Manufacturer News: 3.29.2011

Recall: Makita Gas Generators

From Canada’s Electrical Safety Authority—details.

ManuFacts

ABB

KEMA certification—KEMA, which provides business and technical consulting, has certified ABB’s IEC 61850 electrical integration interface.

Saudi Arabia—ABB will build six substations for Saudi Electricity (value: $93 million).

Solar—a company release says ABB has purchased a 35% stake in Novatec Solar of Karlsruhe, Germany (with an option to buy the rest). The headline: “ABB investment sharpens solar focus.”

General Electric

Energy optimization specialists—“we aren’t just selling a product…we are combining industry domain experience with GE’s engineering capabilities to create and install solutions that will allow our customers to run safer, more efficient operations.” From GE Energy Industrial Solutions.

China—the State Grid of China signed a strategic cooperation agreement with GE and the Chinese Academy of Sciences “to jointly develop smart grid standards.” More.

Energy storage—SustainX, based in New Hampshire, obtained $14.4 million from GE Energy Financial Services and other investors “to continue developing its technology for energy storage using compressed air.”

Grid IQ Innovation Center—a $40 million investment, it’s in Markham, Ontario, Canada. Release.

JV with Fuji Electric—GE and Fuji Electric Systems have formed GE Fuji Meter in Japan.

JV with NRG Energy + Conoco Philips—“to advance emerging energy technology,” it says here. The GE arm participating is GE Capital.

Lineage Power Holdings—GE has acquired this company for its GE Energy operation. Lineage Power operates in the “$20 billion-per-year power conversion sector,” according to GE. Seller: The Gores Group.

Remote Energy Monitoring—GE has acquired this company, which operates in the United Kingdom and Australia. REM offers metering solutions with a modular design, making them “field upgradeable, enabling utilities to integrate new capabilities in the future without the time and expense of switching-out meters.”

Renewables investing target, hit!—GE Energy Financial Services said it reached its “multiyear target” of having a portfolio of renewable energy investments valued at $6 billion…by the end of last year. Details.

Smart home products—unveiled in January at CES by GE: “A new line of smart home products, including a smart meter and display that will help homebuyers better manage electric bills, and connected appliances that automatically react to utility price signals,” according to ConstrucTech.

      Separately, GE created a new HEM business—report.

Wind turbine—a new GE offering, the 2.75-103 wind turbine, was commissioned in the Netherlands recently. It has a 50.2-meter blade design and “electrical system upgrades.” (Note: 50.2 meters = nearly 165 feet.)

ZigBee vs. WiFi—smart grid devices will be better off using ZigBee than WiFi, according to a recent GE study (outlined here).

Hammond Power Solutions—Headquartered in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, the company earlier this month disclosed 2010 sales results and said it would acquire the transformer business of Euroelettro spa of Italy.

            On the purchase: “After more than two years of looking for the right company in Europe, we are very pleased to acquire Eurolettro,” said Bill Hammond, CEO. The acquired company’s annual sales were given as $15 million (Canadian).

            On sales: Q4 sales came in 2.1% below year-earlier results, at $47.6 million. Full-year sales, at $190.6 million, were down 2.5%. From Hammond: “The worst appears to be over and most (though not all) markets we serve are coming to life. We are seeing…a renewal of confidence that bodes well for the net two years. We expect that our larger footprint in the distributor channel and the product line expansions either in place or under development will accelerate our growth rate even more.”

Honeywell—Steve Forbes, publisher of his family’s magazine, interviewed CEO David Cote—and the Q&A was posted to a Forbes blog. Among a lot of words spoken by Cote:

            …the message that I always give to everybody is that if you look at the history of the United States, the story of the United States, business for the good guys. In total, if we take a look at the standard of living we have today, our position in the world, our military strength, which a lot of people like to point to, it’s all driven by U.S. business.

            It was U.S. business being more productive, and I used to get on it too, down there, when people would talk about the problem was productivity. I’d say, “No, productivity is a good thing. If you want to be competitive in the world, you need to be more productive. It’s where your standard of living comes from.” And I tell everybody, “We’re the good guys in this story.”

IBM

Energy opportunity—from ComputerWorld.com: IBM is developing systems that can turn vast amounts of data collected by sensors, GPS and RFID systems in buildings and infrastructure systems into information that can be acted on to save energy and improve efficiency.

Smart building acquisition—IBM purchased Tririga which, Cnet News reported, adds to the company software for managing a portfolio of buildings, including projects to improve building efficiency and lower carbon emissions.

      Analysis of Tririga—from GreenBiz.com, an analysis of the company IBM acquired and sustainability.

Rockwell Automation—according to Pharmalive.com, a new “support offering” from Rockwell will “minimize the risk associated with using older or discounted” products from the company. More.

Schneider Electric

Demand response—LEED is going to add a demand response credit and, according to this report, Schneider Electric and the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (unit, DOE) are working on it.

Home energy tool—it’s the Wiser home energy management system, and GreenBiz.com described it here.

Poll on energy efficiency—from Schneider, on the Plant Engineeringwebsite, comes news of a survey of 300-plus “senior executives at Fortune 1000 companies.”

      Of the Fortune 1000 senior executives surveyed, 88% feel business has a moral responsibility, beyond regulatory requirements, to make their companies more energy efficient. At the same time, 61% of respondents say that potential cost savings are their biggest motivator to save energy at the enterprise-level, outranking environmental concerns (13%) or government regulations (2%).

Square D Services & Solutions Tour—more info and schedule found here. 

Summit Energy—Schneider said March 24 that it had agreed to acquire this company, “a leader in outsourced energy procurement and sustainability services to industrial, commercial, and institutional enterprises.” The company employs 350-plus people based in 11 offices in North America & Europe.

Who owns Areva T&D India?—as of mid-March, it’s a JV of Alstom & Schneider. The two acquired Areva’s Worldwide T&D operations on June 7, 2010. But the process to buy the India unit followed a different timeline.

Workplace safety—OSHA has recognized Schneider’s facility in Lincoln, Neb., as a “star” site in its Voluntary Protection Program.

Siemens

Banking operations—according to a December 2010 report, “Siemens has received authorization from Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority to engage in banking operations. The Siemens Bank GmbH will support sales at the company’s three operating sectors—Industry, Energy, and Healthcare.”

Carbon Trust—the Trust and Siemens are launching a green financing initiative (valued at around $900 million) “that promises to help firms cover the upfront cost of energy efficiency investments.” More.

Distribution center—the company opened one in Southaven, Miss., late last year.

& GridPoint—the primary focus of the work the two companies are doing together is the UK and European market. The idea: Smart energy metering and sub-metering. More.

Plantville—Siemens issued a release on this new gaming platform “that simulates the experience of being a plant manager.” A video posted to PlantEngineering.com.

Solar Power Purchase Agreement program—from Siemens’ Building Technologies division and Siemens Financial Services, the program will enable customers to add solar energy to their properties “without making an initial capital investment in solar equipment.” More.

Sustainable Community Awards—an effort of the Business Civic Leadership Center (U.S. Chamber of Commerce) and Siemens, nine award finalists were recently named.

Sustainability report—the Building Technologies Division recently issued its second sustainability report. More.

Undersea specialists acquired—Siemens has purchased Poseidon Group AS and Bennex Group AS from Subsea Technology Group AS (Norway). The two companies have a combined 300 employees and consultants.

3M—obtained an estimated $4.4 million (over three years) from the DOE SunShot Initiative to bring down the cost of solar energy.