- Current Communications Group
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CURRENT Group 
Type Limited Liability Company, LLC Industry Energy Sector Founded Germantown, Maryland, U.S. (January 1, 2000) Headquarters 20420 Century Boulevard, Germantown, Maryland, U.S. Area served Worldwide Products Communications
Sensing & Analytics
Advanced Metering
Infrastructure & Data ManagementServices Grid Efficiency
Grid Reliability
Edge IntegrationWebsite currentgroup.com CURRENT Group provides real time distribution grid visibility through intelligent sensing and analytics for Smart Grid projects with utilities worldwide. CURRENT's solution combines advanced sensing technology with low latency IP based communications and enterprise analysis software and related services to provide location-specific, real-time actionable data that is integrated into a utilities existing IT infrastructure.
The company was founded in 2000 and is based in Germantown, Maryland. Company investors include Google Inc., Goldman Sachs, EnerTech Capital, and Liberty Associated Partners (Liberty Media).[1] CURRENT has several offices in the United States, as well as Zurich, Switzerland and Singapore and has representation in Australia.
Contents
Distribution Smart Grids
CURRENT's "Middle-Mile" approach consists of distribution grid efficiency, grid reliability and metering/edge integration solutions in distribution networks, designed for European, Australian and Asian markets . Distribution Smart Grid solutions reduce load and carbon, and provide a future-proofed platform for utilities as they modernize their energy infrastructure.
Advanced Smart Grid applications for distribution automation help utilities improve the reliability and efficiency of the distribution system, speed integration of renewables and distributed energy resources, and reduce technical losses and total load of their distribution system in a timely, secure and cost effective manner. The solution portfolio consists of hardware and software products that focus on the four main ingredients of comprehensive Smart Grid deployments; communications, sensing and analytics, metering and infrastructure & data management.
System Optimization
System Optimization solutions enable utilities to adjust voltage and other grid operating characteristics based on real-time conditions throughout the distribution system. Distributed intelligent sensors provide a real-time feed to a platform where it is combined with geospatial, asset, SCADA and other operational data from capacitor banks, substations and other grid devices to determine the correct action to optimize the voltage or VAR control dynamically throughout the day. Utilities can base the optimization upon minimizing losses, optimizing voltage or any combination thereof.
Utilities look to System Optimization when facing demand constraints, energy efficiency targets, high use of renewables, high carbon costs and efficiency concerns from heavy losses. Utilities can implement System Optimization on a flexible scale, ranging from improving a particularly inefficient substation to optimizing an entire distribution system.
Xcel Energy Smart Grid City
CURRENT is a member of Xcel Energy’s SmartGridCity Consortium that is making Boulder, Colorado, the United States’s first fully integrated Smart Grid City[2]. The advanced smart grid system which will provide the city of Boulder (population of approximately 100,000 people) a portfolio of Smart Grid technologies designed to provide environmental, financial and operational benefits. Xcel Energy’s vision of a Smart Grid includes a fully network-connected system that identifies all aspects of the power grid and communicates its status and the impact of consumption decisions (including economic, environmental and reliability impacts) to automated decision-making systems on that network. Xcel Energy believes the results will be a greatly improved delivery system that optimizes the impact on the environment, ensures the most efficient delivery, and maximizes reliability.
Xcel Energy’s SmartGridCity is utilizing the fully integrated CURRENT Smart Grid solution that combines advanced sensing technology, two-way high-speed communications, 24/7 monitoring and enterprise analysis software and related services to provide location-specific, real-time data about the status of the electric grid. The solution also provides consumers information and control over their energy usage and enables the widespread deployment of renewable energy sources.
Members of the Xcel Energy SmartGridCity include Xcel Energy, Accenture, Gridpoint, CURRENT Group, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Ventyx, OSI Soft and SmartSynch.[3]
Standardization Efforts
Supporting the vision of open, interoperable standards in the area of Smart Grid, CURRENT is actively contributing to several projects funded by the European Commission to advance the Smart Grid in Europe.
As part of the OPEN Meter Consortium[4], CURRENT is contributing as a member of both management and technical boards and is a work-package leader towards standardized interoperable multi-metering solutions across Europe. Within the OPEN Meter Consortium CURRENT is partnering with several of Europe's largest utilities such as Iberdrola, EDF, Endesa, Enel and RWE.
CURRENT is also a member of the ADDRESS Consortium (Active Distribution network with full integration of Demand and distributed energy RESourceS)[5]. Utilities involved in ADDRESS include ENEL, EDF, Iberdrola and Vattenfall. ADDRESS is focused on appliance control and optimization, as well as integration scenarios of distributed energy resources.
As part of the PRIME Alliance[6], CURRENT is working with leading industry key players such as Landis+Gyr, ST Microelectronics, Texas Instruments, Advanced Digital Design(ADD), Itron, ZIV and in cooperation with Iberdrolo, one of the four largest energy companies in the world, to develop an open and future-proof communications infrastructure to support large-scale metering and other Smart Grid projects.
References
- ^ http://www.currentgroup.com/about/index.html
- ^ http://www.coloradodaily.com/news/2008/apr/25/smartgrid-a-whole-new-ballgame-smart-grid-smart/
- ^ http://birdcam.xcelenergy.com/sgc/story/consortium-partners.html
- ^ http://www.openmeter.com/ OpenMeter Project
- ^ http://addressfp7.org/
- ^ http://www.prime-alliance.org/
- http://www.currentgroup.com/about/index.html
- http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/public/workshops/telecom2007/submissions/228099.htm
- http://www.metering.com/node/12369
- http://www.openmeter.com
- http://addressfp7.org
- http://www.prime-alliance.org
External links
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