May 18
Mississippi Power to Deploy 200,000 Itron Smart Meters
Top consumer smart grid news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
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Mississippi Power has announced a new agreement with Itron to support the utility’s grid modernization plans and continued leadership in technical innovation within the utility space. Itron will deploy and manage its standards-based Gen5 IPv6 network platform to connect approximately 193,000 AMI devices to help improve operational efficiencies and increase grid reliability for Mississippi Power customers.
JEA signed a purchase agreement to accelerate its advanced metering deployment over the next 30 months by deploying the remaining 250,000 Landis+Gyr electric meters on its distribution system. Landis+Gyr currently manages JEA's advanced metering and network infrastructure under a long-term managed services contract. The contract scope has expanded over the years to include enhanced SaaS data services and infrastructure support.
A new report from NCCETC says that 37 states and the District of Columbia took actions related to grid modernization during the first quarter of 2018, with the greatest number of actions relating to advanced metering infrastructure rules, energy storage deployment, grid modernization investigations and utility business model reforms.
Itron completed its acquisition of SSN in January, officially uniting the country’s two biggest providers of smart meters, grid networks, and software and services. The combined company has more than 90 million “endpoints” and counting. Recently, Itron reported quarterly earnings for the first time as an integrated company, revealing Silver Spring’s share of now-bolstered revenue streams and project backlogs.
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Industry News
Texas regulators recently approved recommendations to improve and streamline the state's smart meter data portal, including standardizing data transfers to be more in line with the national Green Button Connect program. The unanimous settlement agreement, filed in January, brought together several stakeholders, including Mission:data Coalition and Texas Advanced Energy Business Alliance.
White homeowners are most informed about smart meters, according to a recent survey of Chicago residents. A recent poll should prompt Illinois utilities, nonprofits and government agencies to question whether their efforts to educate residents about smart meters are reaching a wide enough spectrum of households. The survey found about 90 percent of white homeowners had heard of smart meters, compared to about 75 percent and 60 percent for black and Hispanic homeowners.
A report by McKinsey and Co presented at the recent Australian Energy Week conference claims that Tesla's 100 MW / 129 MWh battery has now reduced grid service costs by 90 percent, taking over a 55 percent share of state's Frequency Control Ancillary Services. The Australian Energy Market Operator praised the Tesla project's grid performance in an April report of the first four months of the system's operation.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced $4.2 million in investment to expand high-speed EV charging stations. The EV charging stations will be installed along New York State thruways to enable EV owners to drive for lengthy periods without the need to exit highways in search of charging stations. The investment will also cover installation of fast charging infrastructure at commuter parking lots.
