Archive for February, 2010

A report by Frost and Sullivan concludes that the introduction of smart meters will create a revolution in the South African power market. Analyst Ross Bruton says the energy crisis is driving the market and obliges Eskom to reduce the electricity demand. Eskom is Africa?s largest producer of electricity and is among the top seven utilities in the world in terms of generation capacity and among the top nine in terms of sales.

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One Block Off the Grid (1BOG) this week announced that the company has closed a US $5 million round of Series A financing from New Enterprise Associates (NEA). The financing will support 1BOG’s national expansion strategy to rapidly boost US adoption of residential solar.

GDF Suez and the Mayor of Curbans, Daniel Rolland, signed an agreement this week to build France’s largest photovoltaic solar power facility in Curbans.

SunPower Corp. has signed a definitive agreement to acquire SunRay Renewable Energy, a European solar power plant developer with offices in Europe and the Middle East. SunPower will acquire SunRay from its shareholders, which includes its management and Denham Capital.

Greenplum Software, the pioneer of Enterprise Data Cloud solutions for large scale data warehousing and analysis, announced that it had signed a partnership with Silver Spring Networks, a pioneer in the smart grid arena.  Greenplum uses “MAD Skills” analytics to mine useful information from mountains of data that enterprises compile in their day to day operations.

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Vestas will supply 33 V90 3-megawatt (MW) wind turbines to Granite Reliable Power Windpark, which is developing a 99-MW wind project in the state of New Hampshire. The project is majority-owned by Noble Environmental Power. The order also includes a two-year service and maintenance agreement.

The New South Wales Solar Bonus Scheme will require consumers to install Gross Feed-in meters in order to pass along solar energy directly into the grid. Three NSW energy wholesalers – Energy Australia, Country Energy and Integral – have developed different approaches to the mandate.

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The British Electrotechnical and Allied Manufacturers Association (BEAMA) welcomes the Government’s plans for installing smart meters in UK homes and small businesses.  Dr. Howard Porter, chief operating officer (COO) of BEAMA, made remarks on the subject at the group’s recent Smart Electricity Systems Conference.

“It is particularly refreshing to see the clarity of thinking presented in the ‘Smarter Grids: The Opportunity’ document,” said Porter, referring to the Government’s roadmap to a sustainable future.  “The paper provides a roadmap to 2050 with increased future interaction between the distribution network and energy users.”

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General Motors Corporation (GM) is investing $246 million to
build electric motors and hybrid components at its Baltimore
Transmission plant in Maryland, making it the first high-
volume electric motor manufacturing site in the United States
to be run by a major automaker.

Thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the
U.S. wind industry had a record year in 2009, installing 9,921
megawatts (MW) of new wind turbines. But U.S. wind power
growth is being rivaled by even faster growth in China.