Why did Boulder-buy-out energy utilities for a clean energy future

End 2011 tuned, citizen of Boulder, CO, boats their established power company Xcel Energy and form to explore an electric public utilities. It clean, was the culmination of a multi-year struggle for more to get local energy from their companies electric high Commander. At the end of town agreed politicians such as citizens, that significantly reduce the only credible option for their contribution to climate change, to go alone. Now, the city of the long and complicated process of localization is initiated from their current system.

Susan Osborne was the Mayor of Boulder at the time of the climatic vote, and she came to Minneapolis (with a similar campaign for local energy) in September 2012, to share her story. This 4-minute video gives the overview:

This post originally appeared on ILSRs self-reliant energy status blog.

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How does a startup utilities help spot energy theft

The company founded in 2009 and is located in Vancouver, Canada, a U.S. utility, the to the agreed Awesense the new distribution model, Mischa Steiner Jadhav, CEO of Awesense, said recently signed. Instead of selling the equipment and software outright, Awesense can make the installation of systems and data to finance crunch and money by using a percentage of revenue, the by stop the theft of the energy or the charging of a fee is always. Steiner Jadhav declined to name of the utility disclose, has opted for the service contract.

Power company in Malaysia, Turkey, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic plan to carry out by trying with Awesense' technology from this quarter, he added. Fortis BC British Columbia among its customers.

About $220 billion worth of electricity is lost every year due to theft or technical problems with the grid, according to a report of the World Bank in 2009. But, the most losses are due to technical problems, not. Energy theft is a major problem in India: about 27 percent is illegal, according to his Government diverted. Theft is $6 billion per year in the United States, according to this report.

"Makes the most thefts bypass the meter, so that it is difficult for utilities to determine where they occur," Steiner Jovic said.

Home technology consists of portable sensors, the up to 10-inches tall, 1 inch wide and 10 cm deep and weighs less than one kilogram. You can utility workers on wires, clip, where the sensors the current measurement and calculate the energy (in kWh), which flows through the pipe. Through the wireless network of the startup, the data goes back to Awesense of the Center for analysis and utility available to its customers.

The company has designed its technology for the distribution network, because that is where most makes theft takes place. The distribution network is also less efficient than the transmission because it lowers electricity in need of high-voltage lines, sends the voltages on the way and the electricity to homes and businesses.

The height of the sensors and how tightly they are depend on what would achieve a utility. It wants simply to monitor the flow of energy on a line, say, 100, cable households, could install it on this line a sensor. When determining exactly where more accurately energy losses will occur, would it move sensors or add more of them to home in on the cause, which could be stolen or technical problems.

A utility provides the data flows through good data on how much energy and is used in a particular area, said Steiner Jovic. Otherwise find out total damage is based primarily on the numbers that show how much power it generated or bought and how much they sold.

Since the Awesense flow of energy and the demand takes equipment warehouse, it could also help utilities to find out, where you must add new distribution lines or install power generation equipment such as solar panels, is to feed the demand.

By selling their services rather than its equipment and software, Awesense can serve utilities that don't want to invest the capital or manage the sensor and data collection employees. Also reduces risk for utilities that are known to take a while to apply new technologies until the and would probably prefer a service to buy, rather than invest in plants from a startup, not long enough to provide maintenance and warranties meet, can hold.

Awesense increases the first equity round last year, but Steiner Jovic declined to say how much.

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Smarter Energy Research Institute to Advance Future Utilities

IBM on October 25 announced the launch of the Smarter Energy Research Institute, a new industrial research collaboration aimed at accelerating innovation across the global energy and utilities market. The first three members to join are DTE, a Detroit-based company that operates an electric utility in Southeastern Michigan; Hydro-Quebec, a large Canadian hydroelectric power producer; and Alliander, a Dutch energy producer specializing in renewable energy.

The new organization is a collaboration between corporate research and the energy and utilities industries to transform energy companies through the use of predictive analytics, system optimization, and advanced computation. Among other things, the effort will focus on renewable and distributed energy in order to help utilities meet renewable targets while ensuring system stability. See the IBM press release.

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Energy Department Honors Utilities with Public Power Wind Awards

The Energy Department on June 19 recognized three utilities—two in Minnesota and one in California—with the 2012 Public Power Wind Award. Minnesota's Moorhead Public Service and the Minnesota Municipal Power Agency, along with California's City of Palo Alto Utilities, received the awards. The American Public Power Association (APPA) and the Energy Department's Wind Powering America initiative created the Public Power Wind Award to recognize APPA-member utilities that demonstrate outstanding leadership in advancing wind power and furthering energy independence.

Now in its tenth year, the annual award recognizes APPA members in three categories: Small Member System, Large Member System, and Joint Action Agency. Moorhead Public Service received the Small Member System award for its years of leadership in wind energy that began with its pioneering utility-scale wind investments in 1999. The City of Palo Alto Utilities received the Large Member System award for delivering 17% of its energy mix from wind power, and for using wind energy to provide 97.5% of the renewable energy credits the utility uses for its green power program, PaloAltoGreen. And Minnesota Municipal Power Agency received the Joint Action Agency award for installing a wind turbine in each of its member communities, with which it collaborated to develop the 44-megawatt Oak Glen Wind Farm in Steele County, providing enough electricity to power 14,000 homes. See the DOE Progress Alert and the Wind Powering America website.

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