Smarter Power Grids

Google PowerMeter

2009-02-10T07:45:00.000-08:00

Hello,

It has been clear that Google has been up to something in the power grid space since their partnership with GE. What does Google bring to the table? Now Google.org announces Google's PowerMeter.

The announcement is a bit sketchy on the technical details. They are collecting, organizing and making electric usage information useful to people.

Smart Grid News evaluates the initial announcement.

-jk

Solar Power - Scaling up @ PARC

2009-01-09T15:57:00.000-08:00

Hello,

The PARC forum talk next week will be on solar energy from a marketing perspective. Eric Wesoff, Greentech Media, will share his analysis of the solar market with us.

-jk

policy databases at IEA

2009-01-08T12:00:00.000-08:00

Hello,

The International Energy Agency has policy databases for climate change, Renewable Energy and energy efficiency. Pros: it is international. Cons: it doesn't drill down to the state level.

-jk

Energy Seminar @ the Woods Institute

2009-01-06T12:16:00.000-08:00

Hello,

This week at the Woods Institute for the Environment's Energy Seminar, Lee Schipper will be presenting. He is affiliated with Precourt Institute for Energy Efficiency at Stanford University, UC Berkeley's Transportation Center and founder (and now Fellow Emeritus) at EMBARQ. The talk is entitled When the Rubber Hits the Road: The Real Story on Fuel Economy in the US and other Developed Countries, with Implications for Developing Asia.

Update: Here is an article which summarizes his talk. Dr. Schipper focusing on the fuels for transportation and policies to improve efficiency.

-jk

Fueling the Future panel @ stanford

2009-01-04T11:14:00.000-08:00

Hello,

I just learned about Stanford's Earth Sciences Energy & Environment Public Lecture Series.

Each year, the School of Earth Sciences, along with the Woods Institute for the Environment, offers a series of evening lectures centered around a current, relevant topic from an Earth Science perspective.

On Jan 20th, a panel will be discussing Fueling the Future. Often we hear about these technologies from a C-level exec at a company who have already placed their bets. This panel gives us an engineer perspective.

-John

two groups advocating energy policy

2009-01-01T12:01:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Here are two groups advocating on energy policy.

Energy Future Coalition is a broad-based, non-partisan alliance that seeks to bridge the differences among business, labor, and environmental groups and identify energy policy options with broad political support.
25 by 25 Agriculture’s Role in Ensuring U.S. Energy Independence

-jk

California clean tech open

2008-12-30T13:29:00.000-08:00

Hello,

California Clean Tech Open is an organization of leading entrepreneurs, academics, investors and companies, working together to accelerate the development of clean technology startups. They are based out of Palo Alto, CA. Each year they sponsor a contest for clean tech startups.

-jk

A wind farm with batteries.

2008-12-30T09:28:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Scientific American reports on Xcel Energy's plan for a wind farm in Minnesota. This initiative will use batteries to store the electricity. This is interesting. Our current system doesn't use electric storage. Once energy is generated it must be used immediately. With nuclear or fossil fuel, we can burn it on demand. Mother nature controls the winds. They are strongest at night. Yet, we want to use the power during the day.

Storage is very desirable but it most cost a lot of money. With many technologies, improvements are breathtaking. For example, Moore's law states cpu performance doubles every two years. Unfortunately, batteries are basically improving in a linear fashion. On the other hand, there will be a lot of research in this area. If there are huge improvements in battery technologies, this pioneering effort may not be economical.

-John

Bob Metcalfe on energy

2008-12-17T14:12:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Bob Metcalfe is a legend in computer networks. He is best known for packet switching, ethernet and metcalfe's law. These days he is a VC with an interest in applying technology to solve energy problems. In this video, he is presenting a lecture at Ember entitled Enernet. He uses term to draw in analogy between his experience with the internet over the last few decades and how he foresees solving the energy problems of today.

-jk

Green:Net 09: applying IT to climate change

2008-12-17T13:17:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Om Malik's GigaOm Network has announced the Green:Net 09 conference in San Francisco at the end of March. The topic fits nicely with my direction. It considers how to apply IT to address climate change. So, I plan to attend. Caveat emptor: the topic is timely but GigaOm conferences trend to celebrate the VC/CEO at the expense of the topic at hand. Om, if you're out there, more intellectual discipline, please!

-jk

HOMER - Analysis of micropower systems options

2008-12-16T09:18:00.000-08:00

Hello,

HOMER "is a computer model that simplifies the task of evaluating design options for both off-grid and grid-connected power systems for remote, stand-alone, and distributed generation (DG) applications". If you take the time to provide the government with proprietary data every six months, NREL will allow you to download their windows application without payment.

-jk

Renewable Energy classes @ CSM

2008-12-15T13:57:00.000-08:00

Hello,

At the moment, I'm learning everything I can about energy and how to apply IT to it. I noticed the Tom Diskin, professor of Electronics Technology at the College of San Mateo, is teaching two courses on Renewable energy .

ELEC 680: Power for the Future - Introduces students to the current environment challenges and surveys energy options.
ELEC 144: Solar Energy Fundamentals - Introduction to solar fundamentals include both thermal and photovoltaic. It also has a hands on lab!

-jk

Galvin Electricity Initiative

2008-12-11T15:33:00.001-08:00

Hello,

The bibliography and references are broad and touches on many interesting organizations. The first one that caught my eye is the Galvin Electricity Initiative. Bob Galvin, the retired CEO of Motorola, formed this Institute in response to the 2003 blackout on the eastern seaboard of the US. Kurt Yeager, former president of EPRI, is the executive director of the Institute. In his 2007 congressional testimony, he outlines his vision for the smart grid both technically and from a policy point of view.

-jk

SEGIS-Solar Energy Grid Integration Systems

2008-12-11T11:50:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Last night I attended the Silicon Valley Photovoltaics Society meeting at PARC. John Benner of NREL examined how NREL could assist companies trying to bring Photovoltaics to market. I wanted to learn about what special requirements industrial solar installation would have from the grid. He provided a point to a paper at Sandia National Labs entitled Solar Energy Grid Integration Systems - "SEGIS". Here is the link to it.

-jk

Cal Energy Commission: Load Management Standards

2008-12-10T16:03:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Today the California Energy Commission released Proposed Load Management Standards draft. The executive summary is a nice primer for both energy efficiency with respect to the power grid and California's efforts over the years.

-jk

Steven Chu for Energy Secertary

2008-12-10T15:40:00.001-08:00

Hello,

Today Obama nominated Professor Steven Chu for US Secretary of Energy. I am very pleased with this select. He is currently the director of the Lawrence Berkeley Lab. There is a lot of research with respect to solar, biofuels and the smart grid ( see Demand Response Research Center).

-jk

SVPVS: Making a Federal case for Photovoltaics.

2008-12-05T07:30:00.001-08:00

Hello,

The Silicon Valley Photovoltaic Society will be meeting at PARC on Dec 10th. Click here for details. John Benner is the Manager PV Industry Partnerships with National Center for Photovoltaics at National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

-jk

California establishing standard for load management.

2008-12-03T15:42:00.001-08:00

Hello,

The California Energy Commision is establishing a standard for load management.

-jk

Google in the energy space

2008-11-24T09:41:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Recently Google formed a partnership with GE and has made a number of investment in renewables including:

Alta Rock Energy, Inc GeoThermal
Potter Drilling GeoThermal
SMU's Geothermal Lab
Aptera.com - electric car
eSolar - solar
Makani Power wind
ActaCell lithium ion batteries

These bits and bobs of information leave me wondering if Google is working on software for the smart grid.

Update: Google also has a blog for electric cars and batteries called RechargeIT.

-jk

Notes from Khosla's talk

2008-11-21T07:52:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Yesterday I attended Vinod Khosla's presentation at PARC. It was very insightful. He is a hard nosed VC focusing on renewable energy and technologies which combat climate change. His mantra is "main Tech; not clean Tech". Alternative energy must be cheaper than fossil fuels after the initial startup investment. To win the climate challenge, the technologies must be designed with China and India in mind.

Here is a short list of companies to exemplify his philosophy.

KiOR converting biomass into bio-crude
Transonic Combustion improving the gasoline engine efficiency for dramatically better mileage and lower greenhouse gas emissions
Calera - "dedicated to reversing global warming and ocean acidification by trapping the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, in the built environment, proactively reducing the level of free carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere."
EEStor has developed a type of capacitor for electricity storage
Algenol Biofuels an innovative algae to ethanol company

You'll find a number of white papers and presentations here.

-jk

Plan for SF Bay Area electric car battery exchange stations plan

2008-11-21T07:02:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Better Place is a startup who wants to supply the infrastructure for electric cars. Cars will be designed with a standard battery. Better Place provides both a recharging and exchange stations. If you driving locally, you can simply recharge the batters over night. If your driving for a longer distance, you'll stop at a exchange station. You pull in and the battery is swapped with a full changed battery. The have a contract with the country of Israel.

Today they announced a regional agreement with Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose. Here is the write up in the Chronicle.

-jk

Vinod Khosla @ PARC on Renewable energy

2008-11-20T12:30:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Vinod Khosla will be speaking at PARC today on The Innovation Ecosystem: A Strategic Perspective on Renewable Energy.

-jk

SD Forum : transitioning to green panel

2008-11-20T12:10:00.000-08:00

Hello,

SD Forum has organized a panel on transitioning your career to green on December 3rd. The VCs on this panel invest in this area. The execs are from wind and new building materials.

-jk

Silicon valley group talking about Solar Power

2008-11-20T10:51:00.000-08:00

Hello,

While this isn't about the smart grid, it is related. There is a new group in Silicon Valley focused on Solar Power. It is called the Silicon Valley Photovoltaics Society. They meet monthly at PARC.

-jk

Broadband over powerlines.

2008-11-19T09:54:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Glenn Fleishman wrote an interesting article with respect to broadband over powerlines on Ars Technica. It is entitled Stick a fork in it: a broadband over powerline post mortem.

-jk

Smart Grid Forum: a crossroads for cross pollination

2008-11-19T08:37:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Upgrading the power grid is a huge effort. It will effect all of us. There are many stakeholders: power generators, government, utilities, IT, research labs, regulators, etc. There are a few national conferences

GridWeek is the annual gathering in Washington, DC, of Smart Grid stakeholders and thought leaders.
DR-Expo is a conference and exposition focused on delivering tangible information on the implementation of Demand Response in North America.
Gridwise Expo

Texas based Clasma Events, Inc organizes these and related events.

What I do not see are either online groups or regional forums to talk about the smart grid.
People from a variety of backgrounds could feed off the work of others. Gaining insight and understanding requirements. Learning how other parts of the industry operate. Please leave a comment if you know of a group, forum or have an idea about forming such a group online or a regional forum. I'm particularly interested in a regional forum in the San Francisco Bay Area.

-jk

Connecting the power line to the home

2008-11-18T13:44:00.000-08:00

Hello,

For network communication we need a physical layer. With the smart grid, the signals are send over the power line which is referred to as Broadband over power lines. Electrical power is transmitted at very high voltages. It is then stepped down via transformers twice before it reaches the consumer. Communication signals can't be passed through the transformers. So, repeaters must be attached to transformers to propagate the signal. This expense has people exploring using wireless solutions to connect the power line to the home.

-John

And so it begins

2008-11-14T14:52:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Climate change is upon us. Many of the proposed solutions to the problem will require upgrading our power transmission grid.

Electric cars will require a power grid which can distribute a lot more power.
What if the power generators could automatically warn power consumers about peak periods. Appliances could postpone work. Imagine a wash machine which offered to run after 7PM.
What if they regional utility could monitor the power grid and know about failures.

This blog is dedicated to understanding a 21st century grid.

-jk