GE seeks to spark development of smart grid electrical systems
Tuesday, July 13, 2010 at 01:59PM GE in $200 million push for new smart grid technology
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - General Electric Co and a group of four venture capital firms said on Tuesday they were putting up $200 million to spark development of new technologies in smart grid electrical systems.
The largest U.S. conglomerate's goal is to expand rapidly its presence in that market, which it believes could grow by a factor of ten to about $120 billion over the next two decades, said Jeff Immelt, GE's chief executive.
Smart grid equipment, which can give utilities greater control over energy use, helping smooth demand surges and possibly allowing consumers to save money by using power at off-peak times, is currently a $15 billion to $20 billion market globally and represents "a couple billion" dollars in annual revenue for GE, Immelt said.
GE and the four firms -- Kleiner Perkins Caufield, RockPort Capital, Emerald Technology Ventures and Foundation Capital -- will evaluate ideas submitted at the company's Website both for their technological savvy and commercial viability.
"We want to accelerate the process and we want to make GE really the go-to brand both from a customer and from an entrepreneurial standpoint," Immelt told reporters on a conference call ahead of an event in San Francisco where company officials will discuss the move. "The market is still in its infancy, but if GE is known as really the go-to place for both sides, both from the customer and technology side, I think that just gives us a big competitive advantage."
The conglomerate and the venture capital firms will invest $200 million in a fund to back the most promising ideas. Immelt declined to say what size grants or funding each winner would receive, but noted that the technologies selected will receive GE's commercial backing and access to its global research center.
It plans to accept entries through September 30, announce a short list of finalists in late October and name the companies and individuals that will win the fund's backing around November 8.
Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE, which is the world's largest maker of electricity-producing turbines, also said it is launching a new product called the WattStation intended to charge plug-in electric cars, such as Nissan Motor Co's forthcoming Leaf.
IMPORTANT: No advice is offered or given in this article or this publication. PLEASE ALWAYS REFER TO AN EXPERT before acting on any information contained in any of our stories.
Copyright © 2006-10, Blogertize Publications (http://www.blogertize.com), except as otherwise indicated. All rights reserved, except as otherwise indicated in a feature or for feeds. PHOTOS MAY NOT BE COPIED, DOWNLOADED OR REPRODUCED WITHOUT PERMISSION. Note: Some photos of real people may be models used to illustrate the editorial concept.MISSION: "You Need to Know" Our publications are daily online newspapers and magazines (webzines), plus delivered Ezine. Our stories also appear on various newswire services and are picked up in other publications. Our reporters and journalists break or report stories and their sources and source information are protected by the doctrine of free press as expressed in the First Amendment, Reporter's Privilege statutes, and also the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Note: Some photos of real people may be models used to illustrate the editorial concept. COMMENTS FROM USERS: We invited dialogue and comments from our readers and limit moderation to obscenity and privacy issues, however WE ACCEPT NO RESPONSIBILITY WHATSOEVER FOR THIS CONTENT. We believe in the doctrine of FREE SPEECH. COMMENTS ARE FROM OUTSIDE READERS AND NOT A REFLECTION OF THE OPINIONS OF THIS MAGAZINE. The opinions expressed by our writers, columnists and reporters are their opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of this magazine, its writers and staff, or Blogertize Publications.TM - Our magazine names are trademarked. Information: Subscriptions - subscribe using our "subscribe me" function on this page. Our publications team provide this ezine and web site and its contents in good faith but makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to this web site or its contents. We disclaim any representations and warranties, whether express or implied, including, but not limited to warranties of any kind. In addition, we do not represent or warrant that the information accessible via this web site or the products or services sold or given free on it are accurate, complete or current. Errors and Omissions Excepted.You MAY copy content or link to our site provided you offer full credit and do not alter content or use maliciously. Our publications include a comment function and a forum, which allows for posting from users not employed by BLOGERTIZE. We accept no responsibility for posts, content, language or accuracy of posts from outside parties but will attempt to correct any inaccuracies reported. We accept no responsibility or liability for such usage or for errors and omissions. By using/visiting this site you agree that use information herein is at your own risk. PRIVACY: SPAM POLICY: We do not use, nor do we condone the use of unsolicited bulk email. Our email system is an opt-in only. Please report any incidents of unsolicited email coming from or mentioning our domain to abuse AT blogeritze.com. All matters will be investigated and dealt with promptly. PERSONAL INFORMATION POLICY Our site uses forms for information, online polls, subscriptions, information requests and advertising orders. Contact information from all forms, including name, address, email address and payment information strictly used to process subscription based emails, purchased advertisements or to provide information to our readers. Details of non-paying subscribers using the Films and Books ezine web site will be collected at the time of subscription or at a later date and placed in a database. This database will be used to deliver information and the like as follows: * To send subscribed articles to some or all subscribers in the database. * To provide a newsletter, marketing and/or other information via email to some or all subscribers on an opt-in only basis. SUBSCRIBE AND UNSUBSCRIBE: Our free e-zine subscribers may opt-out of receiving future issues by sending an email to subscribe AT filmsandbooks.com with the subject UNSUBSCRIBE or SUBSCRIBE. SECURITY: This site has security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control. Jurisdiction: Any action or dispute arising from the use of information on this site will be deemed to have been undertaken and concluded in Toronto, Canada and will be interpreted, construed and enforced in all respects in accordance with the laws of Canada and all parties thereto shall submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Ontario courts. A visitor agrees that the applicable law to be applied shall, in all cases, be that of the city of the web site owner, namely, Toronto, Canada.
Persona Corp. and Blogertize publishes several webzines, magazines, e-zines for news, entertainment and information, but cautions readers to read the USAGE NOTICE. Our mandate: "You Need to Know!"
• Films and Books Magazine - News from Hollywood and New York, Books and Films
* Noetic News: News, Features, Research on the Science of Consciousness News
* Dog and Cat World: You can't know too much about your best friend. News
* Advance Magazine - Body, Mind, Spirit
* LINK Magazine Good News Report
* Secure Network News
* Buddha Weekly - Buddhist news, events, profiles from all traditions.
Social Network
* Blogertize and Persona Corp on MySpace
Sponsored Advertisers
Jameson Bank – Canada's "It's Taken Care Of" Bank
Amer.com – Technology for Life
Reader Comments