21st Century Regenerative Technology

1. At the Edge of the Grid, Utilities Aren't So Critical
2. Here Come the Electric Trucks: Move Over T. Boone?

At the Edge of the Grid, Utilities Aren't So Critical

2009-03-18 16:00

Justin Moresco - Energy

When it comes to upgrading the U.S.’s power infrastructure, electric utilities will play an important role, but some key elements of the emerging smart grid will move ahead with or without them. That was the consensus among experts speaking yesterday at a roundtable discussion in Palo Alto, Calif., held by the nonprofit networking group SDForum.

Yes, the panel of investors and startup executives acknowledged, utilities are essential to managing the infrastructure — from power plants through distribution to buildings and homes — and will be key participants in ensuring that generation and consumption points are communicating back to controllers in real time. But many innovations, they said, will happen on the "edge of the grid," where power is generated and consumed. Startups are forging ahead with technologies that don’t require utility companies to be part of the conversation.

"We're seeing a lot of terrific entrepreneurial ventures moving more rapidly than the utilities," said Laurie Yoler, a managing director of GrowthPoint Technology Partners, a Palo Alto-based investment bank. Some smart grid entrepreneurs she works with, viewing utilities as sluggish and content to wait on the sidelines, are focused on selling their products and services directly to consumers.

Roland Accra, chief executive of San Francisco-based Arch Rock, said his company is helping clients monitor and manage their energy usage using sensors connected through wireless networks. Once in place at the edge of the network, the system can help drive down electric bills, keep machinery running with fewer interruptions, and increase productivity.

San Jose-based Fat Spaniel Technologies has built a power plant management system for renewable sources like solar. The web-based system helps operators optimize performance using advanced analytics, communicate with mobile personnel, and automatically generate regulatory and environmental reports. "We spend most of our time not dealing with utilities," said Ron Lloyd, chief operating officer of the venture-backed startup.

But that doesn’t mean companies like Fat Spaniel can ignore utilities outright. Lloyd said they want their products to meet the requirements of utilities, for example around reporting data, so that they can sell their products to utilities that operate their own renewable power plants.

The panelists agreed that utilities will probably be content to see innovative applications put in place at the edge of the grid without their involvement. Utilities, as Yoler noted, don't want to foot the entire bill for upgrading the power infrastructure. But even when utilities do pay for next-generation gadgets like smart meters, they ultimately pass those costs onto ratepayers like you and me.

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Here Come the Electric Trucks: Move Over T. Boone?

2009-03-18 14:00

Josie Garthwaite - Automotive

evi-light Energy baron T. Boone Pickens has been loud and clear with his message about fuels for commercial fleet vehicles and heavy-duty trucks: Natural gas is the way to go. “A battery will not move an 18-wheeler,” he’s wont to say. But the Pickens Plan isn’t just about big rigs. It also calls for switching over delivery trucks and municipal fleet vehicles, or as he puts it, “Any vehicle which returns to the ‘barn’ each night where refueling is a simple matter.”

On that front — lighter duty fleet vehicles used for in-town treks — Pickens has a new challenger. Rolling into the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky., on Thursday will be electric and plug-in hybrid models from the company Electric Vehicles International. Although it was founded in 1989 and launched in Mexico several years ago, EVI is a newcomer to the U.S. market.

EVI’s two models, launched earlier this month at the Work Truck Show in Chicago, can be customized according to fleet managers’ specifications and delivered in 60 days, according to an announcement from the company today. Variations can include the number of battery packs (lithium-phosphate made by Valence, or lead-acid by Trojan) and leased over several years, depending on the range needed for a particular fleet. With one pack, EVI spokesperson Luka Keck tells us, the all-electric range will be about 40 to 60 miles. Two packs would do for 120 to 125 miles — enough for in-town deliveries, but certainly not for a cross-country haul.

They’re not pretty, but for the fleet market, they don’t really have to be. More important is the fact that they meet federal requirements for on-road driving, so they aren’t limited to campus shuttling. Keck said fleets “could feasibly have as many battery packs as you want, but it would take away from your payload with each pack.” For longer distances, EV1’s hybrid option (which has an engine fueled with liquefied or compressed natural gas or propane as backup) would be more practical. For now, Pickens can keep using his 18-wheeler sound byte. But depending on how U.S. companies and municipalities respond to EVI — and in what direction, and far, diesel prices go — the race for fleet contracts could get more interesting.