renewable energy, and spur the creation of clean energy jobs."

Guido Bartels, chairman of the GridWise Alliance and GM of IBM's Global Energy and Utilities Industry, said while there is general agreement that a sustainable energy future must incorporate energy efficiency, renewables, storage, and plug-in cars, it is often forgotten or underemphasised that these solutions all depend on a smarter grid to achieve scale and cost effectiveness.

"The GridWise Alliance members recognise that a smart grid is foundational for a sustainable energy future and if there is a growing consensus within the US that clean energy is a platform for rebuilding the American economy, then it follows that a smart grid is also critical to economic growth," said Bartels.