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Smart Grid: No More Maps, Push Pins for SMUD

Sept. 9, 2013

In a smart grid application, utility Sacramento Public Utility District (SMUD) has moved from using maps and push pins to visual analytics to help make decisions about outages, smart meters, and other issues. Steve Ehrlich, SVP, Marketing, of Space-Time Insight, which has supplied a smart grid system to SMUD, says that many utilities are still […]

Lisa Cohn

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Steve Ehrlich, SVP, Marketing, of Space-Time Insight, which has supplied a smart grid system to SMUD, says that many utilities are still using maps and push pins. But situational intelligence software can help utilities unite and analyze data from various sources–outage information, wind speed data, and smart meter data, for example.

One of the biggest benefits of this type of system: It helps utilities avoid outages and prevents crises. Lisa Cohn of EnergyEfficiencyMarkets.com interviews Ehrlich about how utilities benefit from such systems.

SMUD is the nation’s sixth-largest electric utility owned by its customers. It began delivering power to the Sacramento region in 1946 and since then has provided electricity for most of Sacramento County, as well as small portions of Placer and Yolo counties.

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About the Author

Lisa Cohn | Contributing Editor

I focus on the West Coast and Midwest. Email me at [email protected]

I’ve been writing about energy for more than 20 years, and my stories have appeared in EnergyBiz, SNL Financial, Mother Earth News, Natural Home Magazine, Horizon Air Magazine, Oregon Business, Open Spaces, the Portland Tribune, The Oregonian, Renewable Energy World, Windpower Monthly and other publications. I’m also a former stringer for the Platts/McGraw-Hill energy publications. I began my career covering energy and environment for The Cape Cod Times, where Elisa Wood also was a reporter. I’ve received numerous writing awards from national, regional and local organizations, including Pacific Northwest Writers Association, Willamette Writers, Associated Oregon Industries, and the Voice of Youth Advocates. I first became interested in energy as a student at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, where I helped design and build a solar house.

Twitter: @LisaECohn

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