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Last year, the United States brought online as much solar energy every three weeks as it did in all of 2008, and the solar industry added jobs 10 times faster than the rest of the economy. And since the beginning of 2010, the average cost of a solar electric system has dropped by 50 percent.

But we know that our economy is strongest when every American has the tools to get ahead. That means just as we are working to make high-quality health care and community college more available and affordable to middle-class and low-income families, we must also work to expand opportunities for families to use cleaner sources of energy that can help households save on their utility bills.

We’ve doubled the electricity we generate from solar in the last year

That is why today, senior Administration officials were joined by Congressman Cummings and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake in Baltimore to announce a new initiative to increase access to solar for all Americans, including low- and moderate- income communities, and expand opportunities join the solar workforce. Some of the key components of the initiative include:

Launching a National Community Solar Partnership to unlock access to solar for the nearly 50 percent of households and businesses that are renters or do not have adequate roof space to install solar panels, including issuing a guide to Support States In Developing Community Solar Programs

Setting a goal to install 300 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy in federally subsidized housing, triple our original goal, and providing technical assistance to make it easier to install solar, including clarifying how to use Federal funding;

Housing authorities, rural electric co-ops, power companies, and organizations in more than 20 states across the country are committing to put in place more than 260 solar energy projects, including projects to help low- and moderate- income communities save on their energy bills and further community solar;
More than $520 million in independent commitments from philanthropic and impact investors, states, and cities to advance community solar or scale up solar and energy efficiency for low- and moderate- income households;
AmeriCorps funding to deploy solar and create jobs in underserved communities;
Expanding solar energy education and opportunities for job training; and
The solar industry is also setting its own, independent goal of becoming the most diverse sector of the U.S. energy industry, and a number of companies are announcing that they are taking steps to build a more inclusive solar workforce.
President Obama just tripled our goal for installing renewable energy in low and moderate income housing

These new actions build on President Obama’s goal to train 75,000 workers to enter the solar industry by 2020 and the Solar Ready Vets program that will train transitioning military personnel for careers in the solar industry at 10 military bases.

VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA – Renewable Energy Systems (“RES”), together with GE (NYSE: GE) and Downer (ASX: DOW), today announced a major contract for the supply of 75 wind turbines to the 240MW Ararat Wind Farm in south-west Victoria. In what will be the third largest wind farm in Australia, the $450 million project will be financed by shareholders Partners Group, RES, OPTrust and GE.

This deal represents the first major contract to be signed following restored bipartisan support for the Renewable Energy Target (RET), mandating 33,000-gigawatt hours of producing capacity by 2020, and signals the return of investment to Australia’s renewable energy sector.

The project also benefits from a power purchase agreement with the Australian Capital Territory Government (ACT), guaranteeing the purchase of approximately 40 per cent of the energy produced at the site which was awarded under the ACT’s Wind Auction announcement in February 2015.

The Ararat wind farm will have a life span of 25 years and will generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of around 123,000 homes per annum, or approximately 6 per cent of Victoria’s households. RES will manage the development, construction and commissioning of the project, and once complete, GE will provide ongoing operations and maintenance under a ten-year service agreement.

Geoff Culbert, President & CEO, GE Australia, New Zealand and PNG, said the recent agreement around the RET has been the driving force, creating certainty and enabling the equity partners to make firm decisions around long term investment opportunities in Australia.

“With certainty comes investment – that’s our experience overseas and that’s what we’ll see here in Australia now that the RET is fully resolved. I congratulate both the Coalition and the ALP on restoring the policy certainty needed to enable investment and job creation. This decision has immediately unlocked half a billion dollars of direct foreign investment into Australia,” said Culbert.

“The wind farm will have significant local impact. It will employ around 165 workers directly in the construction phase, another 120 indirectly, and is expected to inject at least $7 million – $8 million into the local economy around Ararat over two years. The project will also establish a local community fund which will inject over $2 million in support of good causes over its lifetime.”

Matt Rebbeck, Chief Operating Officer for Australia at RES, said that the project represents a major development for the Ararat region.

“After many years of work from a dedicated team, RES is proud to deliver the Ararat Wind Farm. It is a world class project and one of the largest in Australia. The project will provide significant benefits to the local community through the creation of jobs and funding initiatives to support good causes in the region.

“RES would like to thank the local community for its support throughout the project’s development. Also we would like to thank the ACT Government for its foresight in establishing innovative policies that are delivering low cost clean energy projects. The Ararat Wind Farm will also be partnering with ACT researchers and institutions on projects that will potentially have global applications and support the ACT as a positive place for renewable energy companies to invest plus a positive model for other states to follow in unlocking the potential of clean energy projects in Australia.”
Benjamin Haan, Managing Director and Head of Private Infrastructure, Asia-Pacific, Partners Group, said that the project will have a considerable impact on the future of renewable energy in Australia.

“The Ararat Wind Farm is a well-structured project with high-quality counterparties and a strong wind resource. The timing of our investment aligns with increased certainty around Australia’s Renewable Energy Target, which will require a substantial build-out of renewables in the coming years. The wind farm will make a great contribution not only to the local community in Ararat, in the form of employment, education and investment, but also to the future of renewable energy in Australia.”

Stan Kolenc, Managing Director, OPTrust said: “OPTrust has considerable interest and experience in the renewable energy sector, in Australia and abroad. And as a Canadian pension fund, we have dedicated staff in Australia because we believe the country, and region, provides compelling investment opportunities. We are excited to participate in this project, working alongside trusted partners, to expand renewable energy production in Australia.”

“We commend Parliament for reinforcing the regulatory stability that underpins this industry and look forward to starting construction.”

Construction of the Ararat Wind Farm is expected to span two years, with power delivered to the grid from April 2017.

About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) imagines things others don’t, builds things others can’t and delivers outcomes that make the world work better. GE brings together the physical and digital worlds in ways no other company can. In its labs and factories and on the ground with customers, GE is inventing the next industrial era to move, power, build and cure the world. www.ge.com.

About Renewable Energy Systems Ltd.
RES (Renewable Energy Systems Ltd) is one of the world’s leading independent renewable energy companies. At the forefront of renewable energy development for over 30 years, RES has developed and/or built more than 9,000MW of renewable energy capacity worldwide. RES core activities are onshore wind, offshore wind and solar, and technologies that will be enablers to a low carbon future – Energy Storage, Demand Side Management and Transmission. RES is headquartered in the United Kingdom and operates across the globe, including from Sydney, Australia. For more information, visit www.res-group.com and www.res-australia.com.

About Downer
Downer EDI Limited (Downer) is a leading provider of services to customers in markets including Transportation, Mining, Energy and Industrial Engineering, Utilities, Communications and Facilities. Downer employs about 20,000 people, mostly in Australia and New Zealand but also in the Asia-Pacific region, South America and Southern Africa.

About Partners Group
Partners Group is a global private markets investment management firm with over EUR 37 billion (over USD 45 billion) in investment programs under management in private equity, private real estate, private infrastructure and private debt. The firm manages a broad range of customized portfolios for an international clientele of institutional investors. Partners Group is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and has offices in San Francisco, Houston, New York, São Paulo, London, Guernsey, Paris, Luxembourg, Milan, Munich, Dubai, Mumbai, Singapore, Shanghai, Seoul, Tokyo and Sydney. The firm employs over 750 people and is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (symbol: PGHN) with a major ownership by its partners and employees.

About OPTrust
With assets of $17.5 billion, the OPSEU Pension Trust (OPTrust) invests and manages one of Canada’s largest pension funds and administers the OPSEU Pension Plan, a defined benefit plan with over 86,000 members and retirees. OPTrust was established to give plan members and the Government of Ontario an equal voice in the administration of the Plan and the investment of its assets, through joint trusteeship. OPTrust is governed by a 10-member Board of Trustees, five of whom are appointed by OPSEU and five by the Government of Ontario.

Schenectady, NY — Building on several years of work with Cascade Technologies, Inc., GE (NYSE:GE) has announced a multi-year joint development agreement with this Palo Alto-based company. The collaboration will focus on applying and improving simulation software that enables engineers to virtually look inside a gas turbine as it operates and gain a better understanding of the turbulent fluid, chemical and acoustic processes occurring within advanced, low-emissions gas-turbine combustion systems.

“The global energy industry looks to GE as a leader in high efficiency, with current HA gas turbines designed to deliver more than 61 percent combined cycle efficiency. The enhanced simulation and visualization capabilities enabled by our collaboration with Cascade can help us deliver even higher efficiency and lower emissions in the next generation of gas turbines,” said John Lammas, vice president, power generation engineering at GE Power and Water. “Together, we’re working to deliver better products, faster.”

“GE is leading the industry by deploying this technology in their engineering,” said Frank Ham, president and CEO, Cascade. “The simulation is like a modern-day digital microscope that allows GE engineers to interrogate the combustion process in ways that were not previously possible. Seeing these details is helping GE gain critical knowledge in how they can continue to improve their gas turbines.”

The gas turbine combustion process involves multiple steps at high speed. Compared to other digital modelling techniques, Cascade simulation software enables better visualization of the combustion process so engineers can understand more about the subtle changes that occur. It’s like looking at the world through a slow-motion video versus a time-lapse snapshot.

This visualization is made possible by unique code software that can be scaled to run on national laboratory super-computers and at other high-performance computing facilities. The code allows GE and Cascade teams to simulate the combustion process with microsecond time fidelity and sub-millimeter resolution, while generating petabytes of data.

Such an unprecedented amount of information combined with proprietary web-based analysis tools can help shorten the path between simulations and engineering insight. During a typical two-year development cycle, engineers utilizing the full potential of the software can iterate on a design up to ten times faster to accelerate learning and improve the design.

“Working with GE’s advanced engineering design, Cascade can have the most impact by both improving the software and helping GE improve the gas turbine technology iteratively,” said Ham. “By providing information that goes into design decisions, we can help improve efficiency, lower emissions and increase durability in future products.”

About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) imagines things others don’t, builds things others can’t and delivers outcomes that make the world work better. GE brings together the physical and digital worlds in ways no other company can. In its labs and factories and on the ground with customers, GE is inventing the next industrial era to move, power, build and cure the world. www.ge.com

About GE Power & Water
GE Power & Water provides customers with a broad array of power generation, energy delivery and water process technologies to solve their challenges locally. Power & Water works in all areas of the energy industry including renewable resources such as wind and solar; biogas and alternative fuels; and coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy. The business also develops advanced technologies to help solve the world’s most complex challenges related to water availability and quality. Power & Water’s six business units include Distributed Power, Nuclear Energy, Power Generation Products, Power Generation Services, Renewable Energy and Water & Process Technologies. Headquartered in Schenectady, N.Y., Power & Water is GE’s largest industrial business.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.gepower.com and http://powergen.gepower.com.

Follow GE Power & Water and GE Power Generation on Twitter @GE_PowerWater and @ge_powergen, and on LinkedIn.

About Cascade Technologies, Inc.
Cascade Technologies, Inc. develops, markets and supports high fidelity Large Eddy Simulation (LES) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis tools for engineering applications across industries. The company grew out of a need to bridge between fundamental research in LES and its application in industries. The team consists of PhDs with deep experience in fluid and thermal sciences, physical modeling, numerical analysis, high-performance computing and computer science. Many are alumni of Stanford University’s Center for Turbulence Research, and the DOE’s Advanced Simulation and Computing programs at Stanford. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.cascadetechnologies.com.

In this critical year for climate action, IKEA Group and IKEA Foundation are making bold new commitments to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy and to support the communities most at risk. Announced today, the EUR 1 billion total is made up of an IKEA Group commitment of EUR 600 million for investment in renewable energy and a EUR 400 million IKEA Foundation funding commitment to support communities most impacted by climate change. The announcements coincide with a key meeting in Bonn, where governments are preparing a global climate agreement to be negotiated at the COP21 meeting in Paris in December.

IKEA Group – The EUR 600 million commitment to renewable energy, announced today by the IKEA Group, builds on the EUR 1.5 billion invested in wind and solar since 2009. The company is on track to become energy independent, producing as much renewable energy as it consumes in its buildings, and has already committed to own and operate 314 offsite wind turbines and installed 700,000 solar panels on its buildings. The majority of the new commitment (EUR500 million) will be invested in wind energy and around EUR 100 million is expected to be invested in solar up to 2020.

“Climate change is one of the world’s biggest challenges and we need bold commitments and action to find a solution. That’s why we are going all in to transform our business, to ensure that it is fit for the future and we can have a positive impact. This includes going 100% for renewable energy, by investing in wind and solar, and converting all our lighting products to affordable LED bulbs, helping many millions of households to live a more sustainable life at home.” Peter Agnefjäll, President and CEO, IKEA Group.

IKEA Foundation – Building on many years of supporting children and families in some of the world’s poorest communities, the IKEA Foundation also announced its own commitment of EUR 400 million through 2020 to support families and communities who are most impacted by climate change.

The IKEA Foundation funds programmes to create long term opportunities for children living in some of the world’s poorest communities. In 2014, the IKEA Foundation contributed €104 million to more than forty partner organizations running programmes to benefit children in 46 countries. Since 2009, programmes funded by the IKEA Foundation have helped more than 178 million children worldwide. The new funding will help poor communities build resilience to climate change and improve lives by adopting renewable energy technologies in homes, schools and businesses.

“We’re working toward a world where children living in poverty have more opportunities to create a better future for themselves and their families. Tackling climate change is critical to achieving this goal.” Per Heggenes, CEO of the IKEA Foundation

About the IKEA Group
Our vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people and we offer well designed, functional and affordable, high quality home furnishing, produced with care for people and the environment. The IKEA Group has 322 stores in 28 countries. In addition there are more than 40 stores run by franchisees outside the IKEA Group. The IKEA Group had 716 million visitors to the stores during FY14 and more than 1.5 billion visitors to the web. For more information, please visit www.IKEA.com

Contact:
Jamie Rusby, jamie.rusby@ikea.com, +46 723 527 369

About IKEA Foundation
The IKEA Foundation is the philanthropic arm of INGKA Foundation, the owner of the home furnishings company IKEA Group. We aim to improve opportunities for children and youth in some of the world’s poorest communities by funding holistic, long-term programmes that can create substantial, lasting change. The IKEA Foundation works with strong strategic partners applying innovative approaches to achieve large-scale results in four fundamental areas of a child’s life: a place to call home; a healthy start in life; a quality education; and a sustainable family income. Learn more at www.ikeafoundation.org and www.facebook.com/IKEAfoundation

Manila – Asian countries are making a vital contribution to achieving global sustainable energy goals, a new World Bank report finds. But while the region performs strongly on ensuring electricity access for people and using more modern renewable energy, there is room for further improvement on energy efficiency and access to clean, smoke-free cooking.

The report is the second in a series that tracks the world’s progress toward the three goals of the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) initiative—universal energy access, doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency and doubling the share of renewable energy by 2030.

While the first edition from 2013 measured progress between 1990 and 2010, this edition focuses on the 2010-2012 period.

Asia accounted for about 60 percent of the global progress on energy access and clean energy objectives during 2010-2012—according to the report titled “Progress Toward Sustainable Energy: Global Tracking Framework 2015”—contributing well beyond its share of global population and energy consumption.

Asia’s performance on expanding modern renewable energy (from sources like solar, wind and geothermal) was particularly strong. Whereas globally, consumption of modern renewable energy grew by 4 percent per annum during 2010-2012, in Asia that growth was almost twice as fast at close to 8 percent.

Asia also moved rapidly to expand access to electricity for its citizens growing the population with electricity by 0.9 percent annually over the tracking period 2010-2012, well ahead of the global rate of 0.6 percent.

And while the global population with access to clean, modern cooking fuels actually fell during 2010-2012, Asia showed a modest improvement in access, but still far short of what is needed.

However, Asia’s progress on reducing the energy intensity of its economies with a compound annual growth rate of 1.3 percent annually—a commonly used measure of energy efficiency—lagged behind the global average of 1.7 percent.

Some of Asia’s larger economies are critical to the global effort to reach Sustainable Energy for All. The report highlights some strong performances during the 2010-2012 tracking period including:

India, Philippines and Bangladesh were the strongest performers on electricity access and added around 4 percentage points to electricity access rates.
Vietnam and Indonesia were particularly strong on access to clean, modern cooking fuels, and added around 3-4 percentage points to their access rates.
Japan and Indonesia stood out in reducing their energy intensity (commonly used as an indicator of energy efficiency) by a compound annual growth rate of around 5 percent.
Australia and China increased their renewable energy shares by about 1 percentage point each.
On a global basis, the report found that 222 million people worldwide got access to electricity between 2010 and 2012, still leaving 1.1 billion people without access to energy. Meanwhile, 2.9 billion people are still using biomass fuels like wood and dung. Most of this population is in rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and eastern Asia.

Also, while the world avoided using as much energy in 2012 as Japan used the same year, the report says energy intensity must decline at least 50 percent faster to achieve the SE4All energy efficiency goal.

Global consumption of modern renewable energy accelerated by 4 percent per year between 2010 and 2012, but must be closer to 8 percent—two times the current rate—to reach the SE4All renewable energy goal.

“We are heading in the right direction to end energy poverty,” said Anita Marangoly George, Senior Director of the World Bank’s Energy and Extractives Global Practice, “but we are still far from the finish line. We will need to work a lot harder especially to mobilize much larger investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency. Leveraging public finance to mobilize private capital is imperative in achieving these goals.”

The Sustainable Energy for All Global Tracking Framework is produced jointly by the World Bank’s Energy and Extractives Global Practice, the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), and the International Energy Agency, and is supported by 20 other partner organizations and agencies.

PARIS, — Managing historic urban growth to create inclusive, sustainable communities is a priority for cities around the globe, and this week’s ‘Greater Paris’ regional planning efforts provided a “learning laboratory” for 100 municipal leaders from 20 countries.

The four-day Global Lab on Metropolitan Strategic Planning, or MetroLab, event was co-organized by the World Bank Group and ADVANCITY of Greater Paris. The Paris region MetroLab is the fifth in a series, preceded by Dar Es Salaam, Seoul, Mumbai, and New York.

“MetroLab is unique in that it brings together cities in all stages of development,” said Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez, Senior Director for the World Bank’s Social, Urban, Rural, and Resilience Global Practice. “It provides a platform for solutions to managing growth in a way that is not only inclusive and sustainable, but also serves to alleviate poverty and share prosperity. That’s not an easy task, and MetroLab offers support and thought leadership on urban growth to cities around the world.”

The Greater Paris venue provided mayors, urban planners, and technical experts the opportunity to learn about the region’s urban planning efforts, including site visits to École des Ponts Paris Tech to see how micro and nano-technology can be used to manage cities, a trip to the innovative and sustainable Coriolis building, and a look at sustainable urban logistics on the Seine.

“Innovation doesn’t only mean technology, although it is decisive,” said Jean-Louis Marchand, ADVANCITY Paris Region President. “Innovation can also be found in behavior changes and new services. By connecting global cities together, MetroLab enables sharing of best practices so efficient and effective urban planning tips can diffuse faster. This is exactly ADVANCITY Paris Region’s motto.”

The focus of the Paris MetroLab is how to address climate change in urban planning, aligned with topics relevant to the United Nation’s Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP 21), which begins in Paris on November 30th. Cities, which consume nearly two-thirds of the world’s energy and generate more than 70 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, are critical to efforts to stabilize global warming at less than 2 degrees Celsius. As cities develop, their exposure to climate and disaster risk also increases. Almost a half billion urban residents live in coastal areas, increasing their vulnerability to storm surges and sea level rise.

“Every city has unique solutions, but there are common challenges on a global scale,” said author and architect Peter Calthorpe, who delivered a keynote address on “Urbanism in the Age of Climate Change”.

In addition to discussions on climate mitigation and adaptation, participants heard from municipal leaders representing Dar es Salaam, Surabaya, Mumbai, Rio de Janerio, Amsterdam, and Kigali on innovations in urban flood, air quality, and solid waste management, as well as metropolitan perspectives on transport, land use, and urban sprawl.

The need for strategic regional planning is particularly acute in Africa. With more than 450 million urban dwellers expected by 2040, urbanization is the single most important transformation taking place on the continent.

“African cities have a unique opportunity to learn from the positive lessons and mistakes made by cities around the world,” said Ijjasz-Vasquez. “Decisions made today will define and lock the growth path of African cities. They are at a stage where they can get it right as they solve the enormous infrastructure, services, and social inclusion challenges they face.”

AMSTERDAM— —With Europe and other key regions of the world undergoing a major shift in how electricity is produced by an increasingly diverse array of sources—from natural gas to renewables—this transformation toward a lower carbon environment is posing significant challenges for countries seeking to balance energy security and competitiveness. However, the shift also is creating opportunities for investing in innovative energy technologies that can help bring about more sustainable economic growth and a higher standard of living.

GE’s (NYSE: GE) portfolio of advanced energy technologies is expected to play a vital role in supporting the investment goals of the World Economic Forum’s “Future of Electricity” initiative. A January 2015 report issued by the World Economic Forum estimates that members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) will need to invest more than $7.6 trillion over the next 25 years to meet their energy policy goals, further reduce emissions and create a more sustainable system for producing electricity from renewables and cleaner fuels such as natural gas.

GE is participating in this week’s POWER-GEN Europe 2015 trade conference in Amsterdam to showcase several reference projects that illustrate how utilities and industrial facilities can use GE’s high-efficiency power generation systems and software solutions to help meet their production targets while achieving their respective national and regional energy policy goals.

“The electricity sector is undergoing significant changes, driven by technological developments and the need to decarbonize energy production,” said Roland Teixeira, Region Executive & Country CEO, GE Benelux. “The projects we are highlighting at POWER-GEN Europe demonstrate how our customers can get the fastest return on their investments by upgrading the energy efficiency of their existing facilities. This includes installing our high-efficiency generation equipment and harnessing the power of Big Data to give operators greater real-time visibility into the condition of their equipment, allowing them to reduce their costs and environmental footprints.”

Case in point: a 1 percent efficiency improvement in the global gas-fired power plant fleet could yield $66 billion in savings in fuel consumption.

GE’s projects being announced POWER-GEN Europe include:

The world’s first deployment of GE’s Reliability Excellence software solution at the Whitegate Power Station, a 445-megawatt gas combined-cycle power plant in County Cork, Ireland. Reliability Excellence is GE Power Generation Service’s new advanced software solution that taps into industrial-scale data analytics to predictively identify operational issues before they occur.
GE’s Distributed Power business is formally introducing its myPlant* 2.0 Beta platform powered by Predix*, an asset performance management solution from GE. The introduction of myPlant 2.0 expands the choice of Industrial Internet technologies that can help industrial operators improve the real-time remote monitoring of their production facilities.
GE’s Distributed Power also is announcing that Prominent Growers Association, a leading commercial tomato greenhouse growers collective in the Netherlands, will serve as the pilot customer to showcase how GE’s myPlant* 2.0 solution can increase the performance and efficiency of 50 Jenbacher gas engine units installed at 36 high-tech greenhouse facilities.
French utility ENGIE recently turned to GE’s Power Generation Services business to increase the responsiveness and availability of its Montoir de Bretagne combined cycle power plant in western France to become more responsive to changing grid demands and boost competitiveness. GE’s team installed its OpFlex Steam Turbine Agility software solution to reduce the plant’s startup times.
GE’s Power Generation Services business was recently awarded a 16-year contractual service agreement (CSA) by Russian energy company OJSC “Generating Company” for the new Kazanskaya CHP-2 combined-cycle gas power plant in Kazan in the Russian region of Tatarstan. GE was awarded the CSA to help ensure the long-term availability of the power plant’s GE-supplied gas turbines to meet the industrialized area’s strong energy demands.

“By making forward-thinking energy technology investments in their existing facilities to make them more energy efficient and reliable, our utility and industrial customers are able to create more sustainable power and products for their customers and support their region,” said Teixeira.

About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) imagines things others don’t, builds things others can’t and delivers outcomes that make the world work better. GE brings together the physical and digital worlds in ways no other company can. In its labs and factories and on the ground with customers, GE is inventing the next industrial era to move, power, build and cure the world. www.ge.com

About GE Power & Water
GE Power & Water provides customers with a broad array of power generation, energy delivery and water process technologies to solve their challenges locally. Power & Water works in all areas of the energy industry including renewable resources such as wind and solar; biogas and alternative fuels; and coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy. The business also develops advanced technologies to help solve the world’s most complex challenges related to water availability and quality. Power & Water’s six business units include Distributed Power, Nuclear Energy, Power Generation Products, Power Generation Services, Renewable Energy and Water & Process Technologies. Headquartered in Schenectady, N.Y., Power & Water is GE’s largest industrial business.

AMSTERDAM— GE’s Distributed Power business (NYSE: GE) today announced that Prominent Growers Association, a leading commercial tomato greenhouse growers collective in the Netherlands, will serve as a pilot customer to showcase how GE’s next-generation, myPlant* 2.0, an asset performance management solution, can increase the performance and efficiency of on-site cogeneration plants.

The new software is powered by Predix*, GE’s Industrial Internet asset performance management platform. Its introduction illustrates the growing use of digital communications solutions that can help industrial operators remotely monitor their power generation equipment performance and condition.

Prominent consists of 26 members with 36 sprawling, high-tech greenhouse facilities that supply 20 percent of the country’s vine tomatoes. To meet their on-site power, heating, CO2 and artificial lighting needs, Prominent’s members utilize combined heat and power (CHP) systems that produce a total of more than 150 megawatts (MW). A majority of this power (up to 131 MW) is supplied by 50 of GE’s Jenbacher gas engine CHP systems.

Prominent is again expanding its years-long greenhouse technology collaboration with GE to demonstrate the myPlant 2.0 solution’s ability to increase gas engine CHP performance and reliability on the 50 Jenbacher units installed at the 36 high-tech greenhouse facilities.

“We are excited to once again work with GE to deploy new technologies that make our greenhouse cogeneration plants run more reliably and efficiently to improve growing conditions and lower our operating costs,” said Ferdi van Elswijk, energy manager for Prominent Growers Association in the Netherlands. “GE’s myPlant software will offer us greater real-time visibility of the performance and condition of our Jenbacher cogeneration systems to ensure their availability, drive greater outcomes and be more competitive.”

If Prominent’s myPlant 2.0 solution detects an anomaly in one of its cogeneration units, GE’s Quick Response Center (QRC) in the Netherlands then reviews data trends and engine messages and systematically validates the probable root cause of the issue. The QRC may then deploy field service experts to perform corrective actions to the equipment. However, in 50 percent of cases, engines can be reset remotely, eliminating travel time and expenses.

“Prominent has a long pioneering history with us in deploying GE’s advanced CHP and CO2 fertilization technologies to its members to improve their competitive position in Europe’s horticultural sector,” said Margherita Adragna, general manager-services for GE’s Distributed Power Europe—GE Power & Water. “Once again, Prominent is leading the way by being one of the first customers to install GE’s next-generation myPlant 2.0 solution to enhance the growers’ ability to monitor the performance and condition of their CHP plants.”

GE and Prominent expect key benefits, which will include enhancing the performance and operation of Prominent’s Jenbacher gas engine fleet, including the performance of the engines’ emission control systems; extending engine oil life; allowing variable power to maintain heat and CO2; and more efficiently aligning gas consumption.

The initiative is the first project following Prominent’s renewal of its multiyear service agreement with GE’s Distributed Power business in December 2014.

GE’s Distributed Power operates a center of excellence (CoE) for all commercial greenhouse applications in the Netherlands, where GE developed its pioneering CO2 fertilization system for commercial greenhouses. This system captures CO2 from engine exhaust and recycles the greenhouse gas as a fertilizer, enabling growers to boost their crop production. GE’s QRC operation in the Netherlands is co-located with the greenhouse applications CoE.

GE announced its myPlant 2.0 Beta release on June 9 during the POWER-GEN Europe 2015 trade conference, which is being held this week at the Amsterdam RAI Exhibition and Convention Centre. For more information about GE’s Distributed Power offerings, please visit GE’s Booth #2G6.

About GE’s Distributed Power Business

GE Power & Water’s Distributed Power business is a leading provider of power equipment, engines and services focused on power generation at or near the point of use. Distributed Power’s product portfolio includes highly efficient industrial reciprocating engines and aeroderivative gas turbines that generate 100 kW to 116 MW of power for numerous industries globally. In addition, Distributed Power offers life cycle services and support for more than 38,000 distributed power products worldwide to help customers meet their business challenges—anywhere and anytime.

Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, Distributed Power employs about 5,000 people around the world.

About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) imagines things others don’t, builds things others can’t and delivers outcomes that make the world work better. GE brings together the physical and digital worlds in ways no other company can. In its labs and factories and on the ground with customers, GE is inventing the next industrial era to move, power, build and cure the world. www.ge.com

About GE Power & Water
GE Power & Water provides customers with a broad array of power generation, energy delivery and water process technologies to solve their challenges locally. Power & Water works in all areas of the energy industry including renewable resources such as wind and solar, biogas and alternative fuels; and coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy. The business also develops advanced technologies to help solve the world’s most complex challenges related to water availability and quality. Power & Water’s six business units include Distributed Power, Nuclear Energy, Power Generation Products, Power Generation Services, Renewable Energy and Water & Process Technologies. Headquartered in Schenectady, N.Y., Power & Water is GE’s largest industrial business.

BILBAO, SPAIN — GE’s Digital Energy business (NYSE: GE) today announced a milestone deal with Terna Rete Italia, Italy’s transmission system operator, to help it deliver more reliable power to businesses and residences across the country and to more efficiently integrating renewable energy. With 63,500 kilometers of high-voltage power lines, Terna was looking for a solution that could help it easily gather real-time data from the power grid to detect potential faults or disturbances on the grid and to take corrective actions to prevent outages.

Terna will integrate GE’s synchrophasor in its wide area monitoring system (the largest in Europe), in order to be able to get a more holistic and accurate view of how their power grid and other local or remote devices are performing. By continually collecting real-time data from the grid, Terna will be able to test advanced monitoring applications and feed its dynamic rating system. Using phasor measurement unit information, Terna is able to monitor the system stability and keep an eye on possible grid oscillations and transients. Moreover, in last few years, Terna has developed an overhead line mean temperature estimation tool for dynamic line rating purposes. The solution is based on current and voltage synchophasors measured at line terminals. For such kinds of applications, accuracy in phasor calculation and synchronization is essential.

Using GE’s MultilinTM N60 Network Stability and Synchrophasor Measurement System and MultilinTM P30 Phasor Data Concentrator, Terna can utilize advanced communications capabilities to gather data from across its vast grid infrastructure and balance power between all of its transmission sources, including renewable power generation. The complete solution also will complement Terna’s existing protection and control protocols by sharing power and utilization information.

“Grid modernization is a priority for energy providers across Europe,” said Luiz Perez, EMEA regional general manager for GE’s Digital Energy business. “Our synchrophasor technology provides these utilities with the technology required to deliver more reliable power to their customers. It enables them to develop technology roadmaps that can help reduce grid congestion, integrate renewables and increase grid reliability.”

The implementation of GE’s synchrophasor solutions on Terna’s grid has begun and the complete roll out is expected to be completed by the end of 2015.

GE’s Digital Energy business is a global leader in transmission and distribution solutions that manage and move power from the power plant to the consumer. Its products and services increase the reliability of electrical power networks and critical equipment for utility, industrial and large commercial customers. From protecting and optimizing assets such as generators, transmission lines and motors, to delivering analytic tools to help manage the power grid, GE’s Digital Energy business delivers industry-leading technologies to solve the unique challenges of each customer. For more information, visit http://www.gedigitalenergy.com/.

About Terna Rete Italia
Terna is a leading electricity transmission grid operator headed by Matteo Del Fante, CEO, and chaired by Catia Bastioli, Chairwoman. Terna is the first independent operator in Europe and sixth in the world for kilometers of electricity lines managed. The Group structure is formed by the holding, Terna Spa, that heads two fully owned companies: Terna Rete Italia and Terna Plus, each one with its own Board of Directors. The service performed by Terna in Italy is essential for the operation of the entire electricity system and for guaranteeing electricity to all citizens and businesses. For more information, visit http://www.ternareteitalia.it/.

About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) imagines things others don’t, builds things others can’t and delivers outcomes that make the world work better. GE brings together the physical and digital worlds in ways no other company can. In its labs and factories and on the ground with customers, GE is inventing the next industrial era to move, power, build and cure the world. www.ge.com

The world currently consumes 20 trillion kWh of energy annually. Enough energy to power a single family home for 1.8 billion years or supply energy to a nuclear power plant for 2,300 years (or launch the Falcon 9 rocket seventeen million times).

Of all the fossil fuel consumed in the United States, one third is used in transportation and another third goes to electricity production. The US electric power sector alone produces over 2,000 million metric tons of CO2 which is like burning 225 billion gallons of gas. The EPA says it would require 1.6 billion acres of US forest to negate the environmental damage.

What if we could move the electricity grid off of fossil fuels and towards renewable energy sources? Once we’re able to rely on renewable energy sources for our power consumption, the top 50% of the dirtiest power generation resources could retire early. We would have a cleaner, smaller, and more resilient energy grid.

Today, Tesla introduces Tesla Energy, a suite of batteries for homes, businesses, and utilities fostering a clean energy ecosystem and helping wean the world off fossil fuels.
Tesla is not just an automotive company, it’s an energy innovation company. Tesla Energy is a critical step in this mission to enable zero emission power generation.

With Tesla Energy, Tesla is amplifying its efforts to accelerate the move away from fossil fuels to a sustainable energy future with Tesla batteries, enabling homes, business, and utilities to store sustainable and renewable energy to manage power demand, provide backup power and increase grid resilience.

Tesla is already working with utilities and other renewable power partners around the world to deploy storage on the grid to improve resiliency and cleanliness of the grid as a whole.

The Tesla Powerwall is a rechargeable lithium-ion battery designed to store energy at a residential level for load shifting, backup power and self-consumption of solar power generation. The Powerwall consists of Tesla’s lithium-ion battery pack, liquid thermal control system and software that receives dispatch commands from a solar inverter. The unit mounts seamlessly on a wall and is integrated with the local grid to harness excess power and give customers the flexibility to draw energy from their own reserve.

The battery can provide a number of different benefits to the customer including:
Load shifting – The battery can provide financial savings to its owner by charging during low rate periods when demand for electricity is lower and discharging during more expensive rate periods when electricity demand is higher
Increasing self-consumption of solar power generation – The battery can store surplus solar energy not used at the time it is generated and use that energy later when the sun is not shining
Back-up power – Assures power in the event of an outage
The Powerwall Home Battery increases the capacity for a household’s solar consumption, while also offering backup functionality during grid outages.

The Powerwall is available in 10kWh, optimized for backup applications or 7kWh optimized for daily use applications. Both can be connected with solar or grid and both can provide backup power. The 10kWh Powerwall is optimized to provide backup when the grid goes down, providing power for your home when you need it most. When paired with solar power, the 7kWh Powerwall can be used in daily cycling to extend the environmental and cost benefits of solar into the night when sunlight is unavailable.

Tesla’s selling price to installers is $3500 for 10kWh and $3000 for 7kWh. (Price excludes inverter and installation.) Deliveries begin in late Summer.

Powerwall specs:
Mounting: Wall Mounted Indoor/Outdoor
Inverter: Pairs with growing list of inverters
Energy: 7kWh or 10kWh
Continuous Power: 2kW
Peak Power: 3kW
Round Trip Efficiency: >92%
Operating Temperature Range: -20C (-4F) to 43C (110F)
Warranty: 10 years
Dimensions: H: 1300mm W: 860mm D:180mm
Tesla channel partners for the Powerwall

Treehouse
TreeHouse, a sustainable home improvement store, is collaborating with Tesla to sell the Powerwall home battery. “For the first time, running your home on a battery will be affordable and easy,” says TreeHouse co-founder and president Jason Ballard. “I think in the near future, having a battery in your home will be as normal as having a water heater or a dishwasher.” Ballard added, “This just takes us one step closer to being able to power homes completely without the use of fossil fuels.”

SolarEdge
SolarEdge, a leader in the global PV inverter market, and Tesla partnered for the joint development of a PV storage and backup power solution for the worldwide residential solar market. Building on SolarEdge’s proven DC optimized inverter proven and Tesla’s leading automotive-grade battery technology, the solution will require only a single SolarEdge inverter to manage both PV and storage functions. The system is designed for efficient, outdoor installation and includes remote monitoring and troubleshooting to keep operations and maintenance costs low.

Founded in 2006, SolarEdge provides an intelligent inverter solution that has changed the way power is harvested and managed in solar photovoltaic systems. The SolarEdge DC optimized inverter system maximizes power generation at the individual PV module-level while lowering the cost of energy produced by the solar PV system. Since beginning commercial shipments in 2010, SolarEdge has shipped more than 1.3 Gigawatt (‘‘GW’’) of its DC optimized inverter systems, including over 220,000 inverters, its products have been installed in PV systems in more than 73 countries, and more than 100,000 systems are monitored in its cloud-based monitoring portal.

Green Mountain Power
At Green Mountain Power we are thrilled to bring Tesla’s innovative home battery storage to Vermont as part of a radical transformation of how energy is generated and used to empower customers to save money and increase reliability and resiliency. As Vermont’s energy company of the future, we are turning the old utility model on its head, and offering products and services to help Vermonters use less energy and one day rely on the grid as a backup system. GMP is focused on a future that moves away from dirty inefficient sources of energy to a clean, sustainable and cost effective energy future. The Tesla home battery storage option will speed up the pace of change and keep Vermont on the cutting edge of innovation.”

Tesla Energy for Businesses
Based on the powertrain architecture and components of Tesla electric vehicles, Tesla energy storage systems deliver broad application compatibility and streamlined installation by integrating batteries, power electronics, thermal management and controls into a turn key system.

Tesla’s energy storage allows businesses to capture the full potential of their facility’s solar arrays by storing excess generation for later use and delivering solar power at all times. Business Storage anticipates and discharges stored power during a facility’s times of highest usage, reducing the demand charge component of the energy energy bills.

Energy storage for business is designed to:

Maximize consumption of on-site clean power
Avoid peak demand charges
Buy electricity when it’s cheapest
Get paid by utility or intermediate service providers for participating in grid services
Back up critical business operations in the event of a power outage
Tesla Energy businesses
Amazon
Launched in 2006, Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers a robust, fully featured technology infrastructure platform in the cloud comprised of a broad set of compute, storage, database, analytics, application, and deployment services from data center locations in the U.S., Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, Ireland, Japan, and Singapore. More than a million customers, including fast-growing startups, large enterprises, and government agencies across 190 countries, rely on AWS services to innovate quickly, lower IT costs, and scale applications globally. To serve these customers, AWS is committed to operating in the most environmentally friendly way possible. In addition to the environmental benefits inherently associated with running applications in the cloud, AWS has a long-term commitment to achieve 100% renewable energy usage for its global infrastructure footprint. Today, three AWS Regions are 100% carbon-neutral, including US West (Oregon), EU (Frankfurt), and AWS GovCloud (US).

“We’ve been working closely with Tesla for the past year to drive innovative applications of high-capacity battery technology in data center applications with the ultimate goal of reducing the technical barriers limiting widespread adoption of renewables in the grid,” said James Hamilton, Distinguished Engineer at AWS. “Batteries are important for both data center reliability and as enablers for the efficient application of renewable power. They help bridge the gap between intermittent production, from sources like wind, and the data center’s constant power demands. We’re excited to roll out a 4.8 megawatt hour pilot of Tesla’s energy storage batteries in our US West (Northern California) Region. This complements our strategy to use renewable energy to power our global infrastructure.”

Target
“As part of Target’s support to our communities, we’re excited to partner with Tesla on a pilot test at select Target stores to incorporate Tesla Energy Storage as part of our energy strategy,” said David Hughes, senior group manager, Energy Management, Target. “Tesla’s cutting-edge technology offers unique benefits to powering these stores, most importantly relieving stress from the electrical grid at peak times, furthering Target’s investment in designing and operating energy-efficient and sustainable buildings.”

Jackson Family Wines
Jackson Family Wines (JFW) is a collection of premium and luxury wineries best known for its acclaimed Kendall-Jackson Winery. Sustainability is intentional at JFW; we have taken a two-fold approach to energy management at our wineries by improving operational efficiency across all levels of our organization and reinvesting those savings in onsite renewable energy systems.

With Tesla’s stationary energy storage solution, JFW can significantly mitigate energy use around four areas that account for the most consumption in our winemaking process: refrigeration/cooling, lighting, compressed air and process water treatment. Each battery pack will draw electricity from the grid or our onsite solar arrays during times of low demand and store it for later use to smooth out energy spikes.

EnerNoc
EnerNOC’s energy intelligence software helps customers make the most of Tesla’s energy storage systems by integrating them into an overall energy management strategy. EnerNOC’s software easily integrates with any site that has a Tesla energy storage system, optimizing battery usage during high price periods and enabling customers to utilize batteries for demand charge management and demand response.

Tesla Energy for Utility applications
For utility scale systems, 100kWh battery blocks are grouped to scale from 500kWh to 10MWh+. These systems are capable of 2hr or 4hr continuous net discharge power using grid tied bi-directional inverters.

Systems support applications including peak shaving, load shifting and demand response for commercial customers while offering, renewable firming and a variety of grid services at utility scales.

Tesla Utility Storage is designed to:
Firm up renewable generation by reconciling the intermittency of power from these sources and storing excess capacity to dispatch when it’s needed.
Increase resource capacity. Utility Storage acts as on-demand distributed power generation, contributing to the overall generating capacity while adding resiliency to the grid.
Ramp Control. Utility Storage can act as a buffer while the power output from a large generation source is ramping up or down, delivering power instantly to smoothly transition output to the required level.
Improve power quality by preventing fluctuations from propagating to downstream loads.
Defer costly and time-consuming infrastructure upgrades.
Manage peak demand by deploying power within seconds or milliseconds.
Utility Projects with Tesla Energy

Advanced Microgrid Solutions (grid resource adequacy)
“Tesla’s bold approach to advancing battery technology will change the way we build our cities forever” -Susan Kennedy, co-founder and CEO of Advanced Microgrid Solutions.

OnCor (microgrid)
Oncor realizes the electric industry is changing as well as our customers’ needs for electric service. Oncor believes the only way to prepare for customers’ future needs is with a flexible, adaptive electric grid which can only be accomplished through the use of technology like advanced meters, smart grid and electric storage. Tesla has long demonstrated its ability to be a technology leader which is why Oncor has looked to Tesla for grid-scale storage. Oncor looks forward to working with Tesla to make sure the electric grid meets all customers’ future needs.

Southern California Edison
Edison International is proud of its efforts to help create a market for battery storage systems and its work with Tesla to bring this technology to customers. Southern California Edison (SCE), the regulated utility subsidiary of Edison International, has developed the nation’s largest battery storage system and has contracts in place for an additional 264 megawatts of storage, including projects using Tesla batteries. SCE is working with Tesla on three demonstration projects that can help drive down the cost of battery storage systems for residential and business customers, as well as EV drivers. These demand response demonstration projects will test communication capabilities and explore rebates to customers who allow SCE to manage their battery charging in order to increase the use of renewable energy while ensuring continued grid reliability.

SoCore Energy, a subsidiary of Edison Energy, which is Edison International’s portfolio of competitive businesses and equity interests in emerging companies, is working with a client to design and install Tesla batteries at two of their retail properties in Southern California. The sites will feature Tesla battery units that will be charged with electricity from the grid during nonpeak hours at night. The two battery systems will be able to store up to 400 kilowatts and 600 kilowatts, respectively. SoCore Energy is working with its client to identify additional locations for potential battery installations. SoCore Energy is not the same company as Southern California Edison, the utility, and SoCore Energy is not regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission.

AES (solar paired at a utility level)
Tesla Motors’ commitment to battery production will help meet the growing demand for energy storage; as a launch partner, we are particularly pleased to leverage the home battery product across our distributed energy platforms. AES has been providing grid-scale energy storage solutions for seven years, building on more than 30 years of experience serving utilities with power solutions that improve lives.The AES Advancion™ digital control system for energy storage manages best-in-class batteries and other components for both centralized and distributed storage systems. In addition, AES’ world-class capability in engineering, installation and operations and maintenance enable turnkey energy storage solutions from KWs to hundreds of MW for utilities and end customers.

NAPLES, Fla., – Hertz Equipment Rental Corporation (HERC) (hertzequip.com), a subsidiary of The Hertz Corporation (NYSE: HTZ), has launched “Equipment Assurance,” its equipment extended service plan program, in the U.S. in partnership with Warrantech, a subsidiary of AmTrust Financial Services, Inc.
The Hertz Corporation.

“At Hertz Equipment Sales, our equipment is purchased from some of the most trusted names in the industry and all used equipment that we sell is available in HERC ‘Ready to Work’ condition and with a full service history. With Equipment Assurance, we have now established an extended service plan program for additional protection,” said Robert G. Cowing, Division Vice President Sales, North America, Hertz Equipment Rental Corporation.

“In essence, our Equipment Assurance program provides extra peace of mind when buying used equipment if the unexpected occurs or parts need replacing.”

Some of the major benefits of the Equipment Assurance program are:
Coverage begins on first day of ownership (extended service plan must be purchased within two days of the equipment purchase)
Multiple levels of coverage and terms for trucks and equipment

Fast, quality service
Nationwide network of authorized repair facilities
Equipment Assurance joins the company’s HERC Ready Finance suite of “one stop shopping” solutions for equipment purchasing, leasing and financing.

To obtain a quote or to learn more about Equipment Assurance, customers can contact their local sales representative. Equipment Assurance is available to commercial customers only.

The used equipment for sale from HERC includes earthmoving, aerial, material handling, air compressors, compaction, power generation and trucks. Equipment for sale can be viewed online at www.hertzequip.com. The company also recently opened its first HERC Equipment Sales location in Orlando, Fla., a facility completely dedicated to the sale of used equipment.

About Hertz Equipment Rental Corporation
Hertz Equipment Rental Corporation (www.hertzequip.com) – a wholly owned subsidiary of The Hertz Corporation since 1965 – operates one of the world’s largest equipment rental businesses, offering a diverse line of equipment and tools for rent and sale. Products include aerial manlifts, air compressors and tools, earthmoving equipment and power generators, forklifts and material handling equipment, pumps, and trucks and trailers. Hertz Equipment also offers programs and equipment through its customer programs for Aerial, Energy, Entertainment, Government, HERC360 Fleet Management, Industrial Plants, National Accounts and Safety. With approximately 350 locations in the United States, Canada, China, France, Spain, and Saudi Arabia as well as through international licensees, Hertz Equipment Rental offers daily, weekly, monthly and long-term rentals, tools and supplies, as well as new and used equipment for sale.

About Warrantech
Warrantech provides innovative extended service plans (ESPs) and warranty programs for retailers, dealers, distributors, and manufacturers in numerous consumer and automotive markets. Our company is focused on customer success through product innovation and unparalleled service excellence. Each of our products is developed with the customer in mind, to increase profitability, enhance market differentiation, and build long-term relationships.
Warrantech is a subsidiary of AmTrust Financial Services, a multinational property and casualty holding company that is rated “A” (Excellent) by A.M. Best Company for their financial strength and stability. An innovative, technology-driven company, AmTrust brings its financial strength to Warrantech, enabling it to offer a unique, bundled approach that includes both underwriting and administration. This creates complete transparency and visibility to information that enables customers to change and create plans that are both highly customized and profitable.

PEORIA, Ill. – To help customers around the world better understand the health of their equipment and optimize machine availability, Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) today announced it has entered into a technology and predictive analytics agreement with Uptake, provider of a dynamic analytics and insight platform for a wide array of industries, based in Chicago, Illinois. Caterpillar has made a minority investment in Uptake and will jointly develop an end-to-end platform for predictive diagnostics to help Caterpillar customers monitor and optimize their fleets more effectively. The new technology will be available for both Cat® products and non-Cat branded products.

“Customers use our current technology for fleet monitoring and to track fuel efficiency, idle times, location and more,” said Doug Oberhelman, Chairman and CEO of Caterpillar. “Our existing solutions are effective, but it’s time we take it to the next level. This relationship will combine Caterpillar’s world-class product engineering and design expertise with Uptake’s software, application and data analytics expertise. As a result, we’ll be able to transform the quintillion bytes of incoming data we see every day into useful information we feed back to our customers for on-the-spot decisions and planning purposes to further reduce owning and operating costs.”

Oberhelman continued, “Through this agreement, we’ll build a platform to bring the next generation of our technology services and products to market sooner, and will act as a springboard for years of development after that. We want to empower our customers with the insight necessary to shift from a reactive “repair after failure” mode to a proactive “repair before failure” stance. The end result will be more efficient operations and increased fleet availability for our customers. And the more our customers’ machines and engines stay running, the more money they make.”

Since 2014, Uptake has been developing locomotive-related predictive diagnostics and fleet optimization solutions for Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), a subsidiary of Caterpillar. The early successes of the locomotive project led Caterpillar to expand its relationship with Uptake into other industries Caterpillar serves. As Uptake’s exclusive partner in various industries, Caterpillar can leverage its data and operational insights with Uptake’s technology and data science platform to provide unparalleled solutions for customers in each of those industries.

“We are at a unique time in history—analytics are enabling insights that are changing the way entire industries work. Uptake is at the front of this evolution,” said Brad Keywell, Co-Founder and CEO of Uptake. “Our platform takes massive data provided by sensors, combines it with data science to understand signals and patterns and deploys insights in real time that save money, optimize performance and prevent unplanned downtime. Our partnership with Caterpillar has resulted in a cross-industry platform that is informed by the best data and the best operational insights.”

Caterpillar selected Uptake as its partner based on the capabilities the company witnessed following the agreement with EMD. Uptake’s location in Chicago, which is near Caterpillar’s headquarters in Central Illinois and the company’s largest concentration of U.S. engineers and factories, was also a key factor.

“We’re excited about an optimal platform that will not only increase the value of the information our customers and dealers already receive, but also help them maintain a competitive advantage,” Oberhelman added. “What we’re really talking about is graduating to even smarter, more connected products. We’re working on getting ahead of the curve, because with our knowledge and expertise, there is no one better than Caterpillar to provide the platform and tools necessary to help our customers achieve new levels of equipment availability, productivity and profitability.”

In the coming months, Caterpillar will collaborate with Uptake and the Cat dealer network to roll out the latest predictive analytics and insights through web-based and mobile tools for customers.

About Caterpillar:
For 90 years, Caterpillar Inc. has been making sustainable progress possible and driving positive change on every continent. Customers turn to Caterpillar to help them develop infrastructure, energy and natural resource assets. With 2014 sales and revenues of $55.184 billion, Caterpillar is the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. The company principally operates through its three product segments – Resource Industries, Construction Industries and Energy & Transportation – and also provides financing and related services through its Financial Products segment. For more information, visit caterpillar.com. To connect with us on social media, visit caterpillar.com/social-media.

About Uptake:
Uptake, a predictive analytics company, empowers global companies to optimize performance and reduce failure of assets. Leveraging unique partnerships, Uptake integrates cross-industry expertise, data science, and workflow connectivity to build high-value solutions based on massive data sets. The result is a platform that identifies problems before they happen and delivers refined insights to drive unparalleled efficiency and productivity. For more information, visit uptake.com.

DETROIT – General Motors for the first time is procuring wind to power its manufacturing operations, enabling one of its Mexico facilities’ electricity needs to be run mostly on renewable energy. This addition of 34 megawatts of wind power allows GM to achieve its corporate goal of renewable energy use four years early.

Construction of the wind farm begins in the second quarter of this year. When complete, more than 12 percent of GM’s North American energy consumption will come from renewable energy sources, up from 9 percent The company’s current renewable energy use – comprised of solar, landfill gas and waste to energy – totals 104 megawatts against a goal of 125 megawatts by 2020. The use of clean energy reduces greenhouse gas emissions and GM’s impact on climate change.

Seventy-five percent of the energy coming from the wind turbines will power most of GM’s Toluca Complex sitting on 104 acres, making it the company’s largest user of renewable energy. The remaining capacity will help power its Silao, San Luis Potosi and Ramos Arizpe complexes. The use of renewable energy helps these facilities avoid nearly 40,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

“Our commitment to sustainable manufacturing processes is one way we serve and improve the communities in which we work and live,” said Jim DeLuca, GM executive vice president of Global Manufacturing. “Using more renewable energy to power our plants helps us reduce costs, minimize risk and leave a smaller carbon footprint.”

GM signed a power purchase agreement with Enel Green Power, which is developing and constructing a massive wind farm in Palo Alto, Mexico. The company’s use of 34 megawatts of energy is equivalent to the power produced by 17 wind turbines.

“Mexico is an ideal location for our first wind project,” said Rob Threlkeld, GM global manager of renewable energy. “Energy is fed to a national grid, making it easier to reduce or add energy capacity at a facility. There’s also a good business case as prices for traditional power are about a third greater than the United States.

“Once online, we’ll evaluate the project to better understand how we can expand the use of wind power.”

GM is a founding member of the Business Renewables Center, a collaborative platform launched earlier this month by the Rocky Mountain Institute. The center aims to accelerate corporate renewable energy procurement with a goal of nearly doubling U.S. capacity of wind and solar energy by 2025. It is part of a larger effort – the Corporate Renewables Partnership – that includes the World Wildlife Fund, the World Resources Institute and the Business for Social Responsibility. The Renewable Energy Buyers’ Principles, of which GM is a signatory, set a framework for the partnership and guides the Business Renewables Center.

For more information on GM’s environmental commitment, visit its sustainability report and environmental blog.

General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM, TSX: GMM) and its partners produce vehicles in 30 countries, and the company has leadership positions in the world’s largest and fastest-growing automotive markets. GM, its subsidiaries and joint venture entities sell vehicles under the Chevrolet, Cadillac, Baojun, Buick, GMC, Holden, Jiefang, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling brands. More information on the company and its subsidiaries, including OnStar, a global leader in vehicle safety, security and information services, can be found at http://www.gm.com.

Siemens has handed over the first North Sea grid connection, BorWin2, to its customer TenneT. The German-Dutch transmission grid operator has accepted the project following successful completion of test runs by Siemens. The grid connection is therefore now in commercial operation. The offshore platform of the BorWin2 grid connection is located around 100 kilometers off the German coast – northwest of the island of Borkum, after which the project was named. With this grid connection it is now possible to transmit 800 MW of clean electricity from wind power, enough to supply around one million German households.

“This is the first offshore grid connection worldwide to take up commercial operation with efficient direct-current technology. We are proud that Siemens mastered and completed this demanding and challenging project, despite the many difficulties that working far out at sea presented”, stated Jan Mrosik, CEO of the Siemens Energy Management Division. “The BorWin2 link is a major contribution to the energy transition”, stressed Lex Hartman, member of the managing board of TenneT TSO GmbH. “The connection’s capacity of 800 megawatts is equivalent to the capacity required for supplying one million private households.”

The BorWin2 offshore platform is 51 meters wide, 72 meters long, 25 meters high and, with its baseframe, weighs around 16,000 metric tons. Siemens installed the platform at this 39-meter-deep North Sea location back in April 2014. The Global Tech 1 wind farm, with its 80 wind turbines, is linked to BorWin2. Fifty percent of the grid connection capacity of BorWin2 is available for connection of a second wind farm.

The network operator TenneT contracted the consortium consisting of Siemens and the Italian cable specialist Prysmian for the BorWin2 offshore grid connection in summer 2010. Siemens is now implementing five North Sea grid connection projects for TenneT: HelWin1 (576 MW) and HelWin2 (690 MW) off of Helgoland, BorWin2 (800 MW) and BorWin3 (900 MW) off of Borkum and SylWin1 (864 MW) off of Sylt.

The next three grid connections, Sylwin1, HelWin1 and HelWin2, are nearly completed and are scheduled to take up commercial operation in the first half of 2015. Siemens received its latest order for a grid connection in the North Sea, BorWin3, in a consortium with Petrofac in the spring of 2014. Commissioning of this fifth grid connection from Siemens is scheduled for 2019. The grid connections implemented by Siemens for TenneT will have a total transmission capacity of more than 3.8 gigawatts (GW), providing electricity from offshore wind power to supply around five million households.

Thanks to the Siemens high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) technology, transmission losses for each grid connection, including cable losses, are less than four percent. This Siemens HVDC technology is installed on the offshore platforms and in the land-based converter stations. The wind-based electricity is transmitted as alternating current to the converter platform, transformed into direct current and fed to the mainland via a subsea cable. The land-based station converts the direct current back into alternating current and feeds the electricity into the extra-high voltage grid. HVDC is the only efficient transmission solution for cable lengths of more than 80 kilometers.

The HVDC Plus technology used by Siemens is less complex and extremely compact, making it predestined for use in sea-based applications. In contrast to classic HVDC technology used in a vast majority of land links, systems equipped with HVDC Plus feature self-stabilization. As fluctuations in the grid must always be reckoned with for wind-based power generation, grid stability and reliability is enhanced considerably through the use of the Siemens HVDC Plus technology.

More information about the Energy Management Division is available at www.siemens.com/energy-management
Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for more than 165 years. The company is active in more than 200 countries, focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the world’s largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is No. 1 in offshore wind turbine construction, a leading supplier of combined cycle turbines for power generation, a major provider of power transmission solutions and a pioneer in infrastructure solutions as well as automation, drive and software solutions for industry. The company is also a leading provider of medical imaging equipment – such as compted tomography and magnetic resonance imaging systems – and a leader in laboratory diagnostics as well as clinical IT. In fiscal 2014, which ended on September 30, 2014, Siemens generated revenue from continuing operations of €71.9 billion and net income of €5.5 billion. At the end of September 2014, the company had around 357,000 employees worldwide. Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com.

DALLAS, Feb. 4, 2015 – AT&T* and GE are working together to create the next generation of smart energy solutions for the Industrial Internet of Things, helping to improve the way the energy industry works. The companies are jointly working on proof of concepts at the AT&T IoT Foundry in Plano, Texas.

“Our innovations are resulting in a host of new applications, from smart grid solutions to machine-to-machine communications,” said John Lavelle, vice president, GE Digital Energy. “By aligning GE’s leadership in secure wireless technology and utility software solutions with AT&T’s extensive connectivity, we’re propelling our shared vision for a more cohesive energy network. In short, we are connecting brilliant machines to the Industrial internet.”

Merging Technology and Hardware

Building on the companies’ global alliance agreement announced in 2013, many of GE’s machines and assets, such as locomotives, fleet, aircraft engines and, most recently, smart grid infrastructure, are connected through the AT&T global network. Now, combining advanced solutions from GE with the AT&T Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure, utilities can seamlessly connect grid assets with critical software applications such as GE’s Grid IQTM Connect or GE’s Predix TM analytics engine. Together, AT&T and GE are simplifying asset connectivity for the grid.

“With its product and wireless technology leadership, GE is an ideal partner and, together, we’re creating a more energy-efficient planet,” said Chris Penrose, senior vice president, Internet of Things, AT&T Mobility. “This is a major step forward in connecting machines with wireless technology. With nearly 20 million devices connected to our network, we help provide dependable solutions that make energy management easier. By combining our technologies, we can improve reliability, drive energy efficiency, and reduce costs and emissions, while making customer service and response times better.”

GE and AT&T are putting ideas into action, testing several new technologies, including:

An advanced meter solution that merges GE’s innovative smart meters and wireless solutions, including jointly developed communications hardware, with AT&T’s secure cellular technology. The solution is being piloted with two North American renewable energy customers.
Intelligent lighting solutions that combine GE Lighting control systems and advance GE Wireless solutions. This combined solution will enable cities to remotely monitor and control lighting on public roadways. A web-based interface linked to the lighting controls allows municipalities to instantly identify usage and performance of street lights in specific locations.
GE and AT&T will look to market and sell these solutions to customers in 2015. Smart grid solutions will use GE’s Grid IQ SaaS platform to deliver system intelligence, GE Wireless solutions for asset connectivity, and the AT&T network for secure and seamless data transport – each working in tandem to enable easy integration of advanced applications.

“We are continuing to innovate, find new ways to work together and bring opportunities to the marketplace,” Penrose said. “We see our pilot projects as just a precursor for what’s to come.”

For more information on AT&T M2M solutions, visit: https://www.att.com/m2m.

For more information on GE Digital Energy solutions, visit: http://www.gedigitalenergy.com/.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

About AT&T

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) helps millions of people and businesses around the globe stay connected through leading wireless, high-speed Internet, voice and cloud-based services. We’re helping people mobilize their worlds with state-of-the-art communications, entertainment services and amazing innovations like connected cars and devices for homes, offices and points in between. Our U.S. wireless network offers customers the nation’s strongest LTE signal and the nation’s most reliable 4G LTE network. We offer the best global wireless coverage. We’re improving how our customers stay entertained and informed with AT&T U-verse® TV and High Speed Internet services. And businesses worldwide are serving their customers better with AT&T’s mobility and highly secure cloud solutions.

Additional information about AT&T products and services is available at http://about.att.com. Follow our news on Twitter at @ATT, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/att and YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/att.

© 2015 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the Globe logo and other marks are trademarks and service marks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

Reliability and signal strength claims based on nationwide carriers’ LTE. Signal strength claim based ONLY on avg. LTE signal strength. LTE not available everywhere. Global coverage claim based on offering voice and data roaming in more countries than any other U.S. based carrier, and offering the most wireless smartphones and tablets that work in the most countries.

About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter. The best people and the best technologies taking on the toughest challenges. Finding solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance. Building, powering, moving and curing the world. Not just imagining. Doing. GE works. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ge.com.

GE’s Digital Energy business is a global leader in transmission and distribution solutions that manage and move power from the power plant to the consumer. Its products and services increase the reliability of electrical power networks and critical equipment for utility, industrial and large commercial customers. From protecting and optimizing assets such as generators, transmission lines and motors, to delivering analytic tools to help manage the power grid, GE’s Digital Energy business delivers industry-leading technologies to solve the unique challenges of each customer. For more information, visit www.gedigitalenergy.com.

– See more at: http://about.att.com/story/att_and_ge_alliance_leads_to_smart_energy_solutions.html#sthash.qrCEV8mP.dpuf

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA— —GE (NYSE: GE) has signed a cooperative research agreement with King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST) to undertake cutting-edge research on enhancing the fuel flexibility of GE’s advanced gas turbines.

The collaborative research, led by Saudi-based international professionals and students from KAUST along with GE’s global team, will focus on the impact of using heavy liquid fuels on advanced gas turbines. The goal of this groundbreaking study is to help advance the overall fuel flexibility of gas turbines, which in turn can positively impact power plant availability, enabling power producers to meet the growing demand for electricity in the Kingdom.

According to Bill Roberts, director, KAUST Clean Combustion Center, the university’s cooperative research with GE is a strong example of the academic-industry linkages KAUST fosters.

“Our goal is not only to shape a future generation of energy and industry-skilled professionals, but also contribute to innovative technologies that are developed in the Kingdom,” Roberts said. “The research collaboration with GE will further strengthen our contribution to the Kingdom’s energy sector.”

The collaborative research project, scheduled to begin this year, is co-funded by GE and KAUST. Research results will be evaluated by GE experts to determine feasibility.

“This is a great opportunity to engage in collaborative research for an important aspect in advancing the energy sector of the Kingdom and supports the Ministry of Petroleum’s Liquid Hydrocarbon Energy initiative,” said Hisham Al Bahkali, GE president & CEO for Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. “Strengthening the fuel flexibility of GE’s advanced gas turbines will have far-reaching benefits for our partners in the electricity generation sector. Working with the KAUST team demonstrates our commitment to promote localized innovation, which is central to operations in the Kingdom. By sharing knowledge and potentially creating new technologies, we can contribute to increasing productivity and efficiency at the power plants in the Kingdom.”

The collaborative research agreement is further proof of GE’s commitment to find ways to increase fuel flexibility across power plants and refineries in the Kingdom. It also complements the concerted efforts of GE to build an innovation-led ecosystem, underlined by the research initiatives at the Saudi GE Innovation Center in in Dhahran Techno-Valley. The center works with and through the national ecosystem with localization being the main focus. The facility works on customer business priorities, needs and issues that address the country’s challenges.

GE’s advanced F-class gas turbines are the first to offer customers the ability to operate on crude oil. In December 2013, Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) and GE successfully field tested the first F-class gas turbine at Power Plant (PP) 11 operating on Arabian Super-Light (ASL) crude oil. GE’s latest 7F.05 gas turbines are expected to be commissioned on ASL as a backup fuel on projects such as SEC’s PP12 as well as SEC’s recently announced “Green Duba” Integrated Solar Combined Cycle Plant.

Join the conversation at our GE Hewar blog: http://middleeast.geblogs.com/

About KAUST
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is an international, graduate-level research university located on the shores of the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia. KAUST is dedicated to advancing science and technology through interdisciplinary research, education and innovation. Curiosity driven and goal-oriented research is conducted by students, faculty, scientists and engineers to address the world’s pressing scientific and technological challenges related to food, water, energy and the environment.

About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter. The best people and the best technologies taking on the toughest challenges. Finding solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance. Building, powering, moving and curing the world. Not just imagining. Doing. GE works. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ge.com.

About GE Power & Water
GE Power & Water provides customers with a broad array of power generation, energy delivery and water process technologies to solve their challenges locally. Power & Water works in all areas of the energy industry including renewable resources such as wind and solar; biogas and alternative fuels; and coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy. The business also develops advanced technologies to help solve the world’s most complex challenges related to water availability and quality. Power & Water’s six business units include Distributed Power, Nuclear Energy, Power Generation Products, Power Generation Services, Renewable Energy and Water & Process Technologies. Headquartered in Schenectady, N.Y., Power & Water is GE’s largest industrial business.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.gepower.com and http://powergen.gepower.com.

DUBA, SAUDI ARABIA — Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) has selected its long-time partner GE (NYSE:GE) for a project that marks Saudi Arabia’s first integration of a solar field with a combined-cycle plant and the first introduction of condensate as a gas turbine fuel.

The landmark project, the ‘Green Duba’ Integrated Solar Combined Cycle Plant, will be built in the northwestern part of Saudi Arabia, along the Red Sea coast, and has the capacity to generate the equivalent power needed to supply approximately 600,000 Saudi Arabia homes for a year.

“This part of Saudi Arabia is a developing region with limited grid interconnection, so the additional power generated by the Green Duba project will be tremendously important in supporting growth,” said Eng. Ziyad M. Alshiha, president and CEO of SEC. “We expect the plant to provide cost-efficiencies over its life cycle, along with the fuel flexibility and solar capabilities needed to support the Kingdom’s fuel conservation and renewable technology initiatives.”

The project is designed to generate up to 550 megawatts (MW) from the combined-cycle plant; the solar field will supply steam for an additional 50 MW. GE will supply the engineering equipment package for the combined-cycle plant, including two highly efficient, reliable F-class gas turbines, a 7F.05 and a 7F.03; steam turbine; generators; heat recovery steam generators (HRSG); condenser; boiler feed pumps; Mark VIe distributed control system and a long-term service agreement. SEC will tender separately the remaining balance of plant, solar field, civil works, erection, commissioning and testing.

In terms of fuel flexibility, GE has supplied the 7F.05 gas turbine to operate on condensate and the 7F.03 to operate on natural gas, with Arabian Super Light (ASL) crude oil as backup. GE’s F-class gas turbines are the first to offer customers the ability to operate on ASL.

“The contract is another testament to our committed partnership with SEC to further enhance the efficiency and flexibility of its plants. The integration of solar power and the introduction of condensate fuel at the Green Duba project is a true milestone for the Kingdom and supports the government’s vision to promote energy sector efficiency with a focus on renewables,” said Hisham Albahkali, GE president & CEO for Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

Recently, the first four 7F.05 gas turbines in the field successfully reached full commercial baseload operation at SEC Power Plant (PP) 12 in Riyadh. By early 2015, all eight units at PP12 will be operating in combined cycle and add nearly 2,000 MW.

Today, GE assists in the generation of more than half of the Kingdom’s power supply and has over 500 gas turbines installed in the Kingdom. GE equipment operates in approximately 40 SEC power plants—a partnership that spans over four decades.

With nearly 80 years of experience and 1,000 employees in Saudi Arabia, GE is expanding its energy presence in the Kingdom through knowledge-sharing initiatives and increased investments for technology centers that provide service, repair support and customer training in the power, water and oil and gas sectors.

Join the conversation at our GE Hewar blog: http://middleeast.geblogs.com/

About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter. The best people and the best technologies taking on the toughest challenges. Finding solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance. Building, powering, moving and curing the world. Not just imagining. Doing. GE works. www.ge.com.

About GE Power & Water
GE Power & Water provides customers with a broad array of power generation, energy delivery and water process technologies to solve their challenges locally. Power & Water works in all areas of the energy industry including renewable resources such as wind and solar, biogas and alternative fuels; and coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy. The business also develops advanced technologies to help solve the world’s most complex challenges related to water availability and quality. Power & Water’s six business units include Distributed Power, Nuclear Energy, Power Generation Products, Power Generation Services, Renewable Energy and Water & Process Technologies. Headquartered in Schenectady, N.Y., Power & Water is GE’s largest industrial business.

ROSEMEAD, Calif., — Southern California Edison (SCE) has selected Holtec International to expand the San Onofre nuclear plant’s storage of used nuclear fuel in a robust underground facility.

The contract with Holtec represents a major step in the decommissioning of the nuclear plant. It sets the stage to transfer San Onofre’s used fuel from steel-lined concrete storage pools to steel-and-concrete-encased canisters, with a goal of completing the work by mid-2019.

“After reviewing leading designs with the San Onofre Community Engagement Panel, we concluded this underground design is best suited to safely and securely store used nuclear fuel at San Onofre until the federal government removes the fuel from site, as required,” said Chris Thompson, SCE vice president of Decommissioning. “Our decision to move expeditiously to transfer the fuel also reflects feedback from community leaders who prefer dry storage of used nuclear fuel.”

Thompson noted the robust Holtec design exceeds California earthquake requirements and protects against hazards such as water, fire or tsunamis.

“I especially want to thank the Community Engagement Panel for its thoughtful questions and enormous time commitment during SCE’s evaluation,” said Thompson, noting that SCE ultimately focused on cask designs licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for both storage and transport of used nuclear fuel.

While dry storage of nuclear fuel is a proven technology used for almost three decades in the United States, Thompson said SCE will go beyond industry practices by partnering with the Electric Power Research Institute to develop new inspection techniques to monitor cask integrity.

Holtec’s HI-STORM UMAX underground storage system features corrosion-resistant, stainless-steel fuel canisters topped with a 24,000-pound steel and concrete lid. The canisters will be encased in a concrete monolith. Holtec is a global supplier and has nuclear fuel storage systems at two other California locations, Humboldt Bay and Diablo Canyon. More information is available in this fact sheet.

Thompson said engineering work begins immediately, followed by fabrication of canisters. Completion of the dry storage project facilitates major dismantlement work SCE plans to complete within 20 years.

SCE announced in June 2013 that it would retire San Onofre Units 2 and 3, and begin preparations to decommission the facility. SCE has established core principles of safety, stewardship and engagement to guide decommissioning. For more information about SCE, visit www.songscommunity.com.

About Southern California Edison
An Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, serving a population of nearly 14 million via 4.9 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central, Coastal and Southern California.

URS and the LJUNGSTRÖM Division of ARVOS Group have signed an exclusive agreement to jointly develop, demonstrate, and market a novel approach to improve the energy efficiency of coal-fired power plants by 1 to 3 percent, with a corresponding reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

As a consequence, power plants can realize significant operational cost savings by burning less coal and generating less air pollution and coal combustion residual (CCR) wastes.

“We’re pleased to be working exclusively with the leading supplier of Ljungström® air preheater technology to bring this efficiency solution to the power industry,” said Sterling Gray, URS business development manager. “It offers a reasonable and cost-effective approach to reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change, while lowering the cost of electricity generated from coal.”

The approach involves combining URS’ successful SBS InjectionÔ sorbent injection technology for sulfur trioxide (SO3) control with the proven air preheater technology of LJUNGSTRÖM. Sulfuric acid and other acidic compounds found in coal combustion gas cause fouling and corrosion of the air preheater equipment. By eliminating these acids, the thermal performance and efficiency of a coal-fired power plant can be improved.

Long-term testing of the combined technologies at the LJUNGSTRÖM Division research facilities in Wellsville, N.Y., has shown recovery of thermal energy from combustion flue gases to temperatures as low as 220°F; an improvement in overall plant efficiency of as much as 3 percent, or about a 300 Btu/kW-hr heat rate reduction. Similar efficiency gains can be achieved at most power plants with relatively simple modifications to the air preheater. Furthermore, lowering the flue gas temperature exiting the air preheater can significantly increase the capture of mercury in existing air pollution control equipment, thereby reducing mercury emissions from the power plant.

“We’re excited to partner with URS to offer this exclusive solution to the ever-changing challenges of plant operations and efficiency enhancement,” said David Breckinridge, vice president of ARVOS Group’s LJUNGSTRÖM Division. “Our combined experience and expertise offers our customers the latest technology to provide meaningful benefits in plant operations.”

About URS
URS, an AECOM company, is a leading provider of engineering, construction, and technical services for public agencies and private sector companies around the world. The company offers a full range of program management; planning, design and engineering; systems engineering and technical assistance; construction and construction management; operations and maintenance; operations and management, management and operations, information technology; and decommissioning and closure services. URS provides services for federal, oil and gas, infrastructure, power, and industrial projects and programs. Combined, URS and AECOM have nearly 100,000 employees in a network of offices in more than 150 countries (www.urs.com).

About ARVOS Group
ARVOS Group is a global leading industrial equipment provider. The group is active in both, the new equipment market and aftermarket service across the three divisions LJUNGSTRÖM for Air Preheaters and Gas-Gas Heaters for thermal power generation facilities, SCHMIDTSCHE SCHACK for process critical heat transfer applications in a wide range of petrochemical, chemical and metallurgical processes and RAYMOND BARTLETT SNOW for Thermal and Pulverizing Processing Equipment and Systems for wide variety of industrial applications. Headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany, ARVOS Group operates eight manufacturing facilities and additional sales and execution offices in Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Germany, India, Japan, Switzerland and the USA. The ARVOS Group brands Ljungström®, Schmidt’sche®, Schack®, Raymond® and Bartlett-Snow™ are highly recognized for their outstanding quality and performance. ARVOS Group employs more than 1,700 employees. To learn more about ARVOS and the LJUNGSTRÖM Division, please go to www.arvos-group.com

FOLSOM, Calif.– SynapSense®, a Panduit company and the leading provider of data center wireless monitoring and cooling control solutions, announced with Yahoo!, Inc. that their joint project in the Quincy, Washington data center saved 7.5 million kilowatt hours of energy annually. This is nearly double the original target announced in March 2014.

“At Yahoo, we strive for our state-of-the-art data centers to provide our users the best possible experience, while consuming the least amount of energy,” said Chris Page, Yahoo’s Global Director for Energy and Sustainability Strategy. “Our partnership with SynapSense demonstrates the extraordinary results we are able to achieve in making our data centers among the most energy efficient in the world. We look forward to continuing to work together with SynapSense and Panduit to maximize our cooling efficiency and lower our overall carbon footprint.”

Building upon award-winning work that earned them recognition by California-based Silicon Valley Power as “Energy Innovators,” SynapSense and Yahoo worked together on this project to reduce cooling costs, recover stranded cooling capacity and improve operational resiliency of the data center’s cooling infrastructure. The results of this project were recognized as a finalist in the Data Center Dynamics North America Awards.

“Reducing the cooling energy in the Yahoo data center by 44% demonstrates the effectiveness of our SynapSense cooling optimization solution and its ability to deliver a real and tangible ROI,” said Khaled Nassoura, Vice President of the Data Center business unit at Panduit. “Working together with the Yahoo team, we not only exceeded our energy savings objectives, but we also increased data center reliability and helped Yahoo recapture its stranded data center cooling capacity.”

This project consisted of three phases. Phase one began with installing and commissioning the wireless environmental monitoring system. Once the wireless environmental monitoring was deployed, SynapSense Professional Services and the Yahoo team worked together to utilize SynapSense advanced tools and metrics to “balance” the raised floor for effective distribution of airflow and then optimize data center cooling. In phase three, SynapSense Active Control™ was deployed to automatically maintain efficient operating conditions by dynamically matching cooling to the varying equipment and conditions in the data center. As a result, operational reliability was improved while energy savings was maximized.

Brett Illers, Senior Program Manager Energy & Sustainability Strategy at Yahoo will present the results of the Yahoo Quincy data center project at the Gartner Data Center, Infrastructure & Operations Management Conference in Las Vegas on December 3rd. SynapSense will be present in the Panduit booth # 372 at the exhibitor showcase. For more information visit www.SynapSense.com, or to attend the conference, visit http://www.gartner.com/technology/summits/na/data-center

SynapSense was acquired by Panduit in May of 2014. Panduit has recently been recognized by Gartner as a “Visionary” in the Magic Quadrant for Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) Tools. Click to download the report. For more information about Panduit DCIM solutions, visit http://www.panduit.com/dcim

About SynapSense, a Panduit company
SynapSense is the leading provider of wireless data center monitoring and cooling control solutions. The SynapSense Data Center Solution delivers unparalleled visibility, reliability and energy efficiency in the world’s leading data centers. For more information, visit www.SynapSense.com

About Yahoo
Yahoo is focused on making the world’s daily habits inspiring and entertaining. By creating highly personalized experiences for our users, we keep people connected to what matters most to them, across devices and around the world. In turn, we create value for advertisers by connecting them with the audiences that build their businesses. Yahoo is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and has offices located throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific (APAC) and the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regions. For more information, visit the press room (pressroom.yahoo.net) or the Company’s blog (yahoo.tumblr.com).