Smart Grid & Clean Energy Solutions on Paris Agenda

GE technology available today can be employed to create reliable, sustainable and more efficient energy networks. This is the message from GE to a major event in Paris this week which brings together members from over 80 countries to discuss electrical generation and transmission of high voltage networks. The energy industry is facing some significant challenges in order to deliver upon the European Union’s ambitious commitments to fight climate change and promote renewable energy.

Business Wire from Paris (23 August 2010):

Technology available today can be employed to create reliable, sustainable and more efficient energy networks. That will be the message that John McDonald, director, technical strategy & policy development, digital energy for GE Energy Services will deliver to delegates at a GE workshop during this year’s CIGRE event in Paris.

The energy industry is facing some significant challenges over the next 10 years in order to deliver upon the European Union’s ambitious commitments to fight climate change and promote renewable energy up to 2020 and beyond.

Back in December 2008, the European Parliament and Council reached an agreement on the package that will help transform Europe into a low-carbon economy and increase its energy security. By 2020, Europe must cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20%, produce 20% of its energy from renewable sources and increase energy efficiency by 20%, according to the proposals–or “20/20/20″.

“GE is already deploying solutions that are enabling more efficient ways to make, move and use energy while reducing carbon footprints on six continents. GE’s smart grid solutions are changing the ways utilities, governments, businesses and consumers interact with energy,” confirmed McDonald.

Technology innovators, academia and business leaders from the Energy Industry will meet to discuss these challenges at an invite-only event hosted by GE at the Concorde Lafayette Hotel on the 24th of August. The workshop coincides with the CIGRE (International Council on Large Electric Systems) event in Paris from the 23rd to 27th of August 2010 at the Palais des Congres. CIGRE is a permanent international, non-government, not-for-profit association founded in France in 1921.

The event brings together members from over 80 countries to discuss and develop technical knowledge in the field of electrical generation and transmission of high voltage networks. “GE is committed to helping shrink carbon production while increasing the energy capacity and reliability,” McDonald said. ” Many of the solutions we are demonstrating at this event have already been deployed and are making a difference today, helping the industry meet targets for increased renewable energy generation and grid efficiency.”

McDonald is CIGRE’s U.S. National Committee vice president for technical activities and has 36 years of experience in the electric utility transmission and distribution industry. He received his B.S.E.E. and M.S.E.E. (power engineering) degrees from Purdue University and received Purdue University’s 2009 Outstanding Electrical and Computer Engineering (OECE) Award.

As a member of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Smart Grid Electricity Advisory Committee (EAC), NEMA’s Smart Grid Council and as the chair of the NIST SGIP (Smart Grid Interoperability Panel) Governing Board, McDonald is expected to deliver the latest insights into the challenges and potential solutions for sustainable energy success from across the globe.

Attendees will learn how smart grid upgrades enable a host of benefits, including increased energy productivity, uncompromised energy security, increased use of renewables such as wind and solar, increased energy efficiency, lower carbon emissions and the ability to manage and meet growing demand.

About GE

GE is a diversified infrastructure, finance and media company taking on the world’s toughest challenges. From aircraft engines and power generation to financial services, health care solutions and television programming, GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs about 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ge.com.

GE serves the energy sector by developing and deploying technology that helps make efficient use of natural resources. With nearly 85,000 global employees and 2009 revenues of $37 billion, GE Energy is one of the world’s leading suppliers of power generation and energy delivery technologies. The businesses that comprise GE Energy–GE Power & Water, GE Energy Services and GE Oil & Gas–work together to provide integrated product and service solutions in all areas of the energy industry including coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy; renewable resources such as water, wind, solar and biogas; and other alternative fuels.

In a Reuters report late last year (2009), General Electric Co said it aims to boost its investment in clean-tech research and development to $1.5 billion a year by 2010, the largest U.S. conglomerate said on in its annual “Ecomagination” report.

The maker of products ranging from electricity-producing wind turbines to energy-efficient compact-fluorescent lights, wants to grow green-business revenues to what it called a “stretch” target of $25 billion next year, up from $17 billion in 2008 and $6 billion in 2004.

When GE unveiled the Ecomagination initiative in 2005, it set an initial revenue target of $10 billion by 2010. By last year it had raised the 2010 benchmark to $25 billion.

The Fairfield, Connecticut-based company last year spent $1.4 billion on green research, up from $700 million in 2004.

GE said it expects stimulus spending in the United States, China and elsewhere around the globe to create about $400 billion of new demand for green technologies and clean-energy products, including wind turbines and solar panels.

Source: www.marketwatch.com an www.ge.com/energy