Portland General Electric to develop ‘smart grids’ in 3 Oregon towns

“The Oregon towns of Hillsboro, Portland and Milwaukie will make up PGE’s Smart Grid Test Bed, where the utility will leverage advanced communications capabilities and distribution system upgrades to deliver demand response signals to customers using a range of smart-home technologies. Almost all of the utility’s customers have been using smart meters since 2010.” Click…

Fire-torn northern California becomes ‘Living Lab’ for microgrids

“The Stone Edge Microgrid survived the fires. Now its owners are developing a new project, incorporating lessons learned. The plan to bring power to Stone Edge’s remote vineyard has become another test case for off-grid technology: the Silver Cloud microgrid project. This time, unlike at the original Stone Edge site, there will be no grid backup.”…