Smart Grid Innovations in Energy and Analytics Take Root in San Diego—Previewing Xconomy’s Smart Energy Event

software analytics for complex electrical power systems began about six years ago, CEO Mark Ascolese told me. After developing a computer-aided design program (CAD) needed to develop fail-safe power systems for FAA flight control facilities, Ascolese said EDSA realized its software also edsa_pa_logo2could be used to model the optimal operating status for every component in a complex electric power system. The software can be used by grid operators to predict outages and other problems by pinpointing devices that show deteriorating performance. Last month, EDSA said it is collaborating with Viridity Energy of Conshohocken, PA, to develop real-time “master controller” software to operate a campus-wide electric power “microgrid” at the University of California, San Diego. UCSD’s microgrid includes two 13.5 megawatt gas turbines, a 3 megawatt steam turbine and a 1.2 megawatt solar-cell installation that together supply 82 percent of the annual power needs for the 1,200-acre, 450-building campus.

—Zementis: The San Diego-based software analytics startup—which will be presenting at tomorrow’s Xconomy forum on smart energy—announced last October that it was working with Virginia-based defense contractor SAIC to develop real-time predictive analytics technologies zementis_logo_sloganthat utilities can use to identify power grid components at a high risk of failure. By predicting the likelihood of failure, grid operators can prevent power outages by dispatching maintenance crews to replace components before they fail. Zementis CEO Michael Zeller told me the six-year-old company has turned its attention to potential applications in the energy sector after developing its core technology for use in analyzing and predicting outcomes in a host of financial and online merchant applications. “What we do is take models developed in any open source or commercial data mining tool, and integrate them into commercial production systems,” Zeller said.

—Detectent: Based in Escondido, CA, privately Detectent initially began six years ago as a research project when ConEdison asked founder Mike Madrazzo to analyze the utility’s customer billing data for signs of energy theft, i.e. identify customers who had illegally tapped into the utility’s Detectent logopower grid. Since then, spokesman Wayne Willis tells me the self-funded company has expanded its capabilities to help analyze the enormous amount of data being generated by smart meters and a utility’s advanced metering infrastructure (AMI). Detectent’s technology can be used to help a utility analyze how customers using their energy—whether a customer is running a high-energy pool pump or air conditioner in mid-day, for example, and to formulate recommendations to shift the time of use or adopt more energy-efficient alternatives. “We just don’t think people will integrate the information they get from their smart meters,” Willis says. “But we do think they will integrate the information and advice they get from their utility.”

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Author: Bruce V. Bigelow

In Memoriam: Our dear friend Bruce V. Bigelow passed away on June 29, 2018. He was the editor of Xconomy San Diego from 2008 to 2018. Read more about his life and work here. Bruce Bigelow joined Xconomy from the business desk of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was a member of the team of reporters who were awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for uncovering bribes paid to San Diego Republican Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in exchange for special legislation earmarks. He also shared a 2006 award for enterprise reporting from the Society of Business Editors and Writers for “In Harm’s Way,” an article about the extraordinary casualty rate among employees working in Iraq for San Diego’s Titan Corp. He has written extensively about the 2002 corporate accounting scandal at software goliath Peregrine Systems. He also was a Gerald Loeb Award finalist and National Headline Award winner for “The Toymaker,” a 14-part chronicle of a San Diego start-up company. He takes special satisfaction, though, that the series was included in the library for nonfiction narrative journalism at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Bigelow graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1977 with a degree in English Literature and from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1979. Before joining the Union-Tribune in 1990, he worked for the Associated Press in Los Angeles and The Kansas City Times.