grid

Lithium ion batteries aren't just for your laptop anymore. A group of truck-size battery banks are delivering quick bursts of power to the electricity grid in upstate New York.

AES Energy Storage, a subsidiary of power generation company AES, last week said that the first 8 megawatts of a planned 20-megawatt battery grid storage system are now online in Johnson City, N.Y. The full project is expected to be completed later this year.

The network of batteries is designed to keep an even balance between energy supply and demand in that portion of the New York grid. The … Read more

BMC Software said today that it is acquiring GridApp Systems, a company that specializes in database provisioning, patching and administration.

According to BMC, it will use the GridApp acquisition to expand its lineup of automation and configuration tools. These systems will then be added to its enterprise application deployment and management portfolio.

The GridApp software is already integrated with BMC's BladeLogic Server Automation. GridApp automates database admin tasks. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

Separately, BMC said that it will add change, problem, and configuration management to its ServiceDesk on Force.com software.

Read more of "BMC acquires GridApp Systems; Expands Salesforce.com partnership&… Read more

The Wi-Fi Alliance and HomePlug Powerline Alliance have joined forces to promote the adoption of powerline and Wi-Fi networking technologies in smart-grid applications, which could mean more streamlined connectivity for consumers.

The Wi-Fi Alliance tests and certifies Wi-Fi products, including Wi-Fi Direct, to ensure their interoperability, and the HomePlug Powerline Alliance does the same thing for powerline devices.

The agreement, announced today, enables cooperative efforts for the joint technical review of Wi-Fi Alliance's and HomePlug's specifications and standards that facilitate interoperability of smart-grid applications. Both parties will also promote the adoption of wireless and powerline technologies.

The collaboration … Read more

The IEEE is stepping up its involvement in energy-related technologies with its latest working groups.

The engineering organization announced today the creation of a standards efforts for grid storage and another for measuring greenhouse gas reductions from renewable energy and energy-efficient products.

The grid storage effort, part of the IEEE's P2030 smart grid interoperability working group, will create guidelines for defining the technical interfaces between energy storage systems, such as communications to other smart-grid equipment.

The effort, expected to take about two years, will focus on hybrid storage systems that combine different technologies, such as batteries, ultracapacitors, and flywheels. … Read more

Without a "backbone" to shuttle megawatts of power, the offshore wind resource on the U.S. Atlantic coast will remain undeveloped, according to one of the architects behind the Atlantic Wind Connection offshore transmission line project.

Trans-Elect Development today detailed an ambitious project to lay underwater cables to carry electricity generated by offshore wind turbines along the eastern seaboard from Virginia to New Jersey.

The group said that an initial group of investors, including Google and Good Energies, have put in tens of millions of dollars each into the project, which they hope to begin construction of in … Read more

Google said today it's invested in a project called the Atlantic Wind Connection, an effort to create a 350-mile power transmission backbone linking wind turbines several miles offshore with sites along the East Coast.

The underwater cable, "a superhighway for clean energy" in Google's words, is designed to link multiple offshore wind farms to the U.S. power grid. The wind farms, which are separate from the backbone project, would be located 10 to 15 miles offshore so they would have strong wind and would be invisible from shore. Construction costs of the backbone project are … Read more

A win today for those bothered by unsightly overhead wires snaking through otherwise pleasant views of cities, towns, and countrysides around the world.

Today, American Semiconductor announced it's filling its biggest order to date for its high-temperature superconductor (HTS) wire, which is used in underground direct-current superconductor cables.

Superconductor cable manufacturer LS Cable of Korea has ordered over 3 million meters of the HTS wire. The wire, which will be manufactured in Massachusetts, will be used in LS Cable direct-current superconductor cables to be laid across Korea in conjunction with a project with the Korean utility KEPCO, and also … Read more

Whereas many Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs are trying to cook up the next Facebook or cool iPhone app, a group of San Francisco entrepreneurs is designing a brick-shaped battery for poor people.

"Social venture" Fenix International officially launched yesterday with the opening of its Web site, which describes its plans to sell off-grid power systems for people in developing countries.

It plans to start manufacturing its battery pack this fall and is now negotiating with potential distributors in Africa, India, Bangladesh, and Latin America, company executives said today. It plans to first launch its products in four African countries first.

Fenix International, a for-profit company, is trying to reach the 1.6 billion people who live without regular access to electrical power, explained CEO Mike Lin, a former Apple employee and environmental engineering lecturer at Stanford University, who started the company almost two years ago.

The company's core product is a 12-volt lead acid battery designed specifically for frequent charges from a variety of sources, including a solar panel, bicycle generator, the power grid, or eventually hydro and small-wind turbines.

The battery, called the Fenix ReadySet, includes two cigarette-lighter and two USB ports for charging mobile phones, LED lights, fans, or other small electronics. Company engineers created a custom formulation of lead acid battery so it can last for years and adapt to different power sources.

Demand for electric power is soaring in "frontier countries" because of mobile phones, explained Lin. There are now 500 million off-grid mobile phone subscribers around the world right now but growth is being limited because of no power or unreliable power, he said.

The company's strategy is to sell its ReadySet batteries--priced at about $150 with a power source, such as a solar panel--through phone distributors, which are losing potential revenue because customers can't keep phones on. … Read more

SEABROOK, N.H.--After a period of stagnation, the U.S. nuclear power industry is pushing for another chance--both to build new power plants and to reshape popular opinion.

Earlier this week, I took a tour of the Seabrook Station nuclear power plant on the New Hampshire coast, just north of the Massachusetts border. I got to see some impressive engineering, relearn the physics of nuclear fission, and ponder the future of nuclear power.

In a way, the Seabrook Station reflects the crossroads that nuclear power in the U.S. finds itself at. Construction of the plant, located on a … Read more