Consumers Energy set to deploy AMI

Consumers Energy is to invest $500 million in advanced metering infrastructure that will allow its customers to take advantage of the latest smart meter technology.

The system will integrate smart appliances into the system so that customers have complete control over their energy consumption. Customers will have the option to manage their own energy consumption or can allow Consumers Energy to do it for them. Participating customers can expect to save up to 10 percent off their energy bill.

Consumers Energy will begin installing the new system over the next few months. "We want to give customers choices," Maureen Trumble, director of Consumers Energy's AMI programme told mlive.com.

Beginning in February, Consumers Energy will install around 6,000 smart meters in Jackson County, Michigan in a project lasting until June. Customers destined to receive the devices will be notified of the scheduled installation by mail. Next year the devices will undergo testing and in 2011 smart meters will be deployed throughout the state.

To educate the public on how the new system will function, the company has dedicated a Smart Services Learning Centre at its Jackson County office. The centre has been designed to depict a typical apartment complete with living room, kitchen, utility room, and appliances but with smart technology installed.

In November last year, IBM had signed a service agreement with Consumers Energy to help plan, deploy and test an AMI and smart grid field pilot network. The project plan called for testing the AMI network's ability to support minimum smart grid functions, collect interval energy usage data for demand response analysis and capture operational metrics for full deployment planning.

IBM and EDF embark on an energy sustainability project

IBM has signed a collaboration with EDF to jointly develop high performance computing solutions which can significantly advance the operation and optimisation of the complex systems and processes involved in electricity production and power management.

The two companies will also work on a project to explore key aspects of the energy systems that are important in EDF operations, in an effort to further energy sustainability.

Acknowledging the significance of extensive collaboration between the scientific and business communities, and new approaches in technology, John E. Kelly III, senior vice president and director of IBM Research said this ambitious initiative will explore how to apply technologies with new intelligence to seek significant improvements in energy efficiency and alternative energy.

Together, the companies will develop and validate sophisticated computational solutions to model a number of complex processes critical to EDF activities. EDF expects that this common initiative will increase its ability to further advance the efficiency of its power plants.

IBM expects that its work with EDF will help advance IBM's systems, software, middleware and applications capabilities in its Power Generation, Intelligent Utility Network and Advanced Water Management solutions, as well as many other industrial, environmental and research activities and lead to improved computer systems and applications designs in the future.

For its part, EDF has been investing in research and numerical simulation to support efficient and sustainable use of power production. Its R&D teams have developed a set of highly validated numerical codes and simulation platforms that play a key role in optimising plant operation.

IBM CEO recommends smart systems

IBM chairman and CEO Sam Palmisano has stressed upon the importance of technology and smart systems for improving global infrastructure.

He cited reports that energy grids lose as much as 40 percent to 70 percent from inefficient systems and said traffic congestion in the US costs $78 billion a year. That's 4.2 billion lost hours and 2.9 billion gallons, he said. Stockholm, Sweden's smart-traffic system reduced traffic by 20 percent and drove emissions down by 12 percent, while 40,000 new users take advantage of daily public transportation, he said, according to InformationWeek.

Palmisano, proposing a technology-fueled economic recovery plan that calls for public and private investment in more efficient systems for utility grids, traffic management, food distribution, water conservation and health care, said, "It's obvious, when you consider the trajectories of development driving the planet today, that we're going to have to run a lot smarter and more efficiently -- especially as we seek the next areas of investment to drive economic growth and to move large parts of the global economy out of recession." He added, "Fortunately, we now can. We see this in how companies and institutions are rethinking their systems and applying technology in new ways."

IBM works on technical blueprints for smart grids

IBM is preparing a technical framework “to accelerate new technology integration into the creaky electricity distribution grid.”

This was recently shared by Drew Clark, director of strategy for IBM’s Venture Capital Group, according to CNET. The report added that the focus is on a common set of communication protocols and data formats that utilities and smart-grid start-ups can adhere to. IBM’s San Mateo-based Venture Capital Group has been charged with finding partner companies that can help the tech giant offer its customers comprehensive data center solutions.

IBM is developing a software framework for writing applications that takes advantage of the two-way communication of smart-grid technologies.

Last year, IBM facilitated a 125-home pilot study of smart-grid technology for residential users on the Olympic peninsula in Washington.

In April this year, when IBM had teamed up with Country Energy, Australia’s biggest power system operator, to develop smart grids, it was then shared that with this and other ventures, IBM is targeting a global power grid infrastructure market worth about $81 billion and estimated to grow at about five percent a year through 2010. The core element of the initiative is an open digital network that remotely senses and directs the flow of electricity, enhancing efficiency by more intelligently managing load -- the amount of electricity flowing over the grid at any given moment -- while selecting power from the most efficient local generation sources.

Among other companies, SAP is involved with SAP AMI Lighthouse Council, which is a consortium of vendors and utilities addressing business processes and use cases to support AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) to create the SAP for Utilities solution.