Silver Spring Networks Liberates Smart Meter Data
Smart meters throw off piles of information but only a small segment of utility employees have access to it. Software from smart grid company Silver Spring Networks is designed to spread it around.
The Redwood City, California-based company this week released SilverLink Cloud Services, a set of applications geared at business analysts or managers trying to get a better picture of how their grid operates. The data can be used to, for example, monitor how voltage fluctuates or to create reports to meet regulations, explained Anil Gadre, executive vice president of products.
Some utilities have invested millions of dollars in smart meter programs to automate meter reading closely and monitor power usage to better understand changes in load. Meters can also make it easier to spot outages and remotely connect or disconnect customers.
Beyond those operational efficiencies, there’s room to sift through that data to make business decisions, much the way corporations in other industries create data warehouses to analyze transactional data to understand consumer buying or financial trends. “(Utilities) are done in most cases with their core meter related deployment. Now they’re saying, what else can I do with it?” said Gadre, a former Sun Microsystems executive.
Silver Spring Networks makes the networking equipment for sending meter information back to utilities, one of many companies trying to marry information technology with the power sector. Utilities have a reputation for being relatively slow adopters of new technology, even enterprise software systems. By using data analysis offerings like these, utilities could run more efficiently and get more value from their smart meter investments
Keep Reading
Most Popular
Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why.
And that's a problem. Figuring it out is one of the biggest scientific puzzles of our time and a crucial step towards controlling more powerful future models.
How scientists traced a mysterious covid case back to six toilets
When wastewater surveillance turns into a hunt for a single infected individual, the ethics get tricky.
The problem with plug-in hybrids? Their drivers.
Plug-in hybrids are often sold as a transition to EVs, but new data from Europe shows we’re still underestimating the emissions they produce.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.