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Tuesday, 05 May 2009 08:09
Google introduced its PowerMeter software in February to great fanfare. PowerMeter allows rate payers to monitor energy usage information in real time – provided a smart meter has been installed and it is compatible. However, the search giant is now looking for ways to provide that information without a smart meter.
Dan Reicher, director of climate change and energy initiatives at Google.org, the company’s philanthropic arm, made a presentation in San Francisco at a workshop focusing on stimulus energy funding on May 4. He said Google is looking at two different ways to compile energy consumption data – “either smart meters, or something you will clip onto your fuse box.” The workshop was hosted by the California Clean Energy Fund (CaICEF).
CaICEF is a not-for-profit venture capital group formed five years ago to facilitate the development of clean energy technologies that are currently in the earliest stages of development.
Reicher didn’t specify where Google would find what it was seeking but it is certain that numerous smart energy start-up companies are listening. If one of them can find a way to share power consumption data with Google then they will have a huge client.
Manufacturers of smart meters and related components likely view PowerMeter for its potential as a competitor and as a complement to their products. Tendril Networks and Greenbox, and other home energy and control innovators, would like to see their developments adapted through relationships with utility companies or through other retail channels including mobile phone providers.
It has been assumed that smart meters would provide household energy-related information. Millions of them are being installed throughout the United States. After all, the devices are being provided for the most part by utilities at no cost to the consumer.
Other firms are discovering ways for consumers to acquire their consumption data without a smart meter provided by their utility. This would require the consumer to pay for the service. Google can be included among this group.
Google aims to debut PowerMeter commercially by the end of 2009. The company hasn’t announced which manufacturers it is collaborating with though it is clear it needs a partner to provide energy data.
Among the potential partners is Tendril Networks based in Boulder, Colorado. Tendril already has relationships with about 30 utilities that use its equipment and software. It has also licensed the use of its software to third-party developers.
Reicher warned that smart grid funding from the federal government may not be as beneficial to smart meter deployment projects as many had wished, hence the reason to seek other ways to compile energy usage data.
Proposed rules state that the Department of Energy (DOE) would cap smart grid grants at $20 million for commercial projects – an amount far below the cost of a typical major smart meter deployment. Such a low cap will make Obama’s goal to deploy 40 million smart meters in the Unites States within the next four years unattainable. Reicher said that Google will present its concerns to the DOE later this week."
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