Itron

Digest

ABB commissions microgrid on Portuguese island; Panda orders Siemens generating units for 829-MW plant; Burlington Electric Department enters 54-MW PPA with First Wind; Tantalus and Itron contract for smart metering and smart grid system in Washington; EdF orders 220 MW of wind turbines from Vestas; MidAmerican orders 1,050 MW of wind turbines from Siemens; plus contracts and announcements from GE, PSEG, Arizona Public Service, Dominion, Entergy, Xcel, PSE&G, and others.

Inland Power & Light Selects Tantalus and Itron for Smart Grid Communications Network

Inland Power & Light (IPL) selected a Tantalus-Itron solution for public power to provide AMI and smart grid services for the approximately 39,000 members in its cooperative in eastern Washington and northern Idaho. The fully integrated TUNet platform will serve as the core foundation for IPL to deploy Itron meters to facilitate the use of advanced applications such as automated metering, interval meter data collection, prepay, and power quality management.

Digest

Siemens and Accenture joint venture on smart grid management systems; CenterPoint picks Itron for RF meter rollout; Memphis picks Elster electric, gas, and water AMI system; TransAlta acquires Wyoming wind farm from NextEra; NRG acquires Edison Mission Energy assets; Google to invest in Imperial Valley solar project; Sempra acquires Nebraska wind project; plus contracts and announcements from Babcock & Wilcox, Echelon, PJM, California ISO, and others.

CenterPoint Energy's Natural Gas Business Will Deploy Itron Advanced Metering Technology

CenterPoint Energy’s natural gas distribution business will install Itron advanced metering technology across the utility’s six-state service territory by the end of 2015. Communication modules to nearly 1.3 million gas meters have already been installed in parts of the company’s service territory in Minnesota, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas. Upon project completion, 3.3 million communication modules will be installed in these states as well as Arkansas and Mississippi.

Digest

ComEd selects GE for 4 million smart meters; Duquesne contracts Itron for 625,000 smart meters; Consumers Energy plans 700-MW combined-cycle plant; Phoenix Solar contracts for 39-MW PV plant; NRG starts operation at two 20-MW PV plants in California; Edison files suit against Mitsubishi for SONGS defects; FirstEnergy plans 2 GW of coal-plant shutdowns; FERC approves PacifiCorp tie-in with Cal ISO; PSEG commissions EV-charging facilities; plus announcements and contracts involving Toshiba, Direct Energy, Alstom, and others.

Duquesne Light Select Itron for Smart Meter Deployment

Duquesne Light signed a contract with Itron for the deployment of Itron’s smart metering solution across the utility’s entire service territory. The contract signing follows approval from Duquesne Light’s board of directors and Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PAPUC). Itron will replace the utility’s existing 625,000 electricity meters, implement back-office data collection software, supply critical network communications infrastructure, and provide comprehensive professional services.

Big Data, Big Change

Analytics chart a path for industry transformation.

“Without integrating operational data with traditional IT data, I don’t think the industry would be any further along than it was five or 10 years ago.” ~Steve Ehrlich, Space Time Insight

People (April 2013)

Southern Company makes changes in operations and power subsidiaries; Michael Chesser to leave KCPL board; Dynegy names new e.v.p.; Rolando Pablos resigns from Texas PUC; In Memoriam: Kris R. Nielsen.

Digest

Duke installed a 36-MW energy storage facility at the Notrees wind farm; Ameren Illinois plans to deploy a Landis+Gyr mesh network; GE and Toshiba formed a strategic alliance to develop combined-cycle power projects; Alberta Newsprint contracted Caterpillar to supply gensets totaling 65 MW; Duke Energy plans to retire two coal-fired stations; EDF started operations at a 150-MW wind project; Sempra completed the first 150-MW phase of the Mesquite solar complex; Atlantic Wind selected Bechtel to build an offshore HVDC transmission line; Alstom Grid and Capgemini allied to offer smart grid solutions; plus contracts and announcements from Itron, Qualcomm, Echelon, Siemens, Portland General Electric, Pattern Energy, Juhl Energy, Honda, and others.