Solving the Smart Grid Business Case Problem: New Software Provides Comprehensive Utility-Level Analysis with a User-Friendly Interface

ORLANDO Fla., Feb. 29, 2012 (Smart Grid News) -- The Smart Grid Research Consortium today announced the successful completion of its two-year software development project with the formal release of the Smart Grid Investment Model ™. The project included original Excel/C++ software development and model applications for fifteen utilities. Smart grid investment options range from the substation to customer technologies and programs as well as IT and other infrastructure areas.

The Smart Grid Investment Model software is now available for application at all electric utilities as either a stand-alone software application or with varying levels of Consortium staff support. Additional information is provided at: http://www.smartgridresearchconsortium.org/ .

"Our objective was to incorporate all important technical aspects of smart grid investments in a software package that provides intuitive, meaningful bottom line results for utility decision-makers," said Dr. Jerry Jackson, Consortium leader and research director.

"We also found that model analysis helps vendors make the business case for their technologies as a result of the more comprehensive cost/benefit analysis framework that recognizes interactions and synergies."

The investment model includes options that have been the most difficult to quantify in the past. For example, financial benefits of DA (distribution automation) and Volt/VAR control are determined in the model by reductions in peak kW, kWh, line losses, reduced field services, avoided future investments and other factors. The model allows users to include or exclude any of these factors to gain a quick, intuitive understanding of the financial contributions in each area. If optional feeder-level detail is included in the analysis, distribution engineers can identify the most cost effective strategy for upgrading the distribution system over time.

The vendor-neutral, objective, Smart Grid Investment Model overcomes limitations of existing utility business case software. For example, the model:

•     Recognizes current utility metering, communications, IT, and other infrastructure
•     Provides utility-specific customer-class, end-use hourly load impact analysis
•     Evaluates avoided power costs and capacity investments
•     Includes all important distribution system investment areas
•     Incorporates detailed distribution architecture information
•     Recognizes often overlooked costs such as management reengineering costs and reliability valuations
•     Includes electric, water and gas systems and non-utility benefits
•     Permits individual technology and program selection and combination strategies
•     Presents results in an Excel "dashboard" worksheet for intuitive program evaluation
•     Provides summary and detailed financial statistics, tables and charts 

Web Site: http://smartgridresearchconsortium.org

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Eye-Fi Raises $20 Million Series D Round, Led by NTT DOCOMO

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 29, 2012 (Smart Grid News) -- Eye-Fi Inc. (www.eye.fi), makers of the world's first wireless memory card, today announces it has completed a $20 million Series D round of funding, led by NTT DOCOMO, INC., the largest Japanese Mobile Operator and a recognized leader in mobile data and content services. Existing investors Shasta Ventures, Opus Capital and TransLink Capital also participated. NTT DOCOMO joins Eye-Fi as an investor and strategic partner, expanding the connected imaging leader's distribution and further establishing its mobile partnerships.

"Partnering with NTT DOCOMO is just one of several strategic steps we will take this year to showcase our enhanced customer experience and further expand Eye-Fi availability worldwide," said Eye-Fi CEO, Yuval Koren. "Eye-Fi's unique connected imaging solution is powered by our patented intellectual property and a rich ecosystem of camera makers, sharing sites, retailers and mobile operators. The result is millions of photos and videos being effortlessly shared from cameras and mobile devices each month."

In April, NTT DOCOMO will become the first partner to launch Eye-Fi card activation via mobile phones. This new, industry-leading technology means NTT DOCOMO's 59 million mobile subscribers can quickly and easily share high quality images between their digital cameras, mobile devices, online photo sites and digital photo frame – no computer required. This partnership provides a completely integrated experience, where NTT DOCOMO goes beyond the handset to give customers more places to showcase photos.

"A customer-first philosophy is at the core of both our business strategies, which makes partnering with Eye-Fi so advantageous," said Koichi Takahara, Managing  Director of Ubiquitous Services Department of NTT DOCOMO, INC. "Eye-Fi changes how customers interact with their photos, mobile devices and the people they want to share with. So, if someone wants to give a digital photo frame to each member of their family, they can now instantly upload new memories to each frame straight from their mobile phone or camera."

The funding round also supports the expansion of Eye-Fi's executive team, adding former Skype and eBay executive Michele Don Durbin as Vice President of Marketing. Don Durbin's experience in fostering brands' international growth will further extend and establish Eye-Fi's global footprint as the digital imaging industry is redefined – both geographically and across product categories.  Don Durbin brings more than a decade of product marketing, channel development, brand building and global customer acquisition to her new role.

"We're thrilled to have Michele on board to lead our marketing efforts in the US and abroad. She'll be an invaluable asset to our team as we continue to expand our brand globally," added Koren.  "Michele's extensive experience and creative approach for developing strategic partnerships, new channel opportunities and customer engagement will help accelerate adoption of Eye-Fi's powerful platform worldwide."

For more information, visit www.eye.fi.

About Eye-Fi

Eye-Fi is dedicated to building products and services that help consumers manage, nurture and share their visual memories. Eye-Fi's patented and patent-pending technology wirelessly and automatically uploads photos and videos from digital imaging devices, including digital cameras and Android and iOS based devices, to online, in-home and retail destinations. Eye-Fi has helped people wirelessly upload more than 400 million photos since being founded in 2005. Eye-Fi has received Popular Science's "Best of CES 2011: Product of the Future" award, TIME's "Top 100 Gadgets of All Time," and CNET's "Best of CES 2010" award in the digital photo and video category – and many more.

Headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., the company's investors include Opus Capital, Shasta Ventures and TransLink Capital. More information is available at www.eye.fi.

Eye-Fi products and services are now available at Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, Office Depot and Amazon.com, as well as through various distributors in Japan and Europe. Eye-Fi apps are available at the Apple App Store and the Android market. For more information about Eye-Fi, please visit www.eye.fi.

About NTT DOCOMO

NTT DOCOMO is a world-leading integrated-services company centered on mobility. The company serves over 59 million mobile customers in Japan via advanced wireless networks, including a nationwide 3G network and one of the world's first commercial LTE networks.  Leveraging its unique capabilities as a mobile operator, DOCOMO is a leading developer of cutting-edge technologies for NFC mobile payments, mobile GPS, mobile TV, intuitive mobile assistance, environmental monitoring, smart grids and much more. Overseas, the company provides technical and operational expertise to eight mobile operators and other partner companies. NTT DOCOMO is listed on the Tokyo (9437), London (NDCM) and New York (DCM) stock exchanges. Please visit www.nttdocomo.com for more information.

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ESA Applauds Bipartisan Gibson-Thompson Bill to Create Energy Storage ITC

WASHINGTON, Feb. 29, 2012 (Smart Grid News) -- The Electricity Storage Association (ESA) applauded news this week that U.S. Reps. Chris Gibson (R-NY) and Mike Thompson (D-CA) introduced legislation that would create an investment tax credit (ITC) for energy storage technologies of all types and help jumpstart an industry that has enormous potential to increase the reliability, security, and efficiency of the nation's electric grid.  The Storage Technology for Renewable and Green Energy Act (STORAGE) Act (H.R. 4096) is the House companion legislation to S. 1845, introduced by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), and Susan Collins (R-ME).

"We are delighted that Rep. Chris Gibson, who has championed energy initiatives and transmission issues in his Congressional district, and Rep. Mike Thompson, a staunch supporter of clean energy technologies, understand the value of energy security and have taken such a strong interest in energy storage," said Brad Roberts, Executive Director of the ESA. "Energy storage technologies help all resources – whether renewable, natural gas, coal, or nuclear – run more smoothly. Our innovations have been tested on the grid and proven to be of enormous benefit; this tax credit will help developers secure private sector equity and debt financing for their projects."

"It is to their credit that these policymakers worked together to craft a bipartisan bill that is limited in size and scope yet has the potential to open up the market for so many American innovators," said Katherine Hamilton, Policy Director of the ESA Advocacy Council.  "The ESA has received such positive feedback from both sides of the aisle for energy storage – it just makes sense – and an investment tax credit to help stand up these U.S. companies is smart public policy.

The energy storage industry strongly believes that advanced energy storage technologies have the potential to revolutionize the electric grid – from a system that has to use electricity at the moment it is generated to a system that can store that energy and use it when it is needed most.

About ESA
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., ESA is the preeminent trade association dedicated to fostering the development and commercialization of energy storage technologies as a means to solving the nation's energy and power challenges.

ESA's membership is comprised of a diverse group of electric utilities; energy service companies (ESCOs); independent power producers (IPPs); energy storage technology developers and suppliers; and those in the energy storage research community.  The ESA Advocacy Council currently has eleven members, including: A123 Systems, Inc., AES Energy Storage, Altairnano, Aquion Energy, Beacon Power, FIAMM, Prudent Energy Corporation, S&C Electric Company, Saft America, Inc., SustainX, and Xtreme Power. The ESA is a 501(c)(6) trade association that was formed in 1996.

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Post-Tsunami, Smart Grid is Key to Japan's Energy Future

New Mexico Business Weekly by Kevin Robinson-Avila, Senior Reporter
Date: Friday, February 24, 2012, 2:55pm MST - Last Modified: Friday, February 24, 2012, 2:56pm MST


Last year’s nuclear disaster has made New Mexico-based smart-grid projects a key part of Japan’s energy future, said Japanese Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki during a visit to Albuquerque.

Fujisaki spent two days in Santa Fe and Albuquerque as part of a week-long tour of New Mexico and Arizona to learn more about the region.

He met separately on Feb. 22 in Santa Fe with Gov. Susana Martinez and U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D–N.M.

On Thursday, he toured a smart-grid project at the Mesa del Sol planned development in south central Albuquerque that Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) is financing as part of a $30 million Japanese investment in energy research and demonstration initiatives in New Mexico.

Fujisaki spoke with the Business Weekly prior to a public reception at the Albuquerque Aquarium hosted by Mayor Richard Berry’s administration.

The ambassador said that, after last year’s earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, Japan launched an aggressive effort to look at new technologies and energy sources to meet its electric needs.

“We had a huge disaster last year, and we have to rethink our energy mix,” Fujisaki said. “[About] 30 percent of our electricity was from nuclear before the disaster, and we were trying to double that. Now, we need to look at the most appropriate energy mix [to meet demand], and that’s where the smart grid and energy efficiency are extremely important.”

NEDO is collaborating with the Los Alamos Department of Public Utilities on a smart-grid demonstration project that includes a solar photovoltaic system with battery storage, an energy-smart house that automatically alternates between solar and other power sources, and smart metering on homes in Los Alamos.

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New Release of Kamstrup's Smart Grid Head-End

Kamstrup has released version 2.6 of UtiliDriver® - A Smart Grid Head-end/Advanced Metering Infrastructure for large deployments.

Kamstrup UtiliDriver® makes interoperability come live. Utilities worldwide use Kamstrup UtiliDriver for smooth system integration of smart meters, communication systems and meter data management systems from different vendors. New features of version 2.6 give a substantial lift to interoperability and performance.

Kamstrup UtiliDriver® is the heart of Kamstrup’s open and interoperable Advanced Metering Infrastructure/Smart Grid system. UtiliDriver® manages the data communication between Smart Meters and Meter Data Management system (MDM).


UtiliDriver® is used in many different types of deployments. It’s used as the interface between Kamstrup Smart Meters and Kamstrup’s own MDM system for a number of fully-deployed and pilot installations in Scandinavia, Central Europe and Africa, where the meter communication is based on RF Mesh or GPRS/IP; and System Integrators are using UtiliDriver as the interface between their own MDM systems and Kamstrup’s Smart Meters.

UtiliDriver® Product Manager at Kamstrup, Palle Toftegaard Jensen says: “with the new features of version 2.6 and several performance and scalability improvements, we are sure that Kamstrup UtiliDriver is the right software platform for even the largest deployments, which has also been demonstrated through several fully-live installations”.

Smart Grid Product Manager, Henrik Bæk Jørgensen adds: “UtiliDriver is an important component in Kamstrup’s Smart Grid strategy as it on top of the basic Advanced Metering Infrastructure functionality also serves as the communication engine ensuring that e.g. alarms from Smart Meters are made available in a utility’s Distribution Management System. The benefits from this kind of integration are 1) substantially enhanced low voltage interruption management and 2) improved customer service including better and faster communication in case of outages and better monitoring of voltage quality”.

UtiliDriver® basically exposes all the Smart Meter functionality to other IT systems via web services and at the same time, it “hides” the communication and Smart Meter complexity for other business systems, which do not have any need for knowing which communication method, is used (e.g. RF Mesh or point to point), or which Smart Meter types they are communicating with. This e.g. makes it possible to add new meter types without changing software.

Important new features of Kamstrup UtiliDriver® version 2.6 are:
• RESTful Service Technology for Improved interoperability. REST is based on the http protocol and “anything” that can talk http can use the services without much effort, i.e. JavaScript, C#, Java, etc.
• Performance optimization via enhanced architecture making it possible to parallelize more jobs and hereby better utilize state-of-the-art multi-threaded, multi-core servers.
• Support for high-priority jobs, where all work-in-progress jobs will be paused allowing an on-demand high-priority job to execute and complete as fast as possible. Paused jobs will automatically resume from where they stopped, when the high-priority job has completed.
• Alarm Server functionality is now part of the UtiliDriver® head-end. Instant push alarms from Smart Meters are now received by a dedicated Alarm Server process for optimum performance. The Alarm Server process can forward alarms as e-mails or web services can be used for integrating alarms from Kamstrup Smart Meters with a utility’s Distribution Management System.

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Honeywell Leading the Way in Smart Grid

By Peter Gardett

Published: February 28, 2012


Honeywell is making a major play in the smart grid and demand response world, building on its already enormous client base of more than 100 utilities - with millions of customers - that the company says has already resulted in more than a gigawatt in saved electricity.

The company is building out a global footprint in smart grid with both large and small projects it says will underpin efficiency efforts and support end-user control of the systems that consume energy.

For a detailed analysis of Honeywell's strategy in smart grid and demand response in light of increased renewable energy deployment, read more here.

Three of the company's most high-profile projects include:

In Europe:

A smart grid project in the Thames Valley area west of London that is part of a larger project awarded to Scottish and Southern Energy Power Distributor by the UK energy regulator Ofgem.

The project, building on a successful auto demand response demonstration in Bracknell, is designed to help the local utility work with customers to "trim peak electricity use, and reduce strain on the local networks and substations, which are nearing capacity," Honeywell said in announcing the project in early 2012.

The project will help with "creating a more robust, agile grid without the disruption and expense which sometimes accompany major infrastructure upgrades."

In China:

Honeywell has an agreement with State Grid, one of the world's largest companies, that includes demand response technology.

Electricity needs are imperative for the country's economic development, Honeywell Vice President of Global Energy Services Jeremy Eaton told AOL Energy. Current demand response is forced but often untargeted in China through brownouts and blackouts, and the country's economic leadership is looking for more selective and sophisticated ways to approach demand response.

In the US:

Honeywell is working in Hawaii to help the island state absorb the intermittency of increased renewable generation as it tries to limit the amount of expensive imported fossil fuel generation it needs to run.

The challenge for Hawaii Electric is speed, Eaton told AOL Energy. Taking wind cycles and matching them with changes in electricity demand requires a high degree of automation, and Honeywell is targeting ten minute response times in its project with the utility.

"As you roll forward with renewable generation around the world, everyone will be faced with this issue," Eaton said.

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Numerous Stakeholders to Collaborate for a Successful Smart Grid Implementation

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Investments in smart grid technologies peaked in 2010, exhibiting an astounding annual growth rate of 59.7 percent over 2009. Despite the heavy investments, the industry is far from achieving its goal of deploying a true smart grid. Manufacturers promoting their smart grid technology to utilities have to contend with several issues such as securing financial backing, marketing in a highly cyclical and unpredictable market, and consumer backlash.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan's (http://www.energy.frost.com) Global Smart Grid Market research finds that the market earned revenues of $23.97 billion in 2010 and estimates this to reach $125.15 billion in 2017.

If you are interested in more information on this research, please send an email to Britni Myers, Corporate Communications, at britni.myers@frost.com, with your full name, company name, title, telephone number, company email address, company Web site, city, state and country.

"Solution providers are realizing that the implementation of a smart grid requires a communal effort involving stakeholders from different entities to ensure a seamless integration," said Frost & Sullivan Principal Consultant Farah Saeed. "In the past two to three years, the industry has experienced an increase in exclusive and nonexclusive partnerships and alliances across industries to guarantee a trouble-free implementation of the smart grid."

Utilities acknowledge that smart grids are the need of the hour, as the rising use of electric vehicles, distributed generation, and inadequate investment in generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure elevates the risk of potential voltage fluctuations and power interruptions. Smart grids can mitigate these concerns to some extent by improving the control and visibility of the grid's activities.

Investments in smart grid are also partly driven by the need to integrate renewable power, including solar, biomass, wind and hydroelectric, on to the grid.

In the United States, 30 states have renewable portfolio standards (RPS), which require electric utilities to generate a certain amount of electricity from a renewable power source. In Europe, the European Commission has established a directive to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent from the 1990 levels, produce 20 percent of energy from renewable sources, and increase energy efficiency by 20 percent by 2020.

Although the need for smart girds is apparent, the decision making process is slow due to uncertain economic conditions. Following the 2008 to 2010 economic slowdown, many utilities are hard pressed to justify investments in smart grid to their stakeholders, regulatory bodies and consumer groups.

The high unemployment rate among residential customers is forcing regulators to carefully deliberate the merits of smart grids. In such a scenario, solution providers must work jointly with utilities to demonstrate and communicate the key benefits of investing in smart grids.

"In the United States, most capital equipment purchases and investments are supported by rate increases," said Saeed. "Utilities regulated by a public utility commission (PUC) are expected to file their construction plans, including a request for a hike in utility rates to support the investment, with their respective PUCs."

These efforts will go a long way in bolstering the global smart grid market.

Global Smart Grid Market is part of the Energy & Power Growth Partnership Services program, which also includes research in the following markets: North American Substation Integration and Automation Market, Advanced High Voltage Market: HVDC and FACT, North American Meter Market, and U.S. Smart Grid Market–Saving Energy/Saving Money Customer's Perspective on Demand Response. All research services included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best-in-class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best-practice models to drive the generation, evaluation, and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages 50 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from more than 40 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit http://www.frost.com.

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Asoka Debuts Carrier-based Home Energy Management Service That Is Simple and Future Proof

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Asoka Corporation, a pioneer in powerline communication (PLC) products and cloud-based applications for digital living services, today announced the industry’s first PLC-based home energy monitoring and management service for service providers and cable operators.

The Asoka Home Energy Management Service™ is based on Asoka’s new family of PlugLine® adapters and a secure, user friendly web-based monitoring service that carriers can customize for their subscribers.

Asoka’s service is simple to install by the end-user – just plug the adapters in – and does not require additional hardware such as in-home gateways. All new features and functions are made available through the cloud-based application; no changes, upgrades, or hardware replacement in the home is needed. The installed hardware will work with all future features, functions and services.

The solution works by plugging the adapters into an outlet and then plugging appliances into the adapters. PlugLine adaptors provide energy monitoring and control of these appliances, as well as a high-speed 500Mbps LAN network using existing power lines throughout the home. Subscribers can use the web service to track usage, turn devices on and off instantly or set up a schedule to turn them off during periods of disuse. Asoka’s solution is truly Digital Living Made Simple™.

Asoka and Swisscom, Switzerland’s leading telecom provider, have been partnering over the past year to develop and deploy the Home Energy Management Service. This service, branded in Switzerland as myStrom, has been adopted by residential homeowners throughout the country. Household energy usage data collected by Swisscom shows that literally dozens of common electric appliances not in active use in households are costing its customers hundreds of dollars per year in wasted energy.

“Asoka’s Home Energy Management Service enables carriers to increase average revenue per user (ARPU) and reduce churn using a cloud-based service that saves the consumer money on energy bills and promotes environmental responsibility,” said Eric Grubel, president and CEO of Asoka. “Our partnership with Swisscom has highlighted these advantages in real time. Once carriers discover how straightforward and economical this service is, it will be a key tool in meeting growing consumer demand for home energy management services.”

“The Home Energy Management Service has been very well received by customers so far,” said Andreas Martschitsch, Head of In-Home Connectivity at Swisscom. “This has enhanced customer satisfaction with minimal additional cost to Swisscom, either for equipment or service and support. Asoka even provides and manages the cloud-based customer portal customized for Swisscom.”

Market adoption of traditional home energy management systems has been slow because of their complicated installation and configuration, as well as the high cost of the in-home gateways and wireless communication devices required to make the solution work in the home. Asoka’s Home Energy Management Service encourages widespread adoption because its PlugLine PLC adapters are affordable and customer installable.

The Asoka system consists of a PL7667-MST master adapter for energy collection and Internet communication and PL7667-ETH Ethernet adapters for each monitored appliance to send data to the master and turn the appliance on and off. The system can be installed and made operational by the subscriber in less than 15 minutes.

Many carriers have already adopted PLC networks for digital home entertainment services because there are no truck rolls, extra cabling or equipment involved, and PLC adapters offer speeds up to 500 Mbps supporting IPTV, HDTV, streaming video and audio, data and file sharing and online gaming services throughout a household. Asoka’s service particularly appeals to customers because the adapters support both high speed home area networking as well as energy management, all in the same adapter.

Asoka’s PlugLine adapters are the perfect solution for a host of services that can be added to PLC home area networks with little or no additional equipment or installation. These include, in addition to home energy management, home monitoring using industry-standard IP cameras, thermostat control, e-health and parental controls.

For a demonstration video on Swisscom’s myStrom service, please visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6fEgoRczJA.

About Asoka

Asoka is a pioneer in powerline networking (PLN) technology that enables carriers and systems integrators to provide state-of-the-art digital living services. These include home area networks, energy management services, home monitoring and solar system monitoring. Asoka products have been deployed in over one million locations worldwide and provide fast and flexible installation of high-speed networks by using existing electrical wiring as the network medium. Headquartered in Santa Clara, CA, Asoka’s customers include AT&T, Comcast, Swisscom, Rogers, Motorola, FairPoint, CenturyLink and Clearwire. More information about Asoka can be found at www.asokatech.com.

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Eaton Names Revathi Advaithi President of Electrical Sector, Americas Region

PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Diversified industrial manufacturer Eaton Corporation has named Revathi Advaithi president – Electrical Sector, Americas Region. In her new role, effective April 1, 2012, Advaithi will be responsible for the company’s electrical business in North, South and Central America. She will oversee manufacturing operations, sales, marketing, technology and product development for 12 divisions and $4.2 billion in revenues.

“Revathi’s global perspective and considerable knowledge of electrical business operations, coupled with her strong leadership capabilities, will help her to lead our continuing growth strategy in the Americas,” said Thomas S. Gross, vice chairman, chief operating officer, Eaton Corporation. “She has consistently demonstrated an outstanding ability to lead a large, dynamic and successful organization.”

Eaton, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, is a global technology leader in diversified power management solutions that make electrical, hydraulic and mechanical power operate more efficiently, effectively, safely and sustainably. Eaton’s Electrical Sector is positioned through its power distribution, power quality, industrial automation and power control products and services, to answer the electrical power management challenges of customers in the industrial, institutional, government, utility, commercial, residential, information technology and original equipment manufacturer markets. Over the last several years, the company has driven innovation in solar and wind power, smart grid, electric vehicle (EV) charging, and advanced services and solutions to optimize energy efficiency in data centers and other critical facilities.

“I look forward to helping guide Eaton’s Electrical Sector to continued growth with our existing and new customers. Eaton’s technology and solution leadership in energy management, electrical power efficiency and sustainability and reliability combined with our customer focused employees has been a powerful engine for growth,” said Advaithi. “I am excited to have the opportunity to lead such a diverse and growing organization.”

Advaithi first joined Eaton in 1995 in the Global Leadership Development Program as a manufacturing supervisor at the hydraulics facility in Shawnee, Oklahoma. She then held several operational roles before taking an international assignment as plant manager for the hydraulics facility in Havant, England. She left Eaton in 2002 to join Honeywell where she held several senior roles within the sourcing and supply chain functions before being appointed vice president and general manager of Honeywell’s Field Solutions business in 2006. Advaithi rejoined Eaton in 2008 as vice president and general manager for the Electrical Components Division. Since 2009, she served as president, Asia Pacific, Electrical Sector, based in Shanghai.

Advaithi has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani, India, and a master of business administration in international business from Thunderbird – Garvin School of International Business in Glendale, Arizona.

Eaton’s electrical business is a global leader in power distribution, power quality, control and automation, power monitoring, and energy management products and services. Eaton is positioned, through its Cutler-Hammer®, Moeller®, Powerware®, Holec®, MEM®, and Santak® global electrical product series, to answer today’s most critical electrical power management challenges.

Eaton Corporation is a diversified power management company with more than 100 years of experience providing energy-efficient solutions that help our customers effectively manage electrical, hydraulic and mechanical power. With 2011 sales of $16.0 billion, Eaton is a global technology leader in electrical components and systems for power quality, distribution and control; hydraulics components, systems and services for industrial and mobile equipment; aerospace fuel, hydraulics and pneumatic systems for commercial and military use; and truck and automotive drivetrain and powertrain systems for performance, fuel economy and safety. Eaton has approximately 73,000 employees and sells products to customers in more than 150 countries. For more information, visit www.eaton.com.

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PowerSecure Announces Schedule for its Fourth Quarter 2011 Earnings Release and Conference Call

WAKE FOREST, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PowerSecure International, Inc. (Nasdaq: POWR) has scheduled its fourth quarter 2011 earnings release and conference call for Thursday, March 8, 2012, after the market close. The Company will issue its fourth quarter 2011 earnings release at approximately 4:15 p.m. eastern time, and will hold its earnings conference call from 5:30-6:30 p.m. eastern time.

The conference call will be webcast live and can be accessed from the Investor Relations section of the Company's website at www.powersecure.com. Participants can access the call by dialing 888-680-0879 (or 617-213-4856 if dialing internationally), and providing pass code 10103522.

PowerSecure is offering call participants a pre-registration option that expedites access to the call and minimizes hold times. Pre-registrants will be issued a pin number to be used when dialing into the live call which will provide quick access to the conference call by bypassing the operator. Pre-registration is not mandatory. Those who would like to take advantage of pre-registration can do so by accessing the following website:

https://www.theconferencingservice.com/prereg/key.process?key=PD6TDFV6U

If you are unable to participate during the live webcast, a replay of the conference call will be available beginning at 8:30 p.m. eastern time on March 8, 2012 through midnight eastern time on April 5, 2012. To listen to the replay, dial 888-286-8010 (or 617-801-6888 if dialing internationally), and enter pass code 61501357. In addition, the webcast will be archived on the Company's website at www.powersecure.com.

About PowerSecure

PowerSecure International, Inc. is a leading provider of Utility and Energy Technologies to electric utilities, and their industrial, institutional, and commercial customers. PowerSecure provides products and services in the areas of Energy Efficiency, Interactive Distributed Generation, and Utility Infrastructure. The Company is a pioneer in developing Interactive Distributed Generation® power systems with sophisticated smart grid capabilities, including the ability to 1) forecast electricity demand and electronically deploy the systems to deliver more efficient, and environmentally friendly power at peak power times, 2) provide utilities with dedicated electric power generation capacity to utilize for demand response purposes, and 3) provide customers with the most dependable standby power in the industry. The Company’s Energy Efficiency business develops energy efficient lighting technologies that improve the quality of light, including its proprietary EfficientLights® LED lighting products for grocery, drug, and convenience stores, and its SecureLite and PowerLite street lights for utilities and municipalities. PowerSecure also provides electric utilities with transmission and distribution infrastructure maintenance and construction services, and engineering and regulatory consulting services. Additional information is available at www.powersecure.com.

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National Grid Further Expands ChargePoint Network Driving EV Adoption Throughout Massachusetts

CAMPBELL, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Coulomb Technologies today announced that National Grid, a leading utility in the Northeast, is now providing electric vehicle (EV) drivers with a new and premium charging experience throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. National Grid has completed the installation of more than 30 new charging stations at several host locations. The stations are a part of Coulomb's ChargePoint® Network, the largest network of independently owned charging stations in the world. The utility will help build out the necessary infrastructure for Massachusetts residents to feel good about purchasing electric vehicles throughout the region knowing there are locations to charge in public. National Grid and its hosting partners are offering the public charging services at no cost to EV drivers for a minimum of two years.

“Our goal is to drive the acceleration of public electric vehicle charging infrastructure to prepare for new EV offerings throughout the state and Northeast region,” said Ed White vice president customer & business strategy from National Grid. “ChargePoint Network allows us to offer state-of the-art driver features while integrating EV charging into our smart grid plans, and monitoring the EV charging load. This announcement is a demonstration of our investment in technologies that will help modernize the region's electricity system while offering our customers more sustainable energy options that help to protect our environment."

To locate National Grid’s recently installed stations along with all nearby Coulomb charging infrastructure please visit http://www.chargepoint.net/ and click Find Stations.

Coulomb’s ChargePoint Network provides drivers state of the art features including the ability to: help with trip planning, manage the cost of charging, and find and operate public ChargePoint-enabled stations. ChargePoint locations are included on all ChargePoint mobile phone applications for iPhone, Android and Blackberry. These ChargePoint mobile apps provide an easy way to locate stations near any specified address, get turn-by-turn directions, and even start and stop a charging session directly from a smart phone. Additionally, these apps allow drivers to utilize ChargePoint Network's station reservation feature. Drivers can locate reservable stations, and then make, view and cancel a reservation directly from a smart phone.

Massachusetts currently has approximately 50 EV stations. The addition of these 30 new stations nearly doubles the charging locations currently available to Massachusetts EV drivers. For more information about National Grid's electric vehicle charging station program, visit https://www.powerofaction.com/PEV.

“We are proud to be working closely with National Grid to help this region become EV-ready and drive EV adoption throughout New England,” said Pat Romano president and CEO at Coulomb. “With more than 10 new electric vehicles on the market in 2012, National Grid is providing a solution for managing charging services that ensures their community will be EV-ready.”

The National Grid charging stations were made available through Coulomb’s $37 million ChargePoint America Department of Energy program. Coulomb’s ChargePoint America program will provide charging stations to program participants in ten regions in the United States, including San Antonio/Austin, Texas; Boston; Los Angeles; New York; Orlando/Tampa; Sacramento; San Jose/San Francisco Bay Area; Redmond/Bellevue, Washington; Washington DC/Baltimore; and Southern Michigan (including Grand Rapids, Lansing, Ann Arbor, Detroit). The program is a strategic partnership between Coulomb and four leading automobile brands, including Ford, Chevrolet, smart USA and BMW.

Any purchaser of a program electric vehicle (Chevrolet Volt, Ford Transit Connect, Ford Focus Electric, BMW ActiveE, Nissan LEAF™ or the smart fortwo electric drive), whose home is located within one of the ten target regions, may be eligible to receive a home charging station at no cost. Please visit www.chargepointamerica.com for more details.

About ChargePoint America

The $37 million ChargePoint America program is made possible by a $15M grant funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act through the Transportation Electrification Initiative administered by the Department of Energy. ChargePoint America will provide 4,600 public and home ChargePoint Networked Charging Stations, adding to the existing ChargePoint Network. Coulomb will work together with its distribution and industry partners to evaluate the demand from the respective geographic regions and allocate charging stations based on this and other factors. The ChargePoint America project will collect data characterizing vehicle use and charging patterns. Idaho National Labs will analyze the data. www.chargepointamerica.com

About National Grid

National Grid (LSE: NG; NYSE:NGG) is an electricity and gas company that connects consumers to energy sources through its networks. The company is at the heart of one of the greatest challenges facing our society - to create new, sustainable energy solutions for the future and develop an energy system that underpins economic prosperity in the 21st century. National Grid holds a vital position at the center of the energy system.

In the northeast US, National Grid connects more than seven million gas and electric customers to vital energy sources, essential for our modern lifestyles. In Great Britain, we run the gas and electricity systems that our society is built on, delivering gas and electricity across the country.

About Coulomb Technologies

Coulomb Technologies is the leading electric vehicle charging solutions company. Coulomb's ChargePoint Network is the largest online global charging network connecting electric vehicle drivers to charging stations in more than 14 countries. Coulomb also provides ChargePoint Network service plans, cloud-based solutions that handle driver billing and support, and the ability and flexibility for organizations to optimize performance of their electric vehicle charging operations. Coulomb Technologies customers include large employers such as Google and SAP; utilities such as Consumer’s Energy, Orlando Utilities Commission and, Austin Energy; municipalities such as City of San Francisco and City of New York; large shopping centers such as South Coast Plaza in California and Bellevue Square in Washington State, and parking services providers such as Edison Properties and Priority Parking. Open to all charging station manufacturers, stations on ChargePoint Network are currently dispensing over 325 Megawatt hours of energy each month, with drivers plugging in for more than 1,700 charging sessions per day. For more information, visit www.coulombtech.com.

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Consumer Support for Clean Energy Has Declined Significantly Since 2009, According to New Survey from Pike Research

BOULDER, Colo., Feb 27, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The clean energy industry is dynamic and evolving, as the future of energy in the United States continues to be a topic of intense focus, particularly in this election year. However, according to a new survey from Pike Research, consumer support for clean energy concepts -- ranging from renewable energy to alternative fuel vehicles to smart grid technologies -- has declined significantly between 2009 and 2011. In a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. adults conducted in the fourth quarter of 2011, the cleantech market intelligence firm found that the average percentage of consumers with an "extremely" or "very" favorable view of 13 clean energy concepts declined significantly from 50% in 2009 to 45% in 2010, and dropped further to 43% in 2011. The survey results, part of Pike Research's annual Energy & Environment Consumer Survey, are summarized in a free white paper, which is available for download on Pike Research's website.

Among the 13 clean energy concepts, Biofuels suffered the most precipitous decline in favorability, dropping 17 points from 56% in the 2009 edition of Pike Research's survey to 39% by 2011. Favorability ratings of Smart Grid and Clean Coal were tied for the second largest decline, each falling 10 points over the two-year period.

The percentages of survey respondents stating that they had either a "very favorable" or "favorable" view for each of the 13 concepts in 2011 were as follows:

- Solar Energy: 77%

- Wind Energy: 71%

- Hybrid Vehicles: 61%

- Electric Cars: 55%

- Natural Gas Cars: 51%

- Clean Coal: 42%

- Nuclear Power: 40%

- Biofuels: 39%

- Smart Meters: 38%

- Smart Grid: 37%

- Carbon Offsets/Credits: 19%

- LEED Certification: 18%

- Cap and Trade: 14%

Carbon Offsets/Credits garnered the largest percentage of "strongly unfavorable" or "somewhat unfavorable" views from survey participants, with a 25% unfavorable rating, followed closely by Nuclear Power with a 23% unfavorable rating and Cap and Trade with a 22% unfavorable rating. LEED Certification, the green building certification program administered by the U.S. Green Building Council, suffered from a very low level of familiarity among respondents -- 45% stated that they were unfamiliar with the program, the lowest level of familiarity of any of the 13 energy and environment concepts.

Pike Research's white paper, "Energy & Environment Consumer Survey", presents all of the survey responses as a basis for comparing consumer views of 13 energy and environmental topics to one another. In addition to favorable and unfavorable opinions, the number of respondents unfamiliar with a concept is also considered to compare the level of consumer awareness within each topic. The study includes charts summarizing the survey results, along with commentary on notable trends and patterns for each area. A full copy of the white paper is available for free download on the firm's website.

The results in this white paper are based on a web-based survey of 1,048 consumers conducted by Pike Research in the fourth quarter of 2011 using a structured online questionnaire. The survey invitation was sent to a nationally representative and demographically balanced sample of consumers who were members of a large online panel. Respondents were offered a chance to win prizes in exchange for their participation. The margin of error for these survey results is +/- 3% with a 95% confidence interval.

Pike Research is a market research and consulting firm that provides in-depth analysis of global clean technology markets. The company's research methodology combines supply-side industry analysis, end-user primary research and demand assessment, and deep examination of technology trends to provide a comprehensive view of the Smart Energy, Smart Grid, Smart Transportation, Smart Industry, and Smart Buildings sectors. For more information, visit www.pikeresearch

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Global Water and OCWA to bring Smartgrid for Water to Canada

PHOENIX, AZ, Feb. 27, 2012 /CNW/ - GWR Global Water Resources Corp. (TSX: GWR), Global Water Resources, Inc. ("Global Water") and the Ontario Clean Water Agency ("OCWA") today announced that their respective organizations have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") to offer  FATHOMTM to existing and prospective clients in Ontario and throughout Canada.  FATHOMTM is Global Water's proprietary utility operating system that increases utility revenue, decreases costs and enhances water conservation efforts by providing real-time water consumption data to water utility customers.

Through FATHOMTM and under this MOU, OCWA will have the ability to provide an integrated suite of utility data management tools to its municipal clients to enhance their operational efficiency, save money and save water.  The MOU represents Global Water FATHOM™'s first entry into the Canadian utility market, and brings the opportunity to offer Smartgrid for Water to the 140 municipalities that OCWA currently serves.

"As the largest operator of water and wastewater utilities in the province, we feel it is vitally important to introduce progressive water management tools wherever possible.  Not only can these technologies make operations more efficient, they are critical for increasing awareness of water use amongst consumers," said OCWA President Jane Pagel.  "Offering FATHOMTM to our clients reflects the province's goals established under Water Opportunities and Water Conservation Act, and the Ontario Water Technology Acceleration Program and Efficiency Initiative.  These programs are designed to make Ontario a North American leader in developing water technologies and services."

Ms. Pagel also stated, "One of Global Water FATHOM™'s key benefits is the ability to provide real-time information about consumption to users.  With this knowledge, we expect that consumers will be able to make informed decisions about their water use and our utility clients will be able to use the information to increase the efficiency of their operations."

"The OCWA-Global Water MOU represents a real collaboration of like-minded organizations.  Like OCWA, Global Water operates utilities and must do so efficiently and effectively under increasing water scarcity, with consistent regulatory and public pressures.  We developed FATHOM™ to assist us in that charge and are pleased that OCWA also sees its value to their operations.  In today's economy it's about doing more with less. FATHOMTM is a perfect fit for utilities looking to manage water, the value of water and increase customer services," said Trevor Hill, President and CEO of Global Water.

FATHOMTM is deployed as an integrated suite of utility-to-utility services including Automated Meter Infrastructure, Customer Information System and Asset Management solutions that have been proven to lower utility operating costs while improving service levels. The solution is hosted in a secure cloud computing environment, which makes implementation rapid and requires no additional IT personnel or infrastructure.

About GWR Global Water Resources Corp
GWR Global Water Resources Corp owns an approximate 48.1% interest in Global Water. It was incorporated under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) to acquire shares of Global Water and to actively participate in the management, business and operations through its representation on the board of directors and its shared management.

About Global Water
Global Water is a leading water resource management and technology company that owns and operates water, wastewater and recycled water utilities, and provides technology-enabled services through its unique platform, FATHOMTM Utility-to-Utility ("U2U™") Solutions.  Initially developed by Global Water to support and optimize its own utilities, FATHOMTM is an integrated suite of advanced technologies proven to increase revenue, decrease costs and bring efficiencies to water utilities.

About OCWA
The Ontario Clean Water Agency (OCWA) provides environmentally responsible and cost-effective water and wastewater services to municipalities, institutions, industry and First Nations. Established as a provincial crown agency in 1993, OCWA operations, engineering, and technical services provide clean water expertise to communities and businesses all across Ontario. www.ocwa.com

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Titan Energy Announces New Service Offering for Generators in Demand Response Programs

MINNEAPOLIS, Feb. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Titan Energy Worldwide, Inc. (OTC:TEWI), a leader in distributed power generation products and intelligent energy management services, today announced that the Company is expanding its service offerings to include support and management of generators in demand response (DR) programs.  Demand response programs are utilized to curtail the electrical load on the utility grid during periods of peak demand.

Titan will focus primarily on utility sponsored programs called "interruptible rate" DR which utilize a customer's onsite power generation as a source of load control.  Titan's DR management program combines complete generator service and maintenance capabilities, onsite monitoring, remote control and sophisticated trending analyses. Real time information and customized reports can be provided to customers, utilities and service providers.

"Building off our excellent service program that currently supports more than 5,000 generators for a variety of customers nationwide, Titan Energy has developed a specialized program dedicated to the management of power generation systems enrolled in demand response programs. Interruptible rate DR programs have been in existence for decades, and currently more than 100,000 generators are estimated to be enrolled in these programs across the nation.  Titan will target the thousands of existing customers in our service areas as well as work with providers who are installing new DR systems," stated Jeffrey Flannery, Chief Executive Officer of Titan Energy Worldwide, Inc.

Added Flannery, "Interruptible rate DR is a productive and effective means of load control if the power generation assets are properly managed and controlled.  Without proper management, generators in these programs can fail to respond to utility requests resulting in fines to the generator owner for nonperformance. Titan's uniquely powerful monitoring and control technology is integrated into a complete asset management program to ensure that generators are properly maintained and perform reliably within the demands of these programs. Combining this industry leading technological expertise with the ability to utilize cleaner burning natural gas generators, creates a demand response solution that we believe can meet both the reliability criteria of the utilities and the new emissions requirements being set forth by the EPA.

"To support the roll out of this new offering, we have added key sales and support staff who have utility industry experience and familiarity with these specialized rate programs.  We believe that the market for Titan's DR management service could eventually grow into a significant portion of the Company's overall business.  We also anticipate that new interruptible rate DR installations will grow significantly in the coming years based on recommendations by the Federal Electricity Regulatory Commission (FERC) to increase demand response reserves four-fold over the coming years. Titan Energy is one of the few companies that has the experience, the technology and the national reach to help transform interruptible rate DR into a more reliable component in the nation's electrical energy management programs," Flannery concluded.

About Titan Energy Worldwide, Inc.

Since its founding, Titan Energy Worldwide has been dedicated to helping companies meet their power generation and energy management needs.  To date we have focused on providing thousands of customers with the most advanced power generation equipment to enable their operations to continue uninterrupted during times of power failures or disasters.  We have also established a professional service team that helps customers to maintain and manage their power generations assets. From emergency and backup power technologies, to demand response programs and Smart Grid applications, Titan Energy is setting a path for the future in energy management. For more information, please visit the company's website at: www.titanenergy.com.

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Ember CEO Robert LeFort Joins Connected Home Interoperability Panel at Smart Energy Summit

AUSTIN, Texas and BOSTON, Feb. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Growing interest in Connected Home systems has given rise to an industry challenge: how will the different wireless standards enabling self-monitoring and home control devices interoperate. Ember's CEO Robert LeFort will join other industry leaders at Parks Associates' Smart Energy Summit, February 28 – March 1, 2012 in Austin, TX at the Hyatt Regency Austin - Downtown, On The Lake, to discuss the topic of home controls and standards interoperability.

Research firm Parks Associates brings together industry leaders annually at the Smart Energy Summit to examine technical and business opportunities made possible by smart grid and residential energy management (REM) solutions. According to the firm's research, more than 14 million U.S. households will have some form of self-monitoring capability by 2015. In this panel, LeFort and other executives will present new business opportunities and address the issue of interoperability, including the impact of SEP 2.0, OPENADR, and other standards efforts designed to expedite deployment of Connected Home devices.

"The Connected Home will allow consumers to have more control over everything from entertainment and lighting to climate, security and smart appliances," said LeFort. "We at Ember believe enabling the different devices in the home to work together while simplifying the user interface by shielding consumers from the underlying technical complexities will be the secret to truly making the Connected Home a reality. I look forward to addressing this topic with my peers at this year's Summit."

The panel, moderated by Parks Associates' Director of Research for Home Controls and Energy Tom Kerber, will be held on Thursday, March 1 at 9:45 a.m., Texas Ballroom 1. For more information visit: http://www.parksassociates.com/events/smart-energy-summit.

Ember's ZigBee and IP-based wireless technologies enable devices like lights, thermostats, security sensors, smart meters and in-home displays to form an "Internet of Things" that create safer, greener, more comfortable living environments.

About Ember
Ember Corporation (www.ember.com) develops wireless mesh networking technology – chips, software and tools - for Smart Energy, connected homes, and many other monitoring and control applications enabling greener living and work environments. The Boston-based company is a promoter of the ZigBee Alliance with an IC design center in Cambridge, England, an office in Hong Kong and sales channels and distributors worldwide. Follow Ember on twitter @EmberCorp.

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NorthWestern Energy Selects Full Spectrum's FullMAX™ for Smart Grid Communications

PALO ALTO, Calif., Feb. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- NorthWestern Energy has selected Full Spectrum's FullMAX™ private, broadband, wireless communications system for some of its smart grid communication needs.

NorthWestern Energy provides electricity and natural gas to 668,300 customers in 349 cities in the western two-thirds of Montana, eastern South Dakota and central Nebraska. NorthWestern manages approximately 30,500 miles of electrical transmission and distribution lines and 9,375 miles of natural gas transmission and distribution pipelines and storage facilities.

NorthWestern will use the FullMAX™ broadband wireless system to communicate with intelligent network devices including capacitor bank controllers, reclosers, voltage regulators and voltage sensors distributed along remote transmission and distribution electrical lines. Real time communications and control of intelligent grid devices increases electric power quality, reliability and efficiency. NorthWestern's initial FullMAX™ deployment will be located in Philipsburg, Montana and is part of the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project coordinated by The Battelle Memorial Institute.

"We selected Full Spectrum for its ability to implement an advanced IP network, providing private wireless data coverage over extremely large and challenging terrain," stated Vernan Hogge, Director of Telecommunications for NorthWestern Energy. "For large portions of our service territory, FullMAX™ is the most viable solution to meet our networking needs". FullMAX™ base station radios are capable of creating wide area coverage up to 2,800 square miles from a single tower site.

"We are pleased to be working with NorthWestern Energy to meet their long term data connectivity needs," stated Guy Simpson, Full Spectrum's Chief Operating Officer. "Their service territory is a great example of how FullMAX™ can extend corporate and smart grid networks to locations not served by other technologies."

About NorthWestern Energy
NorthWestern Energy provides electricity and natural gas in the Upper Midwest and Northwest, serving approximately 668,300 customers in Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska. More information on NorthWestern Energy is available on the Company's Web site at www.northwesternenergy.com.

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Siemens and Boeing Strategic Alliance Secures DOD Contract

ATLANTA, Feb. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The strategic alliance between Siemens and Boeing today announced that the alliance and a team of partners has been awarded a funded project by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP). Using Siemens and Boeing's leading cyber-secure energy savings technology, the DOD will realize up to 40 percent savings in energy costs at this one installation. This is the alliance's first awarded contract.

The team, which also includes the University of California at Berkeley and KEMA Services Inc., will implement intelligent energy-management solutions that include integrated controls for cooling and heating systems, lighting, ventilation and plug loads. The upgrades will ensure the ESTCP meets its mandate to improve DOD infrastructure energy security and reduce its facility energy costs.

"This project is a great example of the innovative ways in which Siemens and Boeing are working together to provide the best energy-management solutions to our government customers," said Judy Marks, president and CEO of Siemens Government Technologies Inc. "Addressing the DOD's security protocols in this demonstration project will provide a model for implementing intelligent energy-management technology at other DOD sites."

Intelligent energy-management solutions will achieve the targeted savings by eliminating energy waste from unoccupied spaces and from uncoordinated load control, energy storage and on-site generation resources. Through dynamic demand response, which uses technology to manage energy consumption, the facility will achieve peak load shedding capability of approximately 30 percent. The intelligent energy-management technology will be deployed by Siemens Corporate Research and Technology and use the Siemens APOGEE Building Automation System. The technology brought to the DOD site will interoperate with the existing building automation systems, enabling maximum energy efficiency and demand management. Boeing's services-oriented architecture will provide protected operation between all energy management systems to achieve an integrated, central microgrid energy management solution.

"Our services-oriented architecture provides scalability, interoperability and high availability by pushing intelligence across the network," said Tim Noonan, vice president of Boeing Energy. "Boeing's service-oriented architecture and Siemens building automation technology will remove bottlenecks in the communications, data-flow and decision-making process, resulting in a highly scalable and manageable system."

The University of California team will be responsible for developing local gateways for managing the electricity usage of common office equipment such as printers, computers and monitors while KEMA Services will provide dynamic building energy modeling, retro-commissioning services, and energy optimization and balancing.

Of the 575 projects submitted to the ESTCP program, 27 were selected.

Siemens and Boeing previously announced a strategic alliance for DOD energy modernization that will jointly develop and market "smart grid" technologies to improve energy surety and security for U.S. military installations, including next-generation, secure energy infrastructures that lower operational costs and increase energy efficiency.

About Siemens
Siemens Infrastructure & Cities Sector, with approximately 87,000 employees worldwide, offers sustainable technologies for metropolitan areas and their infrastructures. Its offerings include complete traffic and transportation systems, intelligent logistics, efficient energy supply, environmentally compatible building technologies, modernization of the way power is transmitted and distributed, and smart consumption of electricity.  The sector is comprised of the Rail Systems, Mobility and Logistics, Low and Medium Voltage, Smart Grid and Building Technologies Divisions as well as Osram Sylvania.  For more information, visit www.usa.siemens.com/infrastructure-cities.

Siemens Corporate Research and Technology
Siemens Corporate Research and Technology based in Princeton, New Jersey, USA, is one of several Siemens Corporate Technology research and development centers worldwide. Since it was founded in 1977, its people have transformed research into practical, innovative solutions and services to support Siemens broad range of businesses. For more information, visit www.usa.siemens.com/research.

Siemens Government Technologies, Inc.
Siemens Government Technologies, Inc. is a Federally-compliant U.S. organization structured to provide answers for some of the nation's most challenging issues within the Federal market in infrastructure, energy, industry and healthcare. The company is the leading integrator for Siemens' innovative products, technologies and services to meet the needs of Federal customers. Siemens Government Technologies, Inc. is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. For more information on Siemens Government Technologies, Inc. please visit http://www.siemensgovt.com/.

Boeing Defense, Space & Security
A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Defense, Space & Security (www.boeing.com/bds) is one of the world's largest defense, space and security businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world's largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is a $32 billion business with 62,000 employees worldwide. Follow us on Twitter: @BoeingDefense.

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Spreadtrum Licenses CEVA-XC DSP for LTE Baseband

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- CEVA, Inc. (NASDAQ: CEVA); (LSE: CVA), the leading licensor of silicon intellectual property (SIP) platform solutions and DSP cores, announced today that Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRD), a leading fabless semiconductor provider in China with advanced technology in 2G, 3G and 4G wireless communications standards, has licensed the CEVA-XC DSP processor for its LTE baseband processor designs. This latest agreement extends the two companies' long-term strategic partnership, which spans a broad range of 2G, 3G and now 4G wireless communication standards.

TD-LTE is the fourth-generation (4G) wireless standard being deployed by the world's largest cellular operator, China Mobile, following on from the deployment of the China homegrown 3G standard, TD-SCDMA. Spreadtrum is a leading baseband player in the TD-SCDMA and GSM markets.

"The CEVA-XC DSP's combination of performance, scalability and low-power underpinned our decision to partner with CEVA for our multi-mode LTE products," said Dr. Leo Li, president and CEO of Spreadtrum Communications. "CEVA's technology combined with its development tools and engineering support play a key role in LTE deployment."

"We are delighted to expand our partnership with Spreadtrum for the emerging TD-LTE market." said Gideon Wertheizer, CEO of CEVA. "The combination of Spreadtrum's world-class expertise in wireless communications with our industry-leading CEVA-XC DSP will enable Spreadtrum to build on their strong success in 2G and 3G and become a leading player in the Chinese 4G market."

CEVA-XC is a high-performance, scalable, low-power communication DSP designed specifically to overcome the stringent power consumption, time-to-market and cost constraints associated with developing high-performance multi-mode solutions. It supports multiple air interfaces for various applications such as multi-mode cellular baseband, connectivity, digital broadcast and smart grid.

CEVA's industry-leading DSP cores power many of the world's leading wireless semiconductors, enabling unrivalled power consumption, performance and cost efficiencies in 2G / 3G / 4G solutions. CEVA has more than 35 cellular baseband design wins to date, including more than 15 design wins for LTE, targeting a wide range of handset, mobile broadband and wireless infrastructure applications. In total, more than 2 billion CEVA-powered cellular baseband processors have shipped.

About Spreadtrum

Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRD; "Spreadtrum") is a fabless semiconductor company that develops mobile chipset platforms for smartphones, feature phones and other consumer electronics products, supporting 2G, 3G and 4G wireless communications standards.  Spreadtrum's solutions combine its highly integrated, power-efficient chipsets with customizable software and reference designs in a complete turnkey platform, enabling customers to achieve faster design cycles with a lower development cost.  Spreadtrum's customers include global and China-based manufacturers developing mobile products for consumers in China and emerging markets around the world.  For more information, visit www.spreadtrum.com.

About CEVA, Inc.

CEVA is the world's leading licensor of silicon intellectual property (SIP) DSP cores and platform solutions for the mobile handset, portable and consumer electronics markets. CEVA's IP portfolio includes comprehensive technologies for cellular baseband (2G / 3G / 4G), multimedia (HD video, Image Signal Processing (ISP) and HD audio), voice over packet (VoP), Bluetooth, Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) and Serial ATA (SATA). In 2011, CEVA's IP was shipped in over 1 billion devices, powering handsets from 7 out of the top 8 handset OEMs, including Nokia, Samsung, LG, Motorola, Sony and ZTE. Today, more than 40% of handsets shipped worldwide are powered by a CEVA DSP core. For more information, visit www.ceva-dsp.com. Follow CEVA on twitter at www.twitter.com/cevadsp.

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ConEd Rolls Out Path to Smart Grid

Nicolas Mokhoff
2/22/2012 10:59 AM EST

MANHASSET, NY -- ConEdison Solutions has launched, together with Viridity of Philadelphia, a demand response process for its customers to generate revenue during periods other than when utilities and independent system operators send out reduction appeals.

The new offering transforms energy users into virtual energy generators by triggering usage reductions when prices rise.  Participants sell pre-contracted commodity back into the marketplace when market prices significantly exceed the original price the user had paid.

Similar energy plans exist with other utilities and ISOs.

"For many years, we have worked with smart energy users to help them benefit from price shifts in commodity prices or savings from energy management programs," said Jorge J. Lopez, President and CEO of ConEdison Solutions, in a statement. "This offering brings in dollars for customers by turning users into suppliers."

ConEdison Solutions, a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc., develops strategies with individual energy users to maximize their value of energy and minimize their cost.

ConEdison Solutions and Viridity worked with the Drexel university campus with an annual electricity bill exceeding $4.2 million and a peak demand of 10.5 MW. The campus has over the years made significant energy investments including back-up generation and thermal storage systems (see pdf here).

Using Viridity’s VPower optimization software the university receives a day ahead forecast of wholesale electricity market opportunities. Should they elect to participate in a given day, they implement their automated load reduction solution during a specific window, which shifts variable energy usage outside of high-priced market hours.

Read the rest

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Smart Grid Software Provider eMeter Achieves New Levels of Flexibility and Performance With Pure Storage FlashArray

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwire - Feb 21, 2012) - Pure Storage, the all-flash enterprise storage company, today announced that eMeter, a Siemens Business and global smart grid software platform provider located in Northern California, has deployed the Pure Storage FlashArray to implement a shared services model for Engineering, QA, Support and Training. The new solution has allowed them to quickly provision eMeter application instances on-demand for a variety of use cases. Based on the results of this implementation, eMeter plans to broaden the deployment of the FlashArray within the engineering and IT infrastructure.

eMeter provides essential software that enables electric, gas and water utilities to realize the full benefits of Smart Grid. Leading utilities worldwide depend on eMeter Smart Grid Management software to reduce operational costs, improve customer service and drive energy efficiency. The eMeter application is a multi-tier web application, consisting of an Oracle database server, web server, application server and data integration hub.

As eMeter grew, it found itself having to often support a diverse set of engineering, QA, support, training and customer demo needs within its environment. Each of these environments consisted of five separate physical machines, and each took over three hours of dedicated administration time to create. Maximum performance was also a must -- environments needed to be capable of scaling far beyond customer usage so that deployments could be tested in QA and replicated in support.

To address these challenges, eMeter deployed the Pure Storage FlashArray with VMware. The solution was implemented by virtualizing independent database, application, web and integration servers with VMware, running on a single Pure Storage FlashArray. This new solution has allowed eMeter to provision full stack environments quickly and flexibly, leveraging a shared model that delivers performance and scale to meet the largest testing requirements.

"We simply could not have done this on the filer we had," said Bryan Bond, senior systems administrator at eMeter. "After implementing Pure Storage, we are now CPU-bound on our hosts, and storage no longer limits our scale. The data reduction results have been nothing short of phenomenal -- we looked at the numbers two or three times because we didn't believe them at first."

The consolidation, performance and flexibility achieved by deploying the eMeter shared services with the Pure Storage FlashArray and VMware include:

•     15+ independent eMeter stacks (60+ individual VMs, consisting of Windows 7, Windows 2003, RedHat 4 and RedHat 5) consolidated onto 5 physical machines with room to grow
•     1.6TBs of VMs reduced to 237GB on the FlashArray (6.7-to-1 reduction)
•     23% increased database performance by virtualizing Oracle Per instance provisioning time reduced by 4x
•     2x improvement in VMware snapshot take/release time

"As users demand more storage and application bandwidth, flash will become increasingly common in the datacenter, due to its reliability, ultra-low latency and cost-efficiency," said Matt Kixmoeller, vice president of product at Pure Storage. "For businesses like eMeter that need to rapidly process large amounts of data, the Pure Storage FlashArray is a natural fit, delivering the performance, flexibility and scalability without the added complexity."

About Pure Storage
Pure Storage, the all-flash enterprise storage company, enables the broad deployment of flash in the data center. When compared to traditional disk-centric arrays, Pure Storage all-flash enterprise arrays are 10x faster and 10x more space and power efficient at a price point that is less than performance disk per gigabyte stored. The Pure Storage FlashArray is ideal for high performance workloads, including server virtualization, desktop virtualization (VDI), database (OLTP, real-time analytics) and cloud computing. For more information, visit www.purestorage.com.

Connect with Pure Storage:
Read the blog: http://www.purestorage.com/blog
Follow on Twitter: www.twitter.com/PureStorage
Visit on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PureStorage

The Pure Storage and "P" logos, Purity Operating Environment and RAID-3D are trademarks of Pure Storage, Inc. All other trademarks or names referenced in this document are the property of their respective owners.

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NAATBatt Coalition Recommends Deployment of Distributed Energy Storage Systems

CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwire - Feb 21, 2012) - A coalition of 13 leading industrial companies and electric utilities, including General Motors Company, The Dow Chemical Company and Duke Energy, issued a white paper today recommending the installation of up to 300 GWh of distributed energy storage (DES) systems around the country by 2022. DES systems consist of small, stationary batteries installed in neighborhoods, buildings, homes and electricity substations, which can be networked together using "smart grid" communications technology. DES systems reduce blackouts and brownouts, permit greater use of variable, renewable energy resources such as wind and solar, and help reduce dependence upon imported petroleum. The coalition was assembled by the National Alliance for Advanced Technology Batteries (NAATBatt).

Barriers to DES System Deployment
Although DES technology exists today, few such systems have been deployed and electric utilities have little experience dealing with complex DES systems on the grid. The white paper points out that the way that DES systems are paid for discourages their deployment. Because DES systems are installed on the distribution portion of the electricity grid -- in homes, communities and buildings -- local utility ratepayers must pay for all of the costs of DES deployment. But those same ratepayers receive only a portion of the benefits of local DES systems, since many of the benefits accrue to persons outside the local service territory.

The white paper identifies three "national," non-local benefits of DES systems: greater security of the national power grid, helping states achieve their renewable energy mandates, and reducing dependence on imported petroleum by making electric vehicles more affordable to consumers.

Recommendations
The white paper makes six recommendations for speeding deployment of DES systems. Among them are compensating local ratepayers for the "national" benefits of their DES systems; greater coordination and standardization of DES systems among utilities; and a national campaign to educate consumers and state regulators about the benefits of DES. The white paper also suggests reform of current demonstration project funding by the U.S. Department of Energy, asking that those projects be smaller, faster and more geographically diverse.

About NAATBatt
NAATBatt is a trade association of advanced battery and materials manufacturers dedicated to making sure that the United States remains a leader in advanced battery, electric vehicle and smart grid technologies. For more information on NAATBatt, visit the website at http://www.naatbatt.org.

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EnerNOC to Announce Fourth Quarter and Year End 2011 Financial Results on February 27, 2012

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - Feb 21, 2012) - EnerNOC, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENOC), a leading provider of energy management applications and services for the smart grid, announced today that it will release its financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2011 after market close on Monday, February 27, 2012. The Company will host a conference call at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time that same day to discuss its financial results, as well as the Company's revised financial outlook for 2012 and 2013 as described below. A recorded version of the webcast will be available shortly after the live call.

The details of the conference call webcast and replay are as follows:

• What: EnerNOC Fourth Quarter and Year End 2011 Conference Call
• When: Monday, February 27, 2012
• Time: 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time
• Live Call: (877) 837-3911, domestic
• (973) 796-5063, international
• Replay: (855) 859-2056, passcode 55271642, domestic
• (404) 537-3406, passcode 55271642, international
• Webcast: http://investor.enernoc.com/webcasts.cfm (live and replay)

The webcast will be archived on EnerNOC's website for a period of three months.

The Company currently expects to deliver the following financial results for the year ended December 31, 2011:

The Company expects full year 2011 revenues to be between $285 million and $286 million. The Company expects a GAAP net loss per share of between $0.51 and $0.54 based on basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding of 25.8 million. The Company expects Adjusted EBITDA* to be between $25 million and $26 million.

The expected EPS loss for 2011 includes $0.07 per share of incremental expense, previously expected to be incurred in 2012, related to termination of a financial-assurance agreement with a credit partner.

The Company has elected to revise its full year 2012 and full year 2013 financial outlook to include the potential impacts of the proposed rule changes in PJM's capacity market, as well as other factors. The Company currently expects to deliver the following financial results for the years ending December 31, 2012 and 2013:

•     2012 revenue of between $240 million and $280 million
•     2012 GAAP net loss of between $1.00 and $1.60 per basic and diluted share
•     2012 Adjusted EBITDA of between $0 million and $20 million
•     2013 revenue of between $350 million and $400 million
•     2013 GAAP net earnings in the range of a net loss of $0.25 per basic and diluted share and a gain of $0.50 per diluted share
•     2013 Adjusted EBITDA of between $35 million and $60 million

The full year 2012 and 2013 guidance set forth above supersedes all financial guidance previously issued by the Company with respect to 2012 and 2013.

(*Please refer to the section below titled "Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures" for non-GAAP definitions.)

These statements are forward-looking and actual results may differ materially. These statements are based on information available as of February 21, 2012, and the Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise its financial outlook. Investors are reminded that actual results may differ from these estimates for the reasons described below and in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

About EnerNOC

EnerNOC unlocks the full value of energy management for our utility and commercial, institutional, and industrial (C&I) customers by reducing real-time demand for electricity, increasing energy efficiency, improving energy supply transparency in competitive markets, and mitigating emissions. We accomplish this by delivering world-class energy management applications including DemandSMART™, comprehensive demand response; EfficiencySMART™, data-driven energy efficiency; SupplySMART™, energy price and risk management; and CarbonSMART™, enterprise carbon management. Our Network Operations Center (NOC) continuously supports these applications across thousands of C&I customer sites throughout the world. Working with more than 100 utilities and grid operators globally, we deliver energy, ancillary services, and carbon mitigation resources that provide cost-effective alternatives to investments in traditional power generation, transmission, and distribution. For more information, visit www.enernoc.com.

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Valuing the Potential of an Optimized Electric Grid

WASHINGTON, Feb. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The GridWise® Alliance, the leading coalition advocating for the optimization of the nation's electric system, today released a report detailing the current state of the nation's power grid and quantifying the benefits of a modernized electric system.  The report is designed to provide federal and state regulators with concrete examples of demonstrated benefits of grid modernization projects as they contemplate their own optimization initiatives.

The report, "Realizing the Value of an Optimized Electric Grid", written by Quanta Technology in conjunction with the GridWise Alliance Implementation Work Group, identifies direct benefits to grid operations in five separate categories including:

•     Grid Reliability and Security;
•     Customer Energy Management Opportunity;
•     Asset and Resource Optimization;
•     Health, Safety, and Environment; and
•     Productivity and Economic Growth. 

"The electric industry continues to move forward with grid modernization programs," said James W. Morozzi, President and CEO, GridWise Alliance. "Grid modernization is imperative in the United States.  Our economy and quality of life depends on a robust, optimized and modernized electric grid. This is an important time as decision makers look for data from completed projects to ensure that their upcoming initiatives are deployed efficiently and effectively. This report aims to provide those making decisions with real examples of positive grid transformations occurring around the nation."

The report collected data from interviews with GridWise Alliance members, state regulators, and several utilities, as well as encompassing analysis of recent smart grid reports.  Key findings focused on how grid initiatives are leading to improvements in electric reliability, energy savings, and customer engagement as well as other benefits. Detailed case studies highlighting these improvements were collected through interviews with Southern California Edison, Pacific & Gas and Electric, Oklahoma Gas & Electric and many others.

While modernization efforts continue to produce positive results, several challenges to a successful and complete optimization of our nation's electric grid were identified as being:

•     Technology readiness;
•     Market readiness and risks; 
•     Realization of potential benefits; 
•     Impacts of financial support; and 
•     Customer engagement.  

These challenges continue to be addressed by GridWise Alliance members. To view the complete findings within "Realizing the Value of an Optimized Electric Grid", please go to the GridWise Alliance homepage at www.gridwise.org. The report can be downloaded at no cost.

About The GridWise Alliance:
The GridWise Alliance is the industry-leading coalition advocating for the transformation of the electric system to achieve a sustainable energy future for the public good. Through its diverse membership, the GridWise Alliance promotes the advancement of the electric system through thought leadership, production of white papers and reports, and legislative advocacy. Its membership includes more than 100 utilities, technology companies (large and small), telecommunications companies, equipment manufacturers and academia - all of which share a holistic view of the need to modernize the electric system in the United States.

For more information about the GridWise Alliance, visit: http://www.gridwise.org.

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PG&E Honored as One of the Nation's Smartest Utilities

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has just been named one of the nation's most "intelligent utilities" in the third annual "UtiliQ" ranking by Intelligent Utility magazine, which focuses on the smart grid and information-enabled energy, and IDC Energy Insights, a worldwide research and consulting firm. PG&E was second in the 2011 ranking, behind San Diego Gas & Electric, and up from third place in 2010.

The magazine defines an intelligent utility as "one that is productive, uses resources wisely, deploys information and technology to the best advantage, provides options to its customers, maintains reliability, and runs a sustainable business. The intelligent utility is steadfastly and thoughtfully re-aligning its objective, business processes and technology to prepare for the future."

"We're proud to be honored for our commitment to innovating on behalf of our customers," said Kevin Dasso, senior director of technology and information strategy at PG&E. "Whether modernizing our grid to make it 'smarter,'  providing some of the cleanest power in the industry, or helping customers find new ways to manage their energy better, we are focused on applying improved technology and practices to our core mission: delivering safe, reliable, and affordable energy services."

The rankings were derived from five metrics that gauged each utility's productivity (revenue per employee), commitment to renewable energy (based on sales and capacity), smart grid initiatives (including investments in smart metering), programs to help customers use energy more efficiently, and investment in information technology to enable business process improvement.

One change in the methodology for 2011 was the inclusion of a bonus for those utilities that demonstrate their commitment to sustainability by having a corporate social responsibility officer and an annual sustainability report. PG&E has both.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric utilities in the United States. Based in San Francisco, with 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation's cleanest energy to 15 million people in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit http://www.pge.com/about/newsroom/ and www.pgecurrents.com.

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Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer Hosted February 28-March 1 in Austin, Texas

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Members of the media are invited to attend Parks Associates’ third-annual Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer in Austin, Texas, next week. Parks Associates analysts and senior executives from companies including Motorola, Verizon, TXU, Reliant, Cox, IBM, Austin Energy, Duke Energy, and Best Buy will participate in panel discussions on new energy technologies and services for the connected consumer.

Smart Energy Summit includes multiple networking opportunities and a special Texas dinner at Stubb's BBQ, sponsored by Tendril, on February 29. Speakers, sponsors, and attendees are looking forward to three days of discussion on the new technologies, partnership opportunities, business strategies, and consumer-oriented solutions that will help build this emerging market.

"In order to succeed in today's evolving market, utilities need to implement business strategies that not only accommodate new technologies, operational changes, and policy shifts, but also factor consumer demands," said Allan Schurr, VP, Strategy and Development, Global Energy and Utilities, IBM. "By understanding the needs and expectations of consumers, utilities can discover opportunities for improvement, tailor programs, and create incentives that can help drive change."

"ecobee is thrilled to be participating in the 2012 Smart Energy Summit as it demonstrates our commitment to the education and adoption of energy management tools for utility customers," said Stuart Lombard, President & CEO, ecobee. "The Summit is a great venue for companies like ecobee to showcase their innovative products and provide choices to the energy management industry and North American utilities."

"As the first third-party application to integrate with energy use data from the federal Green Button Initiative, Simple Energy is excited to discuss the impact of public policy on customer engagement in the energy industry at Smart Energy Summit," said Justin Segall, Co-founder and EVP, Simple Energy. "Through leveraging the data made available by the Green Button initiative, Simple Energy is able to engage customers by translating energy use information into a social online game where customers compete with friends and neighbors to save energy."

“Through the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative’s recently released Consumer Pulse Study Wave II, we discovered that saving money isn’t the sole value proposition that is compelling for the average consumer who is being asked to engage more with energy,” said Patty Durand, Executive Director, Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative. “Consumers responded enthusiastically to six other potential benefits of smart grid and smart meters. To really boost consumer adoption, companies must embrace these new value propositions, taking a more multifaceted approach to consumer education.”

SMART ENERGY SUMMIT
www.SmartEnergySummit2012.com

DATE:
Tuesday, February 28-Thursday, March 1, 2012

TIME:
Day 1: 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m., networking reception at 5:30 p.m.
Day 2: 8:15 a.m.-5:30 p.m., networking reception at 5:30 p.m.
Day 3: 8:15 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

LOCATION:
Hyatt Regency Hotel – Downtown
208 Barton Springs Road
Austin, Texas
Texas Ballrooms 1, 2, & 3

PRESS PASSES: http://www.parksassociates.com/ses-presspass

SPEAKERS: http://www.parksassociates.com/events/smart-energy-summit/speakers

TOPICS: home energy management, consumer engagement, Verizon & Motorola’s Home Monitoring & Control service, new business models & trends, IP-enabled devices and more

FOLLOW US:
Twitter: @SmartEnergySmt and #SES2012
Blog: http://www.energyinsightsblog.com/
LinkedIn: “Smart Energy Summit Group” http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=3222101

INTERVIEWS: Please contact Holly Sprague at hsprague@gmail.com to schedule a meeting (on-site or via phone) with a speaker.

Mindi Sue Sternblitz-Rubenstein
Marketing Director
972 490 1113
mindi.sue@parksassociates.com
@mindisue00

Holly Sprague
PR Manager
720.987.6614
hsprague@gmail.com
@hollywsprague

Parks Associates
http://www.parksassociates.com
http://www.parksassociatesblog.com
http://twitter.com/ParksAssociates

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LS Cable & System and Mercury Cable & Energy Announce Global Agreement

DANA POINT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--LS Cable and System ( “LS Cable”), a global leader in the wire and cable industry, and Mercury Cable & Energy (“Mercury”), the leading developer of High Voltage Composite Reinforced Conductors (“HVCRC”) for electrical transmission lines, are pleased to announce that they have signed a multi-year global agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, LS Cable will strand and sell Mercury’s HVCRC product line in Korea, Vietnam, India and other agreed upon markets around the world. Additional details will be announced in the second quarter 2012.

“With this agreement, LS Cable & System’s business portfolio will be strengthened and this will give us a new momentum for overseas market entry,” said Executive Director Jae-In Yoon of LS Cable & System’s Energy Division. “We will emphasize those countries in which we are preparing for new power network implementation and transmission capacity extension projects.”

“We are pleased to begin our relationship with LS Cable,” said Ron Morris, CEO of Mercury. “As a global leader in the manufacture of wire and cable products, LS Cable is an ideal fit for the introduction of Mercury’s HVCRC products into these markets.”

LS Cable & System is a leading wire and cable manufacturer with headquarters located in Korea. LS Cable & System has 8,500 employees and more than 100 manufacturing sites located in 24 countries around the world. LS Cable & System, founded in Korea in 1962, provides a wide range of energy and telecom cable solutions for the energy infrastructure, construction, automotive, railway, telecommunication and electronic industries... For additional information please visit the LS Cable website at www.lscns.com/.

Mercury Cable & Energy is a privately held developer of High Voltage Composite Reinforced Conductors (HVCRC), Smart Conductors for the Smart Grid. Founded in 2006, Mercury Cable specializes in HVCRC production and is now recognized among the cable industry world-wide for their advanced cable technology. The patented HVCRC Smart Conductor is superior to existing conductors in a number of key performance areas including:

•     Up to double the current carrying capacity of ACSR
•     Substantially reduces high temperature sag
•     Requires fewer structures for new line construction
•     Increases capacity of existing rights of way and structures through retrofitting
•     Eliminates bimetallic corrosion
•     Significantly reduces line losses compared to same diameter conventional and composite conductors at equal operating temperatures

For additional information please visit our web site at www.mercurycable.com.

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