PG&E tipped to sign $1.7 billion contract for smart meter roll-out

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (PG&E) is being tipped to sign a contract with General Electric and Landis+Gyr, a provider of integrated energy management solutions, for a $1.7 billion smart meter roll-out.

According to metering.com, the programme will include both gas and electric meters. The value of the metering portion of the programme is estimated to be around $450 million.

The report, attributing the development to an “inside source”, shared that the contract is yet to be signed but it may happen before the end of August. As per the information available, the roll-out programme has been approved by California’s Public Utilities Commission to the value of $1.7 billion, but the utility has apparently gone back to the Commission for an additional $500 million in funding.

“It makes a lot of sense to have more than one supplier...( especially when) we’re going to be deploying something on the order of 10,000 to 12,000 meters per day,” reportedly said PG&E senior director of the smart energy web programme, Andrew Tang.

In the same report, Paul Moreno, PG&E Corp. spokesperson, said the installation of smart meters will reduce peak demand by approximately 400 MW.

GE Energy acquires Kelman Limited

GE Energy has strengthened its smart grid product portfolio with the acquisition of Kelman Limited, a provider of advanced monitoring and diagnostics technologies for transformers.

Post this acquisition, Kelman’s employees are now part of GE’s transmission and distribution operations.

The acquisition will expand GE’s smart grid portfolio by providing utility customers with a more comprehensive product offering.

Kelman says it is currently breaking new ground in transformer monitoring with the implementation of new Dissolved Gas Analysis (DGA) techniques, which are a vital part of the decision making processes for strategic plant. The company is also counting on other breakthroughs in transformer gas analysis and more sophisticated data analysis software programmes to enhance its reputation in this field.

According to GE Energy, which helps utilities to increase their productivity and reliability, Kelman’s advanced DGA capability delivers a new level of predictive maintenance for the utility industry allowing utility operators to have greater line of sight into the health and longevity of their transformer fleets.

The company’s advanced DGA technology provides critical condition monitoring for high power electrical transformers. This technology enables Kelman to deliver state of the art multi-gas portable and on-line DGA equipment.

After this deal with Kelman, General Electric Co. has indicated that its energy transmission and distribution equipment business is expected to reach $5 billion in annual sales within five years, up from about $2 billion now.

“That’s going to require a lot of investment in the business,” Bob Gilligan, GE’s vice president of transmission and distribution told Reuters. “It will also require acquisition of additional business.”

Gilligan added that GE is focused on buying “technology-driven companies” whose products will help modernise and improve the efficiency of power grids worldwide.