Interview with John Heibel, Chairman, CEO and founder of Glen Canyon Corporation

By Jonathan Spencer Jones

A smart meter at the price – around $20-30 – of a traditional Ferraris electromechanical meter: that is the claim of the new Silicon Valley company, Glen Canyon Corporation.

And this is achieved with the latest generation semiconductor technology, all packaged in a meter box about 1.5 inches tall, named NEXGEN.

Interview with Arunabha Basu, Head – Technology & Systems, North Delhi Power Limited, India

What role does the smart grid play in India’s future energy landscape?

Smart grid technologies offer a unique opportunity to the ailing Indian electricity distribution companies to leapfrog and adopt the right path of business processes and technologies in a phased manner.

Interview with Christophe Gence-Creux, Head of the Electricity Department, and Steve Gordon, Head of the Gas Department, ACER

What do you regard as the key issues/challenges for 2012 with regards to the EU market?

Gence-Creux: With regard to the electricity market, The Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) has identified three main challenges for the upcoming year:

Interview with Jukka Ruusunen, Vice-President, ENTSO-E and CEO, Fingrid

What do you see are the main barriers to be overcome for a single market for energy in Europe?

The main problems of creating markets for electricity are related to the nature of electricity as a commodity – electricity cannot be stored. Supply and demand must meet each other all the time. This means two things. First, market rules for trading must be defined at a very detailed level covering all time horizons up to the exact time of delivery of electricity. This is very different if you compare this with trading cars, for instance.

Interview with Kristian Handberg, Project Manager – Low Emission Vehicles, Sustainable & Active Transport Branch, Policy & Communications Division, Department of Transport, Australia.

How is the Victoria government doing in terms of making EVs part of everyday traffic?

Directly, the Vic government trial has effectively doubled the EV population on Victorian roads. That said, the total Victorian EV population would be less than 100 vehicles, making them rare birds indeed.

Interview with Joerg Lohr, Senior Manager E-Mobility, RWE Effizienz GmbH, Germany

Can you give some background about RWE’s experience in the e-mobility business, in particular electric vehicles?

RWE started the EV business in the early 1970s, and the company even intended to produce electric vehicles. That way of thinking was ahead of its time and at that stage, the demand and necessity for alternative mobility concepts were not strong enough. In 2008, the Corporate Strategy Department evaluated e-mobility as one of the future markets for utilities worldwide, and in 2009, RWE Effizienz, a 100% subsidiary of the RWE Group, was founded to create new business opportunities in energy efficiency. The E-Mobility Department is one of them. Now, there are 60 employees working in infrastructure, IT, sales and business modelling to develop and sell future proof, innovative EVs worldwide.  

Interview with Dr Claudio Lima, Vice-Chair of the IEEE P2030/TF3 Smart Grid Architecture work group

What is the IEEE 2030 standard and when was it published?

The IEEE announced on September 10, 2011 that the IEEE 2030 standard – Guide for Smart Grid Interoperability of Energy Technology and Information Technology Operation with the Electric Power System (EPS), End-Use Applications, and Loads, had been approved and published.

Interview with Paulo Cesar Pranskevicius, Automation Manager, AES Eletropaulo

By Adriano Rehder, Conference Producer, Metering, Billing/CRM Latin America

Currently, there is much being said about smart grid, with a special emphasis on metering developments (AMI). However, there are many other fields within electrical distribution where smart technology advancements are being used, such as IT, telecommunications infrastructure, client relations, distribution automation, etc. How do the investments in distribution automation support the implementation of a smart grid?

Interview with Elena Turanskaya, CEO, ADD GRUP

What do you think has been the secret of ADD GRUP’s success?

Next year ADD GRUP will celebrate its 20th anniversary. Since the beginning we understood that the business we are involved in is constantly evolving, therefore, instead of creating a universal product, we decided to tailor each of our solutions to the individual customer/project/market. Such an approach gives us the possibility to stay in touch with the ever changing world of technology.

Interview with H.E Eng. Khaldon Khashman, Secretary General, ACWUA (Arab Countries Water Utilities Association)

By Nicolette Pombo-van Zyl, Conference Director, Water Meter Middle East

Eng. Khashman is the keynote address speaking at the Water Meter Middle East seminar taking place on October 25, 2011 in Dubai. He will set the tone by opening the seminar with an informative presentation on “Monitoring flow meter is a key issue for customer satisfaction.”

Interview with Alexander Pippert, Head of Innovation Center Smart Home, E.ON

By Anthony Pohl, Conference Manager, Smart Homes 2011

What opportunities will smart home deployment open up for E.ON?

The “smart home” concept, including the development of new demand side management and virtual power plant products for the mass market, are exciting opportunities for utilities. Additionally, a whole range of new services will create differentiating factors from competitors – an important factor in customer retention.

Interview with Frank Hyldmar, Executive Vice President for Electricity International, Elster

How do you see Elster’s role in the current move towards a “smarter” Europe?

Elster plays an active role in engaging with all smart grid stakeholders to help drive smart grid adoption. We recognize that consumer group engagement and awareness play the most vital role in the success of any smart meter rollout.

Interview with Edmund Barrett, RWE SmartHome - Product Manager

By Anthony Pohl, Conference Manager, Smart Homes 2011

For some time, smart homes have been seen as a “future” concept. There has been a long term vision, and much discussion of what is possible, but when it comes to pulling together a business case, a solution and making it happen, the results have been lacking.

Interview with Hermann Wimmer, EMEA President, Teradata Corporation.

Utility companies have to handle an increasing amount of data, but many have yet to understand how to manage the data efficiently. Why is the utilities sector struggling and how can their data be managed more effectively?

Last week LeRoy Nosbaum, former chairman and CEO of Itron, rejoined the company as president and CEO after two years in retirement, following the retirement from these positions of Malcolm Unsworth. Two days into the job, Metering International spoke to Mr Nosbaum about the changing state of the industry and his vision for Itron.

Returning to the industry after two years, what changes have you observed?