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Showing posts with label grid. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grid. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

GE Launches PowerOn™ Precision to Deliver Real-life Benefits of Managing the Demand and Supply of Power on the Electric Grid

Press release:

18 September 2012
GE Launches PowerOn™ Precision to Deliver Real-life Benefits of Managing the Demand and Supply of Power on the Electric Grid
 

SAN DIEGO—September 18, 2012—A current challenge utilities face—reducing the rise in peak demand along with its high costs—just became easier. Utilities will welcome GE’s (NYSE: GE) new PowerOnTM Precision demand optimization technology to help ensure a more energy-efficient, reliable grid with economic benefits to both energy providers and consumers.

PowerOn Precision is a demand response management system that allows GE utilities to manage peak demand and/or provide support for grid stability and operations. The new technology is a comprehensive solution that uses proven GE software and continuous-learning algorithms to deliver dynamic pricing incentives and direct load control capabilities to consumers. Designed with open standards and a modular architecture that increases the functionality, flexibility and ease of integrating future technologies into the system, this solution delivers real-life benefits of greater power reliability, a cleaner energy mix and consumer empowerment. Utilities can reduce operational costs while consumers can lower their electric bills as the smart grid becomes more efficient.

By empowering consumers, PowerOn Precision helps contribute to economic development and a greener use of energy. Residential, commercial and industrial consumers will be able to participate in rate programs to adjust their energy usage and make other consumption-changing moves. In many cases, they can qualify for energy discounts and bonuses that lower their electric bills without affecting their way of life. The result is a better balance of power demand with available power supply to meet peak-time loads. GE’s smarter solution optimizes the load while minimizing the impact on participating customers.

“Today’s energy challenges are making us re-think how we deliver energy,” said Mike Carlson, general manager−smart grid solutions for GE Energy Management’s Digital Energy business. “Increased peak demands, growing grid constraints and power interruptions are costly to global businesses. The demand optimization technology that utilities can implement will enable more reliable, efficient and cleaner energy, spurring economic development and improving lifestyles.”

PowerOn Precision enables several forms of communication—from home energy portals and smart appliances to building management systems, electric vehicle charging stations and other energy management systems. The solution will help lower the peaks of energy demand that occur throughout each day and during energy-intensive events, such as heat waves, adjusting the most practical loads at the right time and locations.

As PowerOn Precision continues to be implemented across the U.S., Europe and other regions, GE’s technology will help utility partners better manage the demand side of business, enable consumers to make smarter energy decisions and power a more productive and sustainable energy future.

GE Energy Management’s Digital Energy business is a global leader in protection and control, communications, power sensing and power quality solutions. Its products and services increase the reliability of electrical power networks and critical equipment for utility, industrial and large commercial customers. From protecting and optimizing assets such as generators, transmission lines and motors, to ensuring secure wireless data transmission and providing uninterruptible power, GE Energy Management’s Digital Energy business delivers industry-leading technologies to solve the unique challenges of each customer. For more information, visithttp://www.gedigitalenergy.com.

About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter. The best people and the best technologies taking on the toughest challenges. Finding solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance. Building, powering, moving and curing the world. Not just imagining. Doing. GE works. For more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com.

Follow GE Energy Management’s Digital Energy business on Twitter@YourSmartGrid.

Elster to Offer Advanced Smart Grid Solutions Using Cisco Technology


PRESS RELEASE

Elster to Offer Advanced Smart Grid Solutions Using Cisco Technology

Cisco's Connected Grid Endpoint reference design SDK to be used with Elster's EnergyAxis® System

SAN JOSE, CA and RALEIGH, NC – Sep. 18, 2012 – Cisco and Elster announced today that Elster will offer smart grid solutions for field area networks using Cisco's technology. The solutions will integrate the Cisco Connected Grid Endpoint reference design with Elster's EnergyAxis System, and will showcase the power and flexibility of Elster's Universal technology while demonstrating support for Cisco's expertise in standards-based and interoperable communication solutions.
Through this integration of communication functions into advanced meters, utility customers will be provided with an even more flexible, secure, and economical Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) communications infrastructure. The combined solution will integrate the Elster EnergyAxis architecture within the Cisco IPv6 RF Mesh reference design.
Cisco has developed a complete suite of communications solutions for the smart grid. These include the Connected Grid Endpoint reference design as well as a full suite of switching, routing, network management and security products for the Field Area Network, Transmission & Substations, and Grid Operations. Plus Connected Grid Services to architect and optimize Smart Grid communications systems.
In addition to providing a comprehensive suite of AMI capabilities, Elster's EnergyAxis architecture enables smart meters to act as sensors for Distribution Automation and Asset Management applications such as Outage Notification, Voltage Monitoring, Asset Monitoring, and Loss Detection.  These advanced solutions enable utilities to extract even more value from their AMI investments. Elster is licensing the Cisco Connected Grid Endpoint reference design and software development kit (SDK).The addition of the Connected Grid Endpoint reference design further expands the EnergyAxis System interoperability and standards-based optimization.
With its innovative Software-Defined Radio and advanced software based metrology, Elster's REXUniversal meter platform offers utilities the flexibility to deploy this device with the Cisco GridBlocksTM Solution Architecture, the Landis+Gyr GridStreamTM architecture (previously announced), as well as the Elster EnergyAxis Architecture.
Elster intends to develop EnergyAxis communications firmware that will operate within Cisco's 1000 Series Connected Grid Routers, and leverage application programming interfaces from the Cisco Connected Grid Network Management System.
"Cisco is committed to supporting our customers' need for interoperable vendor solutions," said Lionel Chocron, Vice President, Connected Energy Networks at Cisco. "By licensing the reference design to industry leaders such as Elster, we are enabling utilities to combine AMI communications over a common, reliable and secure communications infrastructure."
"As a Smart Grid solutions industry leader, Elster is committed to true interoperability and innovation," said Ed Myszka, President of Elster Solutions. "This announcement builds on Elster's track record of collaboration and integration to deliver the next generation of interoperability needed by utilities as they deploy Smart Grid solutions."
About Cisco
Cisco, the worldwide leader in networking, is helping the energy industry modernize the electrical grid from generation to distribution to consumption - with highly secure, reliable and scalable communications solutions. The Cisco Connected Grid solutions include: Transmission and Substation, Field Area Network, Grid Security, Data Center and Grid Operations. To learn more, please visit www.cisco.com/go/utilities.
About Elster
Elster is one of the world's largest electricity, gas and water measurement and control providers. Its offerings include distribution monitoring and control, advanced smart metering, demand response, networking and software solutions, and numerous related communications and services – key components for enabling consumer choice, operational efficiency and conservation. Its products and solutions are widely used by utilities in the traditional and emerging Smart Grid markets. 
Elster has one of the most extensive installed revenue measurement bases in the world, with more than 200 million metering devices deployed over the course of the last 10 years. It sells its products and services in more than 130 countries across electricity, gas, water and multi-utility applications for residential, commercial and industrial, and transmission and distribution applications.
For more information about Elster, please visit www.elster.com.
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Thursday, August 2, 2012

ARPA-E Announces $43 Million for Transformational Energy Storage Projects to Advance Electric Vehicle and Grid Technologies

Press release from the U.S. Dept. of Energy:


ARPA-E Announces $43 Million for Transformational Energy Storage Projects to Advance Electric Vehicle and Grid Technologies

August 2, 2012 - 10:34am

News Media Contact

WASHINGTON – The Department of Energy today announced that 19 transformative new projects will receive a total of $43 million in funding from the Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to leverage the nation’s brightest scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs to develop breakthrough energy storage technologies and support promising small businesses. These projects are supported through two new ARPA-E programs -- Advanced Management and Protection of Energy Storage Devices (AMPED) and Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) – and will focus on innovations in battery management and storage to advance electric vehicle technologies, help improve the efficiency and reliability of the electrical grid and provide important energy security benefits to America’s armed forces.

“This latest round of ARPA-E projects seek to address the remaining challenges in energy storage technologies, which could revolutionize the way Americans store and use energy in electric vehicles, the grid and beyond, while also potentially improving the access to energy for the U.S. military at forward operating bases in remote areas,” said Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. “These cutting-edge projects could transform our energy infrastructure, dramatically reduce our reliance on imported oil and increase American energy security.”

Twelve research projects are receiving $30 million in funding under the AMPED program, which aims to develop advanced sensing and control technologies that could dramatically improve and provide new innovations in safety, performance, and lifetime for grid-scale and vehicle batteries. Unlike other Department of Energy efforts to push the frontiers of battery chemistry, AMPED is focused on maximizing the potential of existing battery chemistries. These innovations will help reduce costs and improve the performance of next generation storage technologies, which could be applied in both plug-in electric and hybrid-electric vehicles. For example, Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio, will develop an optical sensor to monitor the internal environment of a lithium-ion battery in real-time. 

ARPA-E is also announcing a total of $13 million for seven projects to enterprising small businesses to pursue cutting-edge energy storage developments for stationary power and electric vehicles.  These projects will develop new innovative battery chemistries and battery designs, continuing ARPA-E’s funding for storage technologies.  These awards are part of the larger Department-wide Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR)/Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program. For example, Energy Storage Systems, Inc., in Portland, Oregon, will construct a flow battery for grid scale storage using an advanced cell design and electrolyte materials composed of low cost iron.  The flow battery will have a target storage cost of less than $100/kWh, which could enable deployment of renewable energy technologies throughout the grid.

Information on all of the new AMPED and SBIR projects announced today is available HERE.


ARPA-E’s Principal Deputy Director Eric Toone announced the selected projects at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation’s event, the “New Age of Discovery: Government’s Role in Transformative Innovation,” in Washington, DC, where he spoke alongside former ARPA-E Director Arun Majumdar.  

ARPA-E was launched in 2009 to seek out transformational, breakthrough technologies that are too risky for private-sector investment but have the potential to translate science into quantum leaps in energy technology, form the foundation for entirely new industries, and have large commercial impacts. Prior to today’s announcement, ARPA-E has attracted over 5,000 applications from research teams, which have resulted in approximately 180 groundbreaking projects worth nearly $500 million.  More information on the program is available at www.arpa-e.energy.gov

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Oracle Announces Availability of Advanced Metering Infrastructure Vendor Adapters for Oracle Utilities Smart Grid Gateway


Oracle Press Release

Oracle Announces Availability of Advanced Metering Infrastructure Vendor Adapters for Oracle Utilities Smart Grid Gateway

Redwood Shores, California – May 1, 2011

News Facts

Oracle announced the availability of several advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) vendor adapters for Oracle Utilities Smart Grid Gateway. These adapters provide utilities with a simplified link between smart grid devices and the applications that use their data.
Using Oracle Utilities Smart Grid Gateway and a vendor adapter can create a central interface point between AMI head-end systems and a variety of other applications such as meter data management, customer care and billing, and network management systems.
This unified approach allows utilities to quickly connect multi-vendor solutions without requiring complex integration efforts. As a result, utilities can reduce total cost of ownership and more efficiently implement their smart grid initiatives.
The adapters handle the most common AMI processes including remote connect/disconnect, meter ping, and on-demand reads. They can also be extended, in concert with Oracle Utilities Smart Grid Gateway, to support additional devices or commands.
The available adapters include:
Oracle Utilities Smart Grid Gateway Adapter for Echelon
Oracle Utilities Smart Grid Gateway MV-90 Adapter for Itron
Oracle Utilities Smart Grid Gateway Adapter for Landis+Gyr
Oracle Utilities Smart Grid Gateway Adapter for Sensus RNI
Oracle will soon release Oracle Utilities Smart Grid Gateway Adapter for Silver Spring Networks.

Supporting Quotes

“As the smart grid evolves, utilities will gather an ever-increasing volume of data from a growing list of devices. Oracle Utilities Smart Grid Gateway and its AMI vendor adapters provide a single point of connection linking devices to the applications that need their data. This enables utilities to dramatically reduce the cost and complexity of enhancing smart grids with new devices, data streams and business processes. A simplified connection also decreases data duplication, fosters application interoperability, and bolsters the security and auditability of smart grid processes,” said Rodger Smith, senior vice president and general manager, Oracle Utilities.

Supporting Resources


About Oracle Utilities

Oracle Utilities delivers proven software applications that help utilities of all types and sizes achieve competitive advantage, business performance excellence and a lower total cost of technology ownership. Oracle Utilities integrates industry-specific customer care and billing, network management, work and asset management, mobile workforce management and meter data management applications with the capabilities of Oracle's industry-leading enterprise applications, business intelligence tools, middleware, database technologies, as well as servers and storage. The software enables customers to adapt more nimbly to market deregulation, meet ever-evolving customer demands and deliver on environmental conservation commitments. Additionally, Oracle Utilities helps utilities prepare for smart metering and smart grid initiatives that enhance efficiency and provide critical intelligence metrics that can help drive more-informed energy and water usage decisions for consumers and businesses. For more information, visit www.oracle.com/goto/utilities.

About Oracle

Oracle engineers hardware and software to work together in the cloud and in your data center.  For more information about Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL), visit www.oracle.com.

About Oracle Industries

Oracle industry solutions leverage the company's best-in-class portfolio of products to address complex business processes relevant to utilities, helping speed time to market, reduce costs, and gain a competitive edge.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Lee County Electric Cooperative Selects Oracle Utilities Solutions to Support Smart Grid Initiatives

Lee County Electric Cooperative Selects Oracle Utilities Solutions to Support Smart Grid Initiatives

Redwood Shores, California – March 27, 2012

News Facts

Lee County Electric Cooperative (LCEC) www.lcec.net , a not-for-profit electric distribution cooperative serving a five-county area in Southwest Florida, selected Oracle Utilities Meter Data ManagementOracle Utilities Smart Grid GatewayOracle SOA Suite, and plans to upgrade its existing Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing application, to support its customer experience initiatives. The utility is working with Oracle Consulting on the implementation and upgrade. 
Using Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management and Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing, LCEC plans to improve the information it presents to its 200,000 customers on monthly bills and through its Web self-service offering. The Oracle applications enable the utility to consolidate storage of interval metering data, allowing it to provide near real time usage and cost information to customers. The utility hopes to see a decrease in customer call volume through Web self-service adoption growth.
The utility will leverage the integration of Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management and Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing to improve its meter-to-cash process – enhancing master data synchronization, batch billing, bill cancel/re-bill and online billing. The integration will help LCEC reduce costs and accelerate time to revenue.
Additionally, LCEC selected Oracle Utilities Smart Grid Gateway to provide a single point of connection between existing and future smart grid devices and applications. The utility plans to use the solution to handle common advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) processes, including remote connect/disconnect and meter status. The solution will also enable efficient and timely flow of data to appropriate applications.
Further, using its existing Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition solution, LCEC can easily organize consistent, relevant and timely data from across the organization to rationalize consumption and payment collection trends into integrated reports. These reports provide LCEC management with a holistic view of the current status of customers, payment collections and workload to improve decision making.

Supporting Quotes

“We are expanding our relationship with Oracle as we continue to invest in the company's technology stack to support our long term strategic roadmap and the LCEC business direction.  The software’s interoperability should give us the scalability and functionality we need to improve our operational efficiency, streamline our processes, and enhance service delivery while empowering our customers with information to understand their usage,” said Frederic Kunzi, chief information officer, Lee County Electric Cooperative.
“We are pleased to support Lee County Electric Cooperative as it embarks on its smart grid initiatives.  With Oracle, LCEC can organize vast quantities of consumption data generated by automated meters and turn it into intelligence that helps them run their business more effectively across every department,” said Rodger Smith, senior vice president and general manager, Oracle Utilities.

Supporting Resources


About Oracle Utilities

Oracle Utilities delivers proven software applications that help utilities of all types and sizes achieve competitive advantage, business performance excellence and a lower total cost of technology ownership. Oracle Utilities integrates industry-specific customer care and billing, network management, work and asset management, mobile workforce management and meter data management applications with the capabilities of Oracle's industry-leading enterprise applications, business intelligence tools, middleware, database technologies, as well as servers and storage. The software enables customers to adapt more nimbly to market deregulation, meet ever-evolving customer demands and deliver on environmental conservation commitments. Additionally, Oracle Utilities helps utilities prepare for smart metering and smart grid initiatives that enhance efficiency and provide critical intelligence metrics that can help drive more-informed energy and water usage decisions for consumers and businesses. For more information, visit www.oracle.com/goto/utilities.

About Oracle

Oracle engineers hardware and software to work together in the cloud and in your data center.  For more information about Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL), visit www.oracle.com.

About LCEC

Established in 1940, LCEC is a not-for-profit electric distribution cooperative serving Cape Coral, North Fort Myers, Marco Island, Sanibel and Captiva Islands, Pine Island, Everglades City, Immokalee, Ave Maria, and parts of Lehigh Acres. LCEC is committed to providing reliable, cost-competitive electric distribution services and quality customer service. LCEC is a major contributor to the local economy as one of the largest employers in Lee County and through its support of many local agencies through charitable giving and volunteerism programs, including the United Way, American Heart Association, Habitat for Humanity, Junior Achievement and local school districts. Visit www.lcec.net for more information.

About Oracle in Industries

Oracle industry solutions leverage the company's best-in-class portfolio of products to address complex business processes relevant to utilities, helping speed time to market, reduce costs, and gain a competitive edge.

IBM and Hydro One Team to Improve the Power Grid in Ontario

IBM and Hydro One Team to Improve the Power Grid in Ontario

Smarter technologies to be tested on Hydro One's distribution power grid


ARMONK, N.Y. and TORONTO - 27 Mar 2012: IBM (NYSE: IBM) and its Business Partner Telvent announced that they have been selected by Hydro One, the largest distributor of electricity in Ontario (Canada), for a new smart grid project that will help transform the province's electrical system. Together, the companies will run simulations and tests to determine the smart grid technologies that have the potential to improve power efficiency and reliability.
Installed in the 1950s, many components of Ontario's current electricity distribution system have reached the end of their service life. More recently, technological advancements, provincial governmental policy, market forces and increased environmental awareness have added pressure to the demands on Ontario's electricity distribution system.
"As equipment on our distribution system ages, it needs to be replaced. This creates an opportunity to create a world-class network with new, intelligent and sophisticated technologies to meet the changing needs of our customers," Rick Stevens, Vice President, Asset Management, Hydro One. "Our collaboration with IBM and Telvent will help Hydro One assess the next generation of distribution equipment and make the right choices for our customers looking for more reliable electricity, particularly in rural areas."
The Advanced Distribution System (ADS) project will help the utility identify and assess equipment, test new delivery models for electricity, validate the costs and benefits anticipated with a new smart grid and recommend changes to cost effectively modernize Ontario's distribution system.
The project intends to enable an increased amount of Distributed Generation into the grid as well as help increase the reliability of the current distribution system and improve outage management during large scale situations. By taking advantage of the insights gained from new data sources based on analytics, Hydro One will be able to optimize energy utilization and management for greater efficiency while accommodating consumer demand.
"Utilities around the world are investigating new smart grid technologies to help solve complex challenges caused by an aging infrastructure and increasing demand," said Guido Bartels, General Manager of IBM's Energy & Utilities Industry and Chairman of the Global Smart Grid Federation. "Together with Hydro One, we are paving the way for transformation by testing new sophisticated monitoring and control technologies that will enable the integration of renewable energy in the distribution grid while improving its reliability and responsiveness, and ensuring customer satisfaction. This will prepare Hydro One and the province of Ontario for further growth and deliver more affordable and reliable renewable energy for Ontarians."
As the overall system integrator, IBM will provide expertise in smart grid technologies, planning and implementation to oversee the reliability of the network solution. Hydro One will use the Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS), from Telvent, a real-time solution that will provide complete functionality for planning, operation and analysis of its distribution system. This will allow Hydro One to more accurately manage and plan their grid investments.
According to Telvent's Chairman and CEO, Ignacio Gonzalez, "In addition to the ADMS solution, Hydro One will benefit from the strategic collaboration between Telvent and IBM. Over the years, we have provided solutions to several large utilities to help make mid-project technology adjustments while increasing the speed of the solution development."
The project is in line with the requirements of Ontario's Green Energy and Green Economy 2009 Act ("GEGEA"), which fosters the growth of renewable and cleaner sources of energy while promoting a greener economy.
About Hydro One Hydro One provides services to 1.2 million residents of Ontario with the vast majority of its rural customers in low-density areas. Hydro One is the largest distributor of electricity with about 120,000 km of distribution lines over a rural service territory of about 640,000 square kilometers covering 75% of the province.
About IBM
IBM is involved in more than 150 smart grid engagements around the world, in both mature and emerging markets. IBM is the founding member of the Global Intelligent Utility Network Coalition, a unique collaboration of utilities from around the globe who are working to accelerate the use of smart grid technologies and move the industry forward through its most challenging transformation. More about IBM's vision to bring a new level of intelligence to how the world works—how every person, business, organization, government, natural system, and man-made system interacts, can be found here: http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet
For more information about Smarter Energy at IBM, please visit:www.ibm.com/press/smarterenergy. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

CA Technologies Named a "Vendor to Watch"

CA Technologies Named a “Vendor to Watch” in Groom Energy’s Buyer’s Guide for Energy Management Software

Groom Energy Names Vendor of CA ecoSoftware Among Those Companies Which “Stood Out From the Rest”
ISLANDIA, N.Y., March 22, 2012 – CA Technologies (NASDAQ: CA) today announced that it has earned the top designation of “vendor to watch” in the Groom Energy Solutions report, titled “The Enterprise Smart Grid – a Corporate Buyer’s Guide for Energy Management Software.”
In the report, Groom Energy focused its analysis on over 100 companies that market and deliver energy management software, highlighting 10 of these companies as “vendors to watch” based on their innovation, customer proof points, strong market momentum, aggressive product development and increased emphasis on enterprise-wide and multiple-site implementations. These companies were also mentioned consistently during the course of research interviews.
“We believe Groom Energy Solutions’ evaluation of CA Technologies speaks to the strength of our CA ecoSoftware solution and our ability to address our customers’ energy and sustainability management needs,” said Terrence Clark, general manager, CA ecoSoftware, CA Technologies. “As companies are increasingly compelled to drive towards greater operational efficiency and improved margins, they need to measure, analyze, manage and control energy more effectively. That is exactly what CA ecoSoftware is designed to deliver.”

CA ecoSoftware is a powerful, flexible and scalable energy and sustainability management solution designed to help organizations monitor energy and resource use across the enterprise, and more effectively manage energy and sustainability programs. Attributes the report described as impressive included the solution’s sub-metering, carbon management and data center capabilities.
“Applying the principles of the Enterprise Smart Grid, large organizations can effectively drive energy efficiency performance across their operations,” said Paul Baier, report author and vice president of research for Groom Energy Solutions. “Through our research we were particularly impressed by a set of vendors that stood out from the rest. These vendors are bringing innovative products and approaches to the market and are backing up vendor claims with impressive customer wins and product roadmaps.”
According to Groom Energy Solutions, Enterprise Smart Grid helps companies to understand three key areas:
• Visibility: Where and when is energy is consumed?
• Control: How to control energy?
• Management Integration: How is energy pricing and consumption formulated into capital planning and operations?
The CA ecoSoftware solution is comprised of three offerings:
• CA ecoGovernance: helps organizations measure, assess, and report energy and environmental impacts, costs and performance, align energy and sustainability initiatives with business goals, and automate related processes across geographic and functional boundaries. It helps organizations use energy and sustainability management to manage costs, reduce risk and drive value.
• CA ecoMeter: an operational energy management product that is designed to help organizations capture real-time information on energy and other variables among assets, facilities and data centers, and then measure, trend, alert, and act to help increase efficiency, enhance service availability and reduce operational costs.
• CA ecoDesktop: a PC power management solution that helps organizations identify savings opportunities and implement profiles that increase efficiency while addressing the requirements of end users for uninterrupted access to their systems. It also delivers reporting to help organizations demonstrate energy cost savings and reductions in carbon emissions.
For more information on CA ecoSoftware, visit:

Oracle Announces Support for the White House's Green Button Initiative to Help Utilities Advance Smart Grid Adoption

Oracle Announces Support for the White House’s Green Button Initiative to Help Utilities Advance Smart Grid Adoption

Redwood Shores, California – March 22, 2012

News Facts

Oracle announced its support for the Green Button Initiative, a voluntary effort by utilities across the country, in response to a challenge by the White House, to empower utility customers with secure access to their own energy usage data.
The Green Button Initiative enables consumers to easily access their energy usage data in a standard file format and, if they choose, share their data with trusted third parties who are developing applications and tools that help manage energy usage. Improved access to energy usage data can help consumers make more informed decisions and promote conservation.
Two of California’s largest utilities have already implemented the Green Button Initiative and also use Oracle Utilities solutions to meet their business needs.
Oracle Utilities provides solutions to hundreds of utilities across the United States. These solutions include Oracle Utilities Customer Care and BillingOracle Utilities Meter Data ManagementOracle Utilities Smart Grid Gateway and Oracle Utilities Customer Self Service and more.

Supporting Quotes

As U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu has said, “Providing consumers with easy access to data on their energy consumption can help give them the tools they need to make informed decisions about their energy use. Developing applications and services to help consumers understand and control their energy use is a field ripe for American innovation.”
“Today, Utilities have a major focus on enhancing their customer service experience,” said Linda Jackman, Group Vice President, Oracle Utilities. “The Green Button Initiative gives customers access to their energy usage data online, in a user-friendly, standard format, encouraging awareness of energy consumption as well as empowering consumers to be more energy efficient. Encouraging the value of smart grid initiatives is a primary focus for Oracle and we’re committed to supporting utilities that participate in the Green Button Initiative.”

Supporting Resources

About Oracle Utilities

Oracle Utilities delivers proven software applications that help utilities of all types and sizes achieve competitive advantage, business performance excellence and a lower total cost of technology ownership. Oracle Utilities integrates industry-specific customer care and billing, network management, work and asset management, mobile workforce management and meter data management applications with the capabilities of Oracle's industry-leading enterprise applications, business intelligence tools, middleware, database technologies, as well as servers and storage. The software enables customers to adapt more nimbly to market deregulation, meet ever-evolving customer demands and deliver on environmental conservation commitments. Additionally, Oracle Utilities helps utilities prepare for smart metering and smart grid initiatives that enhance efficiency and provide critical intelligence metrics that can help drive more-informed energy and water usage decisions for consumers and businesses. For more information, visit www.oracle.com/goto/utilities.

About Oracle

Oracle engineers hardware and software to work together in the cloud and in your data center.  For more information about Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL), visit www.oracle.com.

About Oracle in Industries

Oracle industry solutions leverage the company's best-in-class portfolio of products to address complex business processes relevant to utilities, helping speed time to market, reduce costs, and gain a competitive edge.

Trademark

Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates.  Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.