On the anniversary of our biggest blackout ever, are we on the road to another?

On the anniversary of our biggest blackout ever, are we on the road to another?

When I was a kid in rural Virginia, losing electricity was a yearly event around Christmas. Situated on the outskirts of a large utility’s territory, my family was among the last to have its power restored when, inevitably, a big winter storm knocked trees onto… Continue Reading

Eka Systems raises $18.5M for smart metering

Eka Systems, a Germantown, Maryland-based utility metering company, has completed a $18.5 million fourth round of funding, led by Flybridge Capital Partners. Returning investors included RockPort Capital Partners, The Westly Group and Metropolitan Investments.

Eka’s scalable smart networking technology allows utilities to monitor and analyze their… Continue Reading

Optimal Technologies: Offers a “brain” for the nation’s electrical grid

Optimal Technologies: Offers a “brain” for the nation’s electrical grid

Today’s electrical grid is frustratingly opaque.

Electrical utilities across the U.S. — and the world — often don’t know what the overall grid looks like. The grid is siloed into sections. Electricity can’t be evenly distributed between regions.

So recently, new startups have flocked to try… Continue Reading

Optimal Technologies raises $25M for grid efficiency

Optimal Technologies International is a software and technology provider for electrical utilities and consumers. It promises to improve efficiency and reduce consumption.

The company’s AEMPFAST product is an analytics program for utilities that tells the system where to send electricity. Optimal claims that utilities that have… Continue Reading