Smart grid

eMeter, a Siemens business, made available a new cloud-based offering for their smart grid application platform, EnergyIP. The new offering can be accessed from the cloud directly via Siemens or through strategic partners as a managed service with subscription-based pricing on a per meter, per month basis. With the eMeter cloud offering, utilities can map specific business drivers to applications on the platform. eMeter can sit side by side with any meter data management (MDM), advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), or consumer engagement solution.

Siemens and Accenture formed Omnetric Group, a joint venture in the smart grid field to develop solutions and services that allow utilities to improve efficiency and achieve greater supply security. Its business operations will focus initially on Europe and the U.S., with further global expansion planned in the future. Omnetric Group will focus on solutions and services for system integration and management of the growing volume of data created as part of power grid operation.

Opelika Power Services (OPS) selected the Tantalus Homerun Network as the technology platform for a fiber-based smart grid solution which will be coupled with the utility’s triple-play media services.

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) upheld an initial decision by an administrative law judge (ALJ) issued in January, which had recommended that Xcel Energy subsidiary Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCC) be denied any further rate recovery of SmartGridCity costs. The commission said the utility had been given ample opportunity to prove the prudence of the rising costs of the project but that the company had failed to do so.