The installations will start in the company’s southern communities and will lead to the installation of more than 260,000 of the new smart meters in the service area through 2025.

For Xcel Energy, the rollout marks the next step in the modernisation of its power grid, which so far has focussed primarily on boosting the capacity and reliability of the system through new and improved lines and substations.

With the smart meters, customers will be empowered to manage their energy use better while improving reliability and helping Xcel Energy restore power more quickly after an outage.

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“We’re excited to take this next step in building a smarter, more resilient and efficient energy grid and making it easier than ever for customers to understand and manage their energy use,” said Karl Hoesly, president, of Xcel Energy – Wisconsin.

“Smart meters are the starting point for this advanced grid, boosting reliability and providing new tools and technology to help customers lower costs.”

Smart meters will give customers near real-time energy use data with access through the company’s ‘My Account app’ or online.

They also will have access to programmes and services that will help them better understand their energy usage and how to improve efficiency and find more savings.

Currently, the majority of Xcel Energy’s old meters are AMR meters.

In addition to Wisconsin, Xcel Energy has smart meter rollouts underway in its service areas in Colorado, Minnesota and Texas.

The rollouts in North Dakota, South Dakota and New Mexico are tentatively scheduled to start in 2024 and in Michigan in 2025.

Xcel Energy serves approximately 3.7 million electricity and 2.1 million natural gas customers across the eight service territories.

The company says this would allow it to deliver more low-cost renewable energy to electric customers throughout the Upper Midwest.

The company filed a Certificate of Need application with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to install a second circuit on two segments of the existing Brookings County-Hampton transmission line. The new second circuit will run between Brookings, South Dakota and Marshall, Minnesota. Xcel Energy is leading the permitting and construction efforts.

The transmission project will provide additional capacity to relieve congestion on the grid, allowing more low-cost wind power from southwest Minnesota and eastern South Dakota to reach customers throughout the region. Wind energy does not have any fuel costs and contributes to a diversified energy mix, which helps protect against rising fuel prices. Xcel says the project supports its vision of delivering 100% carbon-free electricity in Minnesota by 2040 to meet the state’s new clean energy standards.

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Most of the proposed project will not require changes to the existing transmission line route, which began operation in 2015 as part of the CapX2020 project, a joint project with several other utilities. At that time, the Public Utilities Commission and CapX2020 companies agreed there would likely be a need for new transmission in the future. As a result, the project team constructed the middle portion of the line between Lyon and Scott counties with two circuits and built the western and eastern segments as “double circuit capable.” This allowed the companies to meet customers’ energy needs at the time while anticipating growing energy demand in the future.

The new second circuit would be placed on existing transmission structures and run approximately 60 miles from the Brookings County substation near White, South Dakota to the Lyon County substation near Marshall, Minnesota. A second 39-mile segment would run between the Helena substation in Scott County, Minnesota, and the Hampton substation in Dakota County, Minnesota.

The Public Utilities Commission will review Xcel Energy’s proposal, a process that generally takes up to one year and includes opportunities for input from customers, landowners, and other key stakeholders. If the state approves the project, the company expects to start installing the new circuit in 2024 and finish the project in 2025.

The project is expected to include investment by Central Minnesota Municipal Power Agency, Great River Energy, Missouri River Energy Services, and Otter Tail Power Company.

Originally published by Sean Wolfe for Power Grid.

The utility says it is preparing its grid network to power 1.5 million electric vehicles (EVs) in its service areas by 2030.

According to the utility’s vision, EVs would make up 20% of all vehicles on the road in the eight US states the utility’s serves, more than 30 times the number today.

The penetration of EVs at such a number will help save customers billions of dollars in fuel costs, while significantly cutting carbon emissions from transportation.

As drivers, ride-share companies, public transit and other fleet operators replace vehicles with EVs, they will see substantial savings on fuel, because driving electric is equal to spending about $1 per gallon of gas and can be significantly less when charging overnight. By 2030, an EV would cost $700 less per year to fuel than a gas-powered car, saving customers $1 billion annually.

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Excel Energy plans to install new charging infrastructure and introduce customer programmes to promote EV adoption. Through its plans so far, Xcel Energy has proposed investing $300 million to accelerate adoption of EVs in its communities.

The utility says its vision will help the company to achieve its goals of providing 100% carbon-free electricity by 2050.

Powering 1.5 million EVs using renewables would reduce carbon emissions by nearly 5 million tons annually by 2030, or about three tons of carbon reduction per vehicle.

Electric vehicles charged on the increasingly clean Xcel Energy system will have about 80% lower carbon emissions than gas-powered cars by 2030.

Xcel Energy will help lead the way in its own operations, with plans to electrify all sedans by 2023, electrify all light-duty vehicles by 2030 and have 30% of its medium- and heavy-duty vehicles electrified by 2030.

Joseph Beer, Power & Utilities Worldwide Technical Leader for Amazon Web Services, said: “Amazon Web Services is proud to work with Xcel Energy to develop cloud-based solutions that will advance cleaner transportation and help achieve a carbon free future.

“We are working collaboratively with Xcel Energy to develop a machine learning advisory tool to help commercial fleet operators make the case for switching to electric vehicles. The goal of this solution is to help Xcel Energy execute on its vehicle vision for 2030 and make strides in bringing clean energy to the future of transportation.”

“The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory is pleased to support and be a part of Xcel Energy’s exciting new EV vision,” said Martin Keller, NREL Laboratory Director.

“Electric vehicles are the next frontier in the clean energy transition, and we are committed to making charging EVs easy, convenient and affordable for customers,” said Ben Fowke, chairman and CEO, Xcel Energy. “By accelerating EV adoption in the coming years, we can drive major reductions in carbon emissions while helping our customers save money and making the most of our clean energy investments. We have substantial plans in place in the states we serve, and we can expand on this with partnership and support from policymakers, regulators, customers, automakers and our communities.

The investment package is one of the largest in the State and will be directed towards accelerating renewable energy adoption, reducing consumer energy bills and helping the state to recover from COVID-19.

The filed proposal follows the Department of Commerce requesting energy companies to help with job growth and getting the economy on track.

The package, if approved, will create 5,000 jobs and ensure consumer bills remain 24% below the national average.

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Projects to be implemented include:

• Building a 460MW solar pv project near the Sherco coal plant. The project will create 230 to 350 union jobs during construction and generate enough carbon-free energy to power more than 240,000 homes each year, while leveraging existing transmission infrastructure.
• Expanding and rebuilding wind farms. 
• Expanding conservation and efficiency programmes. The utility proposed to spend twice as much as the state requires on assistance programmes for low-income customers.
• Investments will also be made in transmission, distribution, natural gas and electric vehicle infrastructure projects, including building electric vehicle charging stations for fleets and the public.

Ben Fowke, the CEO of Xcel Energy, said: “COVID-19 put the brakes on our economy, leading to widespread unemployment and we are eager to help Minnesota with our proposal that can help provide the economic jump start our state needs.

“We thank Governor Tim Walz, our regulators and commissioners for the leadership on this issue and remain committed to working with them along with our communities, policymakers, stakeholders and employees to move these projects forward quickly to help all Minnesotans.”

Xcel Energy is reducing electric customer bills in Minnesota by a total of $25 million this summer, as a result of lower-than-expected fuel costs. Low natural gas prices have also led to reduced use of coal-fired generation in recent months, keeping bills low for customers while also reducing emissions.

After helping the two utilities to enhance consumer energy efficiency over the past 25 years, Willdan has been granted a $10 million deal to continue doing so over the next four years.

Through the Energy Design Assistance Programme, Willdan will provide commercial building owners with energy expertise to encourage energy-efficient building design and construction.

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Willdan will leverage its real-time energy modeling software, Net Energy Optimiser, to allow project teams to visualise the effects of energy efficiency measures during collaborative stakeholder meetings.

Kris Kohls, product manager at Xcel Energy, said: “Xcel Energy is leading the clean energy transition with a goal to reduce carbon emissions 80 percent by 2030, and a vision to provide customers with 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2050.

“Helping our customers become more energy efficient is one of the ways we’ll reach our goal and vision, and we look forward to continuing our work with the Willdan Group on the Energy Design Assistance Programme.”

The utility will sell Mankato Energy Center in Denver to independent power producer Southwest Generation for $680 million.

Energy generated from the plant will be sold to customers of Xcel Energy in Upper Midwest

Xcel Energy had purchased the plant in early 2020 through a non-regulated affiliate company.

Ben Fowke, the CEO of Xcel Energy, said: “This is an unprecedented time, and we want to do our part to support our communities as we face the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The Mankato Energy Center and its workforce provides essential services for local and regional economies and that will not change. And now more than ever, the people we serve need safe, reliable, affordable power.”

“Southwest Generation is excited to add the Mankato Energy Center to our growing portfolio. The plant is a key part of the transition to a lower-carbon grid and we’re pleased to expand our relationship with Xcel Energy, which is leading that transition in the United States,” said John Foster, CEO, Southwest Generation.

The sale is expected to close in the third quarter of 2020.

The utility has partnered with a subsidiary of Willdan, Integral Analytics, to access network scenario analysis as part of its Advanced Grid Intelligence and Security strategy.

Integral Analytics is providing its LoadSEER software to help Xcel Energy teams to model and plan for changes in electric load. This will help the utility to increase its adoption and impact of distributed energy resources.

The software will cover dynamic grid data management and configurable reporting of real-time scenarios on the distribution network.

Xcel Energy serves customers in eight states, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, Texas and New Mexico. Through four utility operating companies.

The company serves a very diverse geographic and socio-economic spectrum of customers.

This article was originally published in Smart Energy International 2-2019. Read the full digimag here or subscribe to receive a print copy here.

Eves, who is the executive vice president of the utilities group, oversees regulatory functions, state and local affairs and customer relationships for the utility companies across all service territories through the respective president for each utility. He is also responsible for resource planning across the entire corporation and has responsibility for federal affairs, which includes engagement with entities in Washington DC and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

In December 2018, the company announced its vision to serve its customers with 100% carbon free energy by 2050. The company has already reduced carbon emissions 38% from 2005 levels on its way to its interim goal to reduce carbon emissions 80% by 2030.

What does the move to 100% carbon free entail?

For the last five years we have worked very hard to lead the clean energy transition in our country with the addition of renewable energy generation onto our grid and the retirement of existing fossil coal units.

We are now taking that journey one step further with the addition of storage onto our grid to complement the wind and solar generation continue to add. We aim to achieve dramatic reductions of carbon.

We believe that the foundation for that is to do it in a manner that ensures the reliability and affordability of service for our customers. We have three strategic priorities – to lead the clean energy transition, to enhance our customer experience and to keep our services as reliable and affordable as we can.

This goal has led us to the conclusion that we can continue to add renewables to our system, transition away from coal – and keep our customer’s bills affordable. To do so we have done a lot of work with industry stakeholders, policy makers, legislators, our regulators, and importantly our customers and the communities that we serve.

We strive to set an example for the entire sector to transition over time in a way that’s affordable and ensures reliability.

What are the first steps in this journey?

We are adding second generation storage in the form of batteries to accommodate the additional solar generation that we will be bringing online, and enhance the flexibility of the grid.

At the distribution system level, we have a number of demonstration and development projects where we are testing micro grids and battery storage. We have installed storage on the distribution system on our grid and behind the meter at our customer premises. That project is primarily designed for management of the voltage and power quality on the distribution grid which is currently being exposed to high penetrations of distributed energy.

How have your customers reacted to the initiative?

The customers who are taking part in the pilots have shown enthusiasm for the initiatives; we had a waiting list of customers who wanted to participate in the programme.

We’re in the first year of operation and will be fully exploring their reaction to the programme in more detail, but the primary purpose of the programme at the moment is to evaluate the economics and the effectiveness of the facilities and the impact it has on distribution circuits and additional penetration of renewables.

What does the Xcel Energy modernisation journey look like?

The amount of wind energy that we have on our systems means that we have been paying particular attention to the concept of forecasting and monitoring the production characteristics of the thousands of wind turbines on our system. We have also partnered with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and ultimately have developed a forecasting tool that they have now provided to other utilities as well.

We plan on continuing to work to develop a similar capabilities for solar.

The penetration of solar on our system increases, it is going to have a higher impact on our system at the distribution level. We are therefore undertaking the installation and deployment of advanced distribution management systems along with the installation of AMI on the network – which will give us significant additional insights into the control capability for the delivery system serving our customers.

We want to incorporate more sophisticated analysis, and tracking and monitoring of the distributed energy resources and community solar resources, and storage facilities that are either on customer premises or located on our distribution facilities.

How are electric vehicles impacting your grid?

We have seen a significant increase in the number of electric vehicles and charging requirements across the various utility businesses.

In Colorado we are one of the leading states supporting electric vehicles – we have tax incentives and credit facilities and policies in place that have incentivised the advancement of electric vehicles. Recent legislation means we will also be able to increase the extent of our participation in supporting the public with charging and ensuring the infrastructure is ready – to further facilitate the electrification of the transportation sector.

In Minnesota we’ll be investing more than $25 million to increase access to electric transportation with a plan focused on three main areas: home charging, public charging and fleet operations. We’re working to develop EV offerings that will keep bills low for everyone and benefit our energy grid.

What is the one message that you would like the attendees at Grid Evolution and the readers of Smart Energy International to take away with them?

I’d like to emphasise that the vast majority of our Carbon Reduction achievements come from, and will continue to come from, the transition of our energy supply resources at a utility scale level. In order to achieve the carbon reductions, maintain reliability or improve it – and do so affordably at a very low cost to our customers – is a significant priority. We will continue to capture the benefits of these economies of scale to make this transition happen.

That said, there’s an important role for the advancement of technology in the distribution system to improve the customer experience, to allow for the increased distributed energy resources – including community energy resources – and to facilitate partnerships with our customers and communities.

There are a lot of folks who probably think about the conversion of the grid primarily in terms of decisions regarding resources and the advancement of the grid itself. We think that that’s a part of the picture, but the big part of the picture is the retirement of core units, the operations of the remaining units and the addition of more renewables and storage at the transmission level to capture those economic benefits and to keep costs low. SEI

The energy provider has installed a second combined cycle unit at the plant.

The project created 250 jobs during construction and was completed on time and under budget.

The natural gas plant produces up to 760MW of generation for the region.

The aim is to meet growing energy demand. The plant provides energy to customers of Xcel Energy as part of a 20 year agreement with the utility.

Southern Power is awaiting regulatory approval to sell the Mankato Energy Center to Xcel Energy-Minnesota for $650 million by the third quarter of 2019.

Southern Power President Bill Grantham, said: “Together, the team applied their considerable skills and expertise to make the project a success while demonstrating a strong commitment to safety.”

The new set of actions includes the option for customers to pay their bill by simply starting by saying, “Ok Google…”

For instance, customers can now access their account or hear their account balance or due date simply by speaking to their Google Assistant-enabled devices.

The Assistant is available on more than a billion devices, including Google Nest Hub, Google Home, Google Home Mini, or through the Google Assistant app on iPhone or natively on Android devices. Once their Xcel Energy and Assistant accounts are linked, a customer simply needs to say, “OK Google, pay my energy bill,” to hear account information and make a payment.

Xcel Energy initially unveiled its Google Assistant-enabled smart home and smart energy capabilities in 2018.

The energy provider had partnered with Google Nest in 2015 when they launched energy savings programme Seasonal Savings, which slowly fine-tunes temperatures in a customer’s home heating and cooling schedule to help them save energy and lower bills without sacrificing personal preferences or comfort

The utility plans to introduce more options through Nest Hub and Assistant products In the future.

The aim will be to give customers the ability to personalise their energy management using voice-connected devices, such as the Google Nest Learning Thermostat.

The utility is making use of energy efficiency rebates available in Texas and Colorado to scale up consumer adoption of smart thermostats.

Brett Carter, executive vice president of Xcel Energy, said: “Today’s announcement builds on our collaboration with Google and the ways we’re working to bring enhanced service and next-generation engagement to our customers.

“This is an exciting time to develop and deploy innovative energy solutions for our customers while leveraging our investments in technology.”

As one of the largest wind power generation companies in Brazil, Queiroz Galvão Energia (QGE) is at the forefront of the country’s commitment to renewable energy.

QGE was looking for a solution that would simplify the management and control of its wind power assets spread across Brazil, to enable it to continue to expand production and improve operational efficiency.

What QGE was looking for

To keep pace with its expanding wind portfolio and improve operational efficiency, QGE wanted a single, powerful platform to manage its entire wind power portfolio and to control all the wind turbines remotely. The company wanted a solution that offered them better efficiency, a real-time view of the operational performance of assets, and the ability to collect and consolidate data from the turbines as well as automatically generate daily reports.

QGE chose to implement CGI’s Renewables Management System (RMS), a comprehensive solution for the real-time monitoring, control and maintenance of renewable power plants. RMS also provided the added feature of analytics for the advanced management of operational performance. With this solution, the energy company aimed to achieve its strategic objective of operating its entire wind portfolio centrally and improving agility through automation.

Key benefits

With CGI’s Renewables Management System, QGE is now able to:

• Remotely control and manage close to 220 wind turbines, spread across 20 wind power plants in three states across Brazil
• Access wind performance information via web and mobile platforms
• Gain rich data insight to improve operational efficiency
• Reduce downtime and maintenance costs
• Lower operational costs
• Enhance energy production
• Automate the generation of reports
• Customize information for faster decision making

Xcel Energy CEO Ben Fowke acknowledged that not all the technologies the company needs to meet that goal are available yet on a commercial scale, but he said he is encouraged by advances in clean energy technology.

“If we put our minds to it,” Fowke said, “we will find the best solution to get us there.”

He told the Colorado Sun the goal is a response to climate change.

“This risk of climate change isn’t going away and we want to be the company that does something about it and hopefully inspire others to do something about it too,” he said.

Xcel has been increasing its solar and wind power generation but said reaching zero carbon emissions could require the company to continue operating its nuclear power plants and using carbon sequestration.

Carbon sequestration would capture carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels and keep it out of the atmosphere.

Xcel has two nuclear power plants in Minnesota, near the towns of Monticello and Red Wing.

Xcel is based in Minneapolis but made the announcement in Denver, part of its service area. The company has customers in Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin.

Xcel also supplies natural gas to 2 million customers across its service area. Their service won’t be affected, spokeswoman Michelle Aguayo said.

Xcel said it has already reduced carbon emissions by 35% across its eight states since 2005. It set an interim goal of trimming those emissions by 80% by 2030.

In Colorado, Xcel is already planning to retire two coal-fired electrical generating stations about a decade early and expand its solar, wind and natural gas generation.The company has said that will save consumers about $213 million by 2054 because renewables are getting cheaper.

Xcel Energy is launching its first set of voice actions using the Google Assistant, for customers to access information about improving energy efficiency in their homes.

The news follows last week’s announcement by Google and Tendril of their partnership in launching voice-activated energy services.

The first utility to adopt the solution is Indiana Michigan Power.

Brett Carter, executive vice president and chief customer and innovation officer at Xcel Energy, said his firm “… is always seeking ways to bring value to our customers through new energy options and enhanced service.

“We are excited to partner with Google and other tech leaders, as we create new ways to develop and deploy innovative energy solutions for our customers and leverage our investment in smart meter technology.”

Customers on Xcel Energy will use new products such as the Google Home Hub to expand Google Assistant capabilities to access energy accounts information, receive notifications and personalise energy management using voice-enabled devices such as Nest smart thermostats.

This follows Xcel introducing smart thermostat energy efficiency rebates in Texas and Colorado.

The development is expected to help the utility achieve its sustainability and renewable energy goals.

“Today’s flight takes us a step closer to fully integrating unmanned aircraft into our operations,” said Ben Fowke, chairman, president and CEO, Xcel Energy. “This innovative technology is revolutionising our work by improving the safety, efficiency and cost effectiveness of maintaining and protecting the grid for our customers.”

Licensed pilots are remotely operating a small, 35-pound drone. Equipped with two cameras, the drone is collecting data on the condition of power lines and transmission towers with flights along a 50-mile route.

“Leading the development of unmanned aircraft builds on our longstanding commitment to safety for our workers, the public and the environment. This is especially important in Colorado where inspecting power lines in the mountains and remote locations is challenging work,” said David Eves, executive vice president, group president-utilities, Xcel Energy.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in an unprecedented decision for the utility industry, granted Xcel Energy special permission to conduct the beyond-visual-line-of-sight flights under a waiver, announced earlier this year.

The waiver allows the company to commercially operate a drone without visual observers or a chase aircraft. The authority to fly a drone remotely greatly enhances the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of using the technology.

For several years, Xcel Energy has collaborated with the FAA and has contributed to the development of operational and safety requirements for unmanned aircraft operations in the utility industry.

Last year, the company entered into a Partnership for Safety Programme (PSP) with the FAA to operate drones for power line inspections within visual sight of operators.

When the transmission inspections are completed near the Denver area, Xcel Energy and its partners will work with the FAA to extend these operations in other states where the company provides electric service. The company surveys more than 320,000 miles of electricity and natural gas infrastructure to ensure the safety and reliability of its energy system.

Xcel Energy is currently working with several industry leaders including Harris Corporation, Northern Plains UAS Test Site, Phoenix Air UNMANNED, LLC and Altus Intelligence.

The energy management solutions firm has been recognised for several energy saving initiatives including stopping compressed air loss and installing LED lights.

MTS helped Xcel Energy replace approximately 9,000 T8 florescent bulbs with type A LED models.

This resulted in 784,800 of energy being saved.

The solutions firm also:

• Consolidated data center emergency backup power sources
• Eliminated hundreds of individual electrical appliances
• Communicated energy saving practices for individual workstations to reduce overnight power consumption

Increasing energy efficiency helps Xcel Energy to improve customer services by reducing consumer energy bills.

The energy management programmes helps the utility to stabilise its grid network as well as to reduce operational costs by avoiding investing in new generation infrastructure to meet demand.

In addition, the initiatives help the utility to minimise its environmental impact through reducing carbon emissions.

The two signed a two-year agreement which includes the provision and installation of Dynamic Secondary Voltage Controllers (DVCs).

Varentec will provide Xcel Energy with its Edge of Network Grid Optimisation (ENGO) devices and Grid Edge Management System (GEMS) platform.

The ENGO devices and GEMS platform will act as DVCs to enhance the system Conservation Voltage Reduction performance on top of what is achieved with traditional medium-voltage Volt VAR Optimisation.

The 2,000 ENGO devices will be deployed in Denver across 472 circuits by the Public Service of Colorado, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy.

The deployment of the ENGO devices are part of efforts to help Colorado achieve its energy efficiency targets.

The deal was reached following the Colorado Public Utilities Commission’s approval of the Advanced Grid Intelligence and Security filing made by Xcel Energy in May 2017.

Guillaume Dufosse, Varentec CEO, said: “We appreciate the vision and commitment that Xcel Energy has demonstrated through years of testing of Varentec’s technologies to deliver next-generation, supply-side energy efficiency.

“Xcel Energy is setting a new standard by tapping unprecedented levels of grid edge voltage control at large scale as part of its Integrated Volt VAR Optimisation project.”

Over a period of three years, pilot testing of Varentec’s technology at an Xcel Energy substation has demonstrated potential voltage reduction of as much as 5%, delivering validated year-round energy savings of 3.3%.

The company will deploy drones in and around Denver to survey, inspect, maintain and monitor infrastructure and operations.

Xcel will start Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone operations in the next few months, commencing approximately 20 miles from the Denver National Airport.

For flight support, the business has tapped Harris, Northern Plains UAS Test Site, Phoenix Air UNMANNED, and Altus Intelligence. Licensed pilots will navigate the 55-pound quadcopter remotely.

Xcel is the first US based utility to receive FAA authorisation for BVLOS operations.

“Xcel Energy is honoured to be the first utility to conduct flights that will enhance grid reliability and safety for our employees and the public,” said Ben Fowke, Xcel Energy chairman, president, and CEO.

“With this ground-breaking decision, we are advancing the use of technology that improves our efficiency and provides cost savings for our customers.”

Xcel is also collaborating with the FAA under a unique safety program, which expands drone operations beyond the borders of Colorado. The company will help local utility companies in other states improve BVLOS standards and protocols.

Transmission line inspections are traditionally conducted using manned helicopters, a time consuming and costly task. Using drones ris a more cost effective option that reduces risk to humans.

Last year, Xcel acquired approval from the FAA to deploy drones (within line of sight) for industrial plant inspections, which allowed the utility to continue with inspections during rough weather.

In the US, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) governs the testing and regulatory aspects of BVLOS drone operations. The organisation is in the process of extending and opening such guidelines to various companies in the industrial sector.

“Proper maintenance and repair of infrastructure enables the company to provide 24×7 services amid difficult climatic conditions,” explained Zacks Equity Research.

“Drones ensure early detection of faults and damages of the electric transmission and distribution lines, which lower chances of outages and increase reliability of services.”

The pilot will include installation of a 240V level-2 smart EV charger for some 100 customers with EVs.

The smart charger will have metering capabilities to measure energy used during EV charging. The aim is to reduce cost associated with owning an EV charger at home.

An ordinary EV charger would increase the cost, as it requires the installation of a second meter apart from the one used, for measuring the household’s entire energy use.

Excel Energy had previously reduced EV charging tariffs during mid-night by 40% to encourage consumer EV charging at home, as well as reduce over stressing the grid during peak periods.

However, the utility’s project received little consumer participation as only 150 customers amongst 5,700 customers with EVs registered under the programme.

Excel Energy says the new smart EV charger reduces the costs for charging at home by 30%

The 240-volt charger can provide up to 25 miles per hour of charging — six times more per hour than a 120-volt machine.

Kevin Schwain, leader of Xcel’s electric vehicle programme, said: “We predict more and more customers will opt for a 240-volt charger.”

Commissioner Matt Schuerger added: “Electric vehicles are coming, and we need to have a pathway into this and evolve with it.”

The approval comes at a time EVs are predicted will account for 20% of new automobile registrations by 2030. Excel Energy predicts more than 300,000 EVs will be in it’s service territories.

As renewable energy sources become integrated into the grid, advisory services covering both technical and electricity market design considerations will be key to facilitating the adoption of renewable energy in Southeast Asia, according to a DNV KEMA statement.

Such services will range from advanced metering infrastructure deployment strategies, electricity market restructuring and grid infrastructure impact to market potential assessments.

Smart grid technologies and renewable energies are playing an increasingly important role in Asia-Pacific. The region as a whole grew its investment in smart grid technologies and renewable energy to US$5.6 billion in 2012, and new digital energy initiatives are underway in Japan, India, Korea and various Southeast Asian nations.

In smart grids, China is expected to overtake the U.S. as the largest market in 2013, as stimulus-funded projects in the US come to an end and Chinese investment continues to grow. Already in 2012, China raised its investment from US$2.8 billion to US$3.2 billion, largely on the back of major smart metering procurement by the national State Grid Company.

Global renewable energy investors are also increasingly looking towards Southeast Asia. The governments of six ASEAN countries (Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore) have established ambitious goals to increase installed renewable capacity over the next 20 years by a factor of 5-6 times greater than the capacity in 2010.

“Establishing a Center of Excellence in Singapore is a key first step towards building a presence in the Asia-Pacific region,” said Dr Sanjay Kuttan, CTC managing director. “We aim to help Asia implement the right technologies to address the challenges related to its power systems, focusing particularly on smart solutions to increase reliability.”

Chan Eng Kiat has been appointed as the Center of Excellence’s lead technology specialist. With over 30 years of industry experience, he was previously project director at the Energy Market Authority, spearheading the Intelligent Energy System smart grid pilot in Singapore.

The Ilha Solteira campus of the Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) and Eletrobrás CEAL are the joint winners in the Metering category, for their project on errors in reactive energy measurement with electronic meters. A practical experimentation for comparing reactive/non active energy measures was developed, providing separately voltage and current generation with waveforms up to the 51st harmonic component on a 60 Hz system. Among the results, testing of five commercial electronic meters for reactive energy measurements found them to less accurate than IEEE 1459 (or WT3000) and inconsistent in some cases. This suggests that the criteria for such tests are inconsistent and there is a need for high level discussions to establish a suitable methodology for reactive electric energy measurement.

Light is the winner in the Smart Grid category for its project to automate underground transformer chambers. Parameters selected for monitoring include shield network status, temperature, ventilation operation, water level, human presence, and presence of explosive gases and has involved the installation of a monitoring system, an RF mesh communications network and operations center from where the project is managed. Of Light’s more than 4,000 underground transformer chambers across Rio de Janeiro, almost 1,200 have been automated to date and the project is continuing with more than 500 due to be completed and another 500 to be contracted by the end of 2012.

Sabesp and Siemens are the winners in the Water Metering category, for their project to upgrade and support a new water supply control system. The 18-month project involved the installation of a next generation SCADA to monitor and control Sabesp’s entire water system, which supplies almost 20 million people via 1,270 km of water mains. This includes monitoring of water levels, pressure and flow, and control of pumps, valves and storage tanks. Operational data being gathered will allow continuous optimization of processes, while other benefits include improved integration with field staff.

For the first time a prize was awarded for the best technical presentation, with the winner being Carlos Alberto Canesin, professor in the Power Electronics Laboratory of the Department of Electrical Engineering of UNESP, for his report on the electronic meter reactive energy measurement project.

The Awards were judged by a panel of regional industry experts, and presented at the end of the first day of the Metering, Billing/CRM Latin America 2012 conference and exhibition in São Paulo, Brazil August 21-23.

Smart Utility Award: Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD)

SMUD is undertaking a comprehensive smart grid project, founded on a rollout of smart meters for its 600,000 customers. To support the project SMUD received a $127.5 million grant from the DOE – the largest for a California utility.

SMUD’s project stands out for its forward thinking approach, including the wide range of appealing and informative informational material developed for its customers, both residential and commercial, as well as its employees and contractors. These have included both print and visual as well as online materials. Nor has the communication remained static but has evolved along with the project. The meter installation appointment letter resulted in a one hour appointment window with greater than 95% success at meeting the window, and was updated regularly as new customer concerns came about. Among the other materials has been a brochure on how to read the smart meters and brochures to recruit “opt in” customers for SMUD’s Smart Pricing Options programs.

SMUD’s ongoing SmartSacramento project also includes partial deployment of advanced distribution grid assets, and field test of plug-in electric vehicles and charging stations. Among the latest new programs launched is an Advanced Lighting Control program offering business the opportunity to save up to 75% energy savings from their lighting.

Smart Water Utility: City of Barrie

Barrie is a medium sized Ontario city (current population – 140,000) which has experienced considerable growth over the last decade or more (including being cited as the fastest growing city in Canada in two of those years).

Since taking over the responsibility for the drinking water supply in Barrie, the city has invested heavily in water conservation efforts, which has resulted in a steady decline (by about 4% per year) in average per capita usage rates – now 75% of the median for Canada.

Modernization as well as preparation for ongoing growth pressures has been a key driver for the implementation of new technologies. In mid-2011 Barrie completed and commissioned its Surface Water Treatment Plant, which will augment its overall supply capability. The plant employs several new technologies, including ultra-membrane filtration, and houses both the on-site training centre as well as the meter quality and repair shop.

Additionally, in 2011, Barrie transformed from walking route monthly electronic water meter reading to full scope radio transmitted water meter readings, read every 15 minutes, and brought the billing effort in house – cutting the cost from contracted reading and billing by some 50%. Barrie customers can now securely access their own water usage records on-line to assist them in implementing water conservation techniques. This project has resulted in significant cost savings and improved customer service.

Customer Engagement: Fortis Alberta

FortisAlberta approached its automated metering project encompassing the critical areas of customer service and achieving operational efficiency and environmental gains, while being cognizant of the impacts to ratepayers.

One of the impacts on customer service is reduced call volumes at least for FortisAlberta’s default retailer (EPCOR Energy Services Alberta). With a 40% reduction in call volumes EPCOR is to consolidate its call centers, in part due to “improved customer data flow.”

Automated metering has also resulted in a significant reduction in the number of miles travelled each year by meter readers resulting in reduced gas usage, reduced wear and tear on local infrastructure, and reduction in the potential for customer concerns related to property access and damage issues related due to manual meter reading.

While there is a significant cost to implementation of an automated meter reading system the long term benefits are clear on many levels. Annual operating costs for manual meter reading are reduced significantly. The potential reduction in operating costs related to government required testing of meters will also impact the rate requirement.  

The nominee comments that he believes the project was handled extremely well, balancing the needs of the customer, regulator and company in achieving maximum results for this type of initiative. Managing the project, while being attentive to the concerns and needs of the interested parties, resulted in a successful project with a great deal of collaboration.

Technology Innovation: Southern California Edison

SCE is one of the first utilities to internally design, build, and run an operations center to manage its large-scale smart meter and communications network. SCE’s Edison SmartConnect Operations Center (SOC) serves as the central point of responsibility and accountability for SCE’s meter and communications system operation and performance, providing triage and trouble analysis, and service support.

The SOC also plays a critical role in the area of usage management by providing service to SCE’s grid operations through over”the”air voltage checks as well as accurate power outage information. These reads can be performed in a matter of seconds and allow SCE field personnel to respond to customer problems while still on the scene, reducing the time that customers are without power. As an example in the December 2011 wind storms in Southern California’s San Gabriel Valley that affected more than 400,000 customers. SOC performed approximately 2,000 over-the-air integrations to assist in service restoration for customers and avoiding a significant amount of truck rolls.

In 2012, the SOC will execute one of the largest over-the-air upgrades ever performed when it updates the firmware on approximately 4 million meters.
   
The organizational transformation embodied by the groundbreaking SOC has and will continue to positively impact SCE’s ability to improve operations and deliver energy more safely and reliably to its 14 million customers, as well as to help SCE better address its customers’ needs.

The Awards were supported by AT&T and presented by David Douthit, the company’s principal, Industry Solutions Practice – Utilities.

The Smart Energy International Excellence Awards for 2012 will recognize and encourage excellence in North America’s utility sector and they will be presented at Metering, Billing/MDM America in San Diego on March 13, 2012.

“We are delighted to have the support of AT&T once again,” said Jonathan Spencer Jones, editor of Smart Energy International. “With the number of projects under way across the U.S. and Canada we are looking forward to our largest awards program yet.”

Nominations for the Smart Energy International Excellence Awards for 2012 are now open and will be made in four categories:

• Smart Utility of the Year Award
• Smart Water Utility of the Year Award
• Customer Engagement Excellence Award
• Smart Technology Innovation Award.

Electric, gas and water utilities are eligible for entry, and may be nominated by anybody in the industry, including colleagues, technology vendors and service providers or their own marketing teams. The deadline to submit nominations is February 17, 2012.

For more information, go to Metering America or the Smart Energy International Excellence Awards websites.

The awards were established to recognize and encourage excellence in North America’s power and utility sector. A panel ofindustry experts will assist the editors of Smart Energy International in selecting the winners according to the specific criteria set out by the judges.

Winners will be honored on March 13that the annual Metering, Billing/MDM America Conference and Exhibition in San Diego, CA. Top honors will be announced for utilities in the following four categories:

• Smart Utility of the Year Award
• Smart Water Utility of the Year Award
• Customer Engagement Excellence Award
• Smart Technology Innovation Award

Smart Energy International also hosts similar award programs in Africa and the Middle East to honor the accomplishments of utilities and their partners around the world. Past award winners include City of Ann Arbor, Portland General Electric Company, PPL Electric Utilities, Elster Metering, EnelDistribuzione, Panasonic, Hanze University, VäxjöEnergi AB & WM-data, andSentec Ltd.

The deadline to submit a Smart Energy International Excellence Award nomination is February 17, 2012. Electric, gas and water utilities are eligible, and may be nominated by anybody in the industry, including colleagues, technology vendors and service providers or their own marketing teams.Visit www.meteringamerica.com or the awards website to learn more.

In appreciation for their relentless work and significant contribution to the utilities and power sector, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) was awarded the Smart Energy Excellence 2011 Award, Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA) was awarded the Smart Utility 2011 Award, and Itron was presented with the Smart Technology Innovation 2011 Award.

Saeed Nassouri, Technical Advisor, Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority, said: “Smart Energy Middle East is important because it is an annual event that brings clarity and know-how to the region with regards to sustainable energy and technologies. ADWEA has come a long way in the sustainable energy sector, and we are pleased to participate at Smart Energy Middle East. We are also grateful to benefit from the lessons learnt from global companies in deploying smart energy strategies. Furthermore, we are particularly proud to collect the Smart Energy International Excellence Awards for two consecutive years.”

Muness Charara, General Manager – Middle East, Itron, said: “This award is the result of a collaborative effort by the energy and water teams of Itron in the Middle East. We are proud to win the technology award for the second time, the first being in 2009. Itron remains committed to delivering innovative solutions to the market with best in class products and services. We would like to thank Smart Energy International for recognizing Itron’s contribution to the Middle East’s energy sector.”

The conference features keynote speeches on a variety of significant topics including leveraging customer and utility collaboration to deliver smart energy management, strategies for sustainable developments in the Middle East and more. In addition, discussions regarding the various implementation challenges faced by specific GCC countries were highlighted along with detailed solutions addressing these issues to ensure the successful deployment of smart meters.

The AMI seminar held at Smart Energy Middle East was conducted by Dr. Howard Scott, Managing Director, Cognyst International. This daylong seminar highlighted the latest technologies and deployment options available to electricity utilities, along with lessons learnt from global smart metering deployments and the vital strategies to ensure efficient use of resources.

Dr. Howard Scott, Ph.D., Managing Director (Doha, Qatar), Cognyst International, said: “The theme of the conference is smart energy – the event has been designed to measure energy consumption effectively, and utilize energy intelligently. Smart meters help to identify consumer usage patterns enabling the utility to help the consumer use that energy more wisely. Making more efficient use of energy today, means 50 to 100 years from now we will have more available.

“Today the greatest challenge the Middle East region faces with regards to electricity is cooling, especially in the hottest months. Smart Energy Middle East provides the ideal platform to showcase the strategies and technologies to build a greener, more efficient future.”

Exhibitors at Smart Energy Middle East 2011 include Itron, Landis+Gyr, Elster Power Plus Communications, Siemens, Synerall, Sanxing Electric, ISKRAEMECO, and Connectiva.

Smart Energy Middle East provides an arena where current and future leaders can network with utilities’ and government officials, and develop an understanding of how smart meters and technologies will impact and revolutionise the utility sector in the Middle East region.

Ampla is the winner is the Smart Metering category, for its Ampla Chip technology, which was developed to reduce the high levels of theft this Rio de Janeiro utility was facing. The Ampla Chip is an advanced metering system comprising meters and concentrators that are installed on the LV distribution network, where they are inaccessible to tampering. To date Ampla has invested more R$768 million (US$432 million) and installed the technology for more than 540,000 customers, and the losses have come down by more than 5% to their lowest in the company’s history below 20%.

Light is the winner in the Smart Grid category, for its ongoing smart grid project. The three-year, R$35 million (US$20 million) R&D project is aimed at developing a comprehensive model smart grid, which will be piloted initially at around 1,000 homes in Rio de Janeiro. To date the project has developed a specifically designed smart meter and in-home display and web portal, customer surveys and benchmarking have been undertaken, and a good relationship established with the media, with the next step the rollout of the metering and other services.

Águas Guariroba is the winner in the Water Metering category, for its application of ultrasonic metering technology to the billing and collection of sanitation services for customers that have their own water supply and wouldn’t otherwise pay. The Campo Grande water utility sought to investigate this in the case of a single large customer, the Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS), and since deploying the technology in early 2010 has gained additional income of almost R$2 million (US$1.1 million), with a one-month ROI on the technology.

The Awards were judged by a panel of regional industry experts, and presented by Jonathan Spencer Jones, editor of Smart Energy International América Latina, in the closing session of the first day of the Metering, Billing/CRM Latin America 2011 conference and exhibition in São Paulo, Brazil.

The Awards, which were supported by AT&T, were announced by David Farris, principal in AT&T’s Utilities practice, in the opening session of the 12th Metering, Billing/MDM America, Water Meter Summit, and World Meter Design Congress in Dallas, TX, last week.

SCE was recognized for its Edison SmartConnect™ advanced metering program that is replacing approximately 5 million traditional electric meters with smart meters that will empower customers to save energy and money. Edison SmartConnect and its partners have worked collaboratively to create a “clean slate” approach to developing new technology to ensure the meters offer advanced benefits and functionality beyond those required by California state regulation or from existing, off-the shelf technologies. The smart meter deployment began in September 2009, and throughout 2010 approximately 8,700 meters were deployed daily so that by year end approximately 2 million meters were deployed. In December 2010, SCE began billing based on hourly data for residential customers and on 15 minute data for small business customers, setting the scene for new programs, services and rate options for customers.

DTE Energy, based in southeastern Michigan, is making its electrical grid more efficient and reliable through its SmartCurrentsSM initiative. DTE Energy has based its business plan purely on the benefits derived from improvements in its operations – not on anticipated changes in consumer behavior or cost recovery from the rate base. Seeking a single-source solution provider for its smart grid technology, DTE Energy turned to Itron’s OpenWay®, providing both electricity and gas metering technology and integrated data management and offering a scalable and interoperable solution that can evolve as the company’s business needs change. Benefits so far include meter reading consistently above 99% daily, reduced truck rolls of 200 and more per day, earlier recognition and recovery of theft, improved power quality consistency, and full integration of smart meter data into DTE Energy’s outage management system.

SDG&E recognized early on in the preparatory phase of its smart meter program that it would face numerous challenges unless a thoughtful customer communication and deployment plan was developed. The plan that was developed was aimed to meet key objectives including building trust to achieve a successful customer experience, building trust around security issues while using data to develop new applications and technology, and cohesively branding corporate sustainability messages within the program objectives. Features of the plan include 90/60/30-day pre-installation messaging and a post-installation follow up for customers, collateral material development, media relations, community relations, public and governmental affairs, internal communications, marketing and advertising, and use of social media. As the program is rolled out on time and on budget, it has gained minimal controversy in the media.

The Award, which recognizes Itron Southern and Eastern Africa’s involvement in prepayment projects both within Africa and internationally as well as its local employee activities, was presented in the opening session of the annual African Utility Week this week.

Among the flagship projects that Itron Southern and Eastern Africa is involved are with Eskom in South Africa, Kenya Power & Lighting Company (KPLC) in Kenya, EDM in Mozambique, and Azerigas in Azerbaijan.

The Eskom project has involved the deployment of a national prepayment vending platform using the Itron 3 E Vending System, which will be vend prepaid electricity online and in real time to approximately 4.5 million customers. As such it will be the largest electricity prepayment vending system in the world.

The KPLC project has included the supply to date of almost 100,000 Din split meters, while for EDM Itron Southern and Eastern Africa is to convert the existing offline prepayment system to online, enabling extended electricity purchase options through the use of 3rd party vendors such as petrol station, supermarkets and via scratch cards.

In Azerbaijan, Itron Southern and Eastern Africa has introduced a smart gas prepayment system with 65,000 meters in the city of Ganja.

Itron Southern and Eastern Africa’s innovative employee activities have included the receipt two years in a row of the internationally recognized BEST EmployersTM accreditation, and the company has achieved and surpassed the Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment Contributor Level 3 certification, which is a measure of progress towards employment equity, skills and social economic development.

The Award was accepted by Damian Padachi, managing director of Itron Southern and Eastern Africa.

“While Itron has built its legacy upon its industry leading technology, there is simply no substitute for the impact that our people have on our success,” commented Padachi. “Our industry insight and innovation has emerged from the hard work and dedication from our employees. Through our commitment to our employees, we can increase our customer’s success by attracting and maintaining world-class talent.”

The Smart Energy International Excellence Awards ceremony took place at the Shangri-la Hotel in Dubai. Four leading utilities were honored with ‘Tomorrow’s Leader’ award for having demonstrated a commitment to the smart grid future and making promising initial strides towards the smart grid goal. Saad H. Al Mansour, Executive Vice President, Distribution and Customer Service and Yousif Al Barrack, Automation and IT Distribution Systems Manager received the award for Saudi Electricity Company; Abdulla Al Aghbari, VIP Distribution Planning received the award for Dubai Electricity and Water Authority; Saeed Nassouri, Senior Technical Advisor, received the award for Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority; and Ahmed Nasser Al Nasser, Manager, Electricity Projects received the award for Kahrama, Qatar.

"Metering utilities across the Middle East are making substantial investments to ensure that the smart grid infrastructure is state of the art and continue to push the industry benchmarks,” said Loubna Aghfazi, Portfolio Director, Spintelligent, a Clarion Events partner. “The Smart Energy International Excellence Awards recognize the commitment, innovation and leadership each of the utilities have demonstrated, and it is an honor to have various industry leaders join us on this special day."

Three awards will be presented recognizing:

1. Smart Meter Project award
2. Smart Grid project award
3. Tomorrow’s leader award

Smart Energy International Excellence Award winners from around the globe include:

• City of Ann Arbor, AMI for Water Advanced Metering Project
• Portland General Electric Company, Oregon, USA for Meter Data Management Project
• PPL Electric Utilities, Pennsylvania, USA for Customer Service Project
• Elster Metering for the V210 polymer water meter for the innovation award
• Enel Distribuzione for Business Performance Award
• Panasonic for Customer Excellence Award
• Hanze University for its intelligent infrastructure for consumer energy.
• Växjö Energi AB & WM-data for its energy efficiency project
• Sentec Ltd, for its Lattice gas meter technology

To find out more about the categories or to nominate a utility, go to: www.smartenergy-india.com

For more information on the awards contact: brigitte.hart@spintelligent.com

In the advanced metering category the winner is Light, the electric utility of Rio de Janeiro, for its Optimus project aimed at accelerating the rollout of advanced metering. Light embarked on the project with two aims, to reduce non-technical losses and to harness the benefits that smart meters can bring. Working with Choice, Light developed Optimus in which modelling is used to develop an optimum rollout plan in order to maximize the return on the investment. Modelling in an area around four substations shows that with Optimus approximately a quarter more customers could receive smart meters than under a traditional rollout with a 71% increase in benefits over costs. The technique has now been awarded as provisional patent.

In the revenue protection category the winner is also Light for its project Revenue Protection Intelligence Center. Light was suffering nontechnical losses as large as 21% in 2007. Again working with Choice, Light started working on a dedicated Intelligence Center to reduce losses, with a group of eights specialists using specially developed software based on best practices for revenue recovery, which had to be fully integrated into the company’s IT systems. Among the results in 2008 and 2009 the extra revenue recovered was R$63 million and further increases are expected in the current year.

In the customer service category the winner is Águas Guariroba, for its Transforming and Attending project “How to satisfy the customer.” The company was keen to improve its customer service and has embarked on a number of actions, including installing new software for analyzing and displaying usage data, introducing “adopt a customer” in which frontline staff commit to working with individual customers to resolve problems, and introducing an outreach program with a travelling attention center that can be taken into the community. Among the results to date are a reduction of irregularities and improvements in billing and revenue collection.

The 8th Metering, Billing/CRM Latin America and collocated Water Meter Summit and Smart Grids Latin America is taking place in São Paulo, Brazil, 28 through 30 September.