GE (NYSE: GE) announced an agreement to bring smart grid technologies to China.
GE is building an extensive smart grid demonstration center the City of Yangzhou, locaetd on the Yangtze River in China’s Jiangsu province. The city has a population of about 1.5 million people. The city’s New Economy and Development Zone is a hotspot for business development and will be at the center of the first phase of the project.
GE said the goal is to demontrate how its technologies can help China improve the reliability, efficiency and carbon footprint of its energy delivery.
“China has experienced unbelievable growth over the past decade, creating a massive need for energy to power businesses and consumer lifestyles—so the time is right for Yangzhou to become a smart city,” said Mark Norbom, president and CEO of GE’s China business. “As Chinese engineers design new cities and upgrade existing infrastructure, we’re going to show them how GE technology can help build a world-class model of reliability and efficiency at just about every point in the transmission, distribution and consumption processes. Yangzhou’s initiative will be a showcase to demonstrate how China can get the power it needs and reduce energy’s environmental impact at the same time.”
The technology engagement will include an array of GE products that affect energy in homes, on power lines and in a utility’s network control center.
Home energy technologies in the demonstration include advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) smart meters–with dynamic pricing and WiMAX communications interfaces–that serve as the hub of home energy savings. Savings tools operated through the meter include home energy management systems, programmable thermostats, smart appliances that perform activities based on energy availability and cost and demand-response systems that reduce home energy usage during times of peak energy demand.
Grid infrastructure and control technologies in the demonstration include automated outage identification and restoration software, field-force automation and deployment systems and grid-wide network management software.
The initiative may also include installation and demonstration of home-based charging stations for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles PHEVs). Teamed with dynamic pricing that encourages charging overnight, PHEVs can enable electric cars to become more commonplace—reducing China’s need for oil while greatly lowering the carbon footprint of each mile driven.
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