GE in agreement to help bring smart grid technologies to Korea

ATLANTA, USA: GE has signed an agreement to help bring the performance, efficiency and reliability gains of smart grid technology to Korea. GE will work together with Korea'’s NURI Telecom Ltd to build an advanced smart grid infrastructure in Korea.

“GE recognizes the importance of collaborating with technology and delivery partners to realize the promise of a smarter grid,” said Bob Gilligan, vice president of GE Energy’s transmission and distribution business. “NURI’s products and global expertise, especially in advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), fit well with GE’s end-to-end smart grid capabilities.”

"As Korea continues to raise its global economic profile, the need for a complete set of smart grid solutions becomes more critical," said Song-Man Cho, president and CEO of NURI Telecom. "We are excited about working with GE so that our complementary technologies can help deliver reliability and performance gains throughout Korea's energy infrastructure."

Korea is currently embarking on several Smart Grid initiatives, including the development of a smart grid road map and a smart grid pilot project on Jeju Island.

Through industry collaborations, GE will deliver one of the broadest portfolio offerings in the industry to modernize the electrical systems from the power plant to the consumer. From smarter appliances to technologies for plug-in hybrid vehicles, to providing renewable technologies and smart meters, GE has the breadth and knowledge needed to increase energy productivity all the way up and down the lines.

Optisense selects TI for smart grid solution

DALLAS, USA: Providing utility companies with a reliable, accurate and energy-efficient smart grid solution for electricity line monitoring, Optisense Network Inc. has selected Texas Instruments Inc. (TI) embedded processing and analog technology as the preferred solution for its primary measuring units (PMU).

TI's TMS320C2000TM microcontroller and high-performance analog technology enables a complete monitoring solution that gives utilities real-time visibility of primary voltage lines.

The PMU can be configured for primary metering, distribution automation, outage restoration, energy efficiency and power quality. The combination of Optisense's optical sensors and PMUs provides utilities with greater grid security and reliability as well as increased visibility for faster power outage response.

Additionally, utilities are able to realize optimized power flows that increase capacity and energy-efficiency, helping recover 25 percent of total load loss.

"Our unique combination of optical sensors and dual processors on a single chip provide power line measurements (voltage and current) in digital format, giving the processor flexibility for system wide grid reliability and efficiency," said Yossi Harlev, CEO/CTO.

"TI analog and embedded processing technology enables interface, actuation and power handling with reduced footprint and lower power consumption for a smooth transition from legacy systems to a complete smart grid solution."

"With the integration of TI's C2000TM MCU and analog technology, Optisense's highly accurate smart grid solution can execute real-time measurement, analysis and control," said Emmanuel Sambuis, general manager, metering business unit. "TI is committed to providing innovative solutions that enable developers to drive smarter grid solutions for improved accuracy and efficiency."

TI's broad portfolio drives smarter grid solutions
TI's comprehensive utility metering portfolio includes devices targeted at electricity, water and gas metering, as well as power line communications (PLC) and radio frequency (RF) interfaces for advanced meter infrastructure (AMI) that allow customers to design smart grid solutions.

From highly optimized application specific embedded processors, low power RF, high-performance analog, power management and RFID to dedicated software support for ZigBee, 6LoWPAN, WMBUS, OFDM and SFSK modulations, TI offers the most complete solution set for smart metering.