GridWise(R) Alliance Announces Addition of Google, Bridge Strategy Group, Sharp Laboratories and 3Tier

GridWise(R) Alliance Announces Addition of Google, Bridge Strategy Group, Sharp Laboratories and 3Tier

Coalition Reinforces Role of Smart Grid as Enabler for Sustainable Energy Future and Driver of Economic Recovery

HOUSTON, Dec. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The GridWise(R) Alliance announced today that Google, Bridge Strategy Group, Sharp Laboratories and 3Tier have joined the national coalition whose goal is to transform the nation's electric power system. "We are pleased to welcome these new members to the GridWise Alliance," said Katherine Hamilton, President of the GridWise Alliance. "The addition of these leading companies strengthens the Alliance and broadens its impact. Their knowledge and innovation will be invaluable to our efforts to transform the electricity grid," she went on to say.

"Google is pleased to join the GridWise Alliance," said Dan Reicher, Google's Director for Climate Change & Energy Initiatives. "Smart grid technologies will empower consumers with real time, money-saving information about their energy use. Building a smart grid -- essentially an energy Internet -- will also enable plug-in electric vehicles, speed the development of utility-scale renewable energy, and spur the creation of clean energy jobs."

Over the past two years membership in the GridWise Alliance has grown four-fold as recognition of the need to modernize the North American electricity grid has increased. President-Elect Barack Obama has made modernizing the electricity grid a cornerstone of his energy policy and a source of green jobs.

"While there is general agreement that a sustainable energy future must incorporate energy efficiency, renewables, storage, and plug-in cars, it is often forgotten or underemphasized that these solutions all depend on a smarter grid to achieve scale and cost effectiveness," said Guido Bartels, Chairman of the GridWise Alliance and General Manager of IBM's Global Energy and Utilities Industry. "The GridWise Alliance members recognize that a smart grid is foundational for a sustainable energy future and if there is a growing consensus within the U.S. that clean energy is a platform for rebuilding the American economy, then it follows that a smart grid is also critical to economic growth," he added.

The GridWise Alliance and its 74 private and public stakeholders are gathering this week in Houston, Texas, for their Annual Member and Board Meeting. The event is being hosted by Alliance member company, CenterPoint Energy. A highlight of the agenda is a tour of CenterPoint Energy's Technology Center in which visitors can get a very realistic 'look and feel' for what a smart grid is and the benefits it will provide. More than 300 groups have toured this state-of-the-art facility including regulators, customers, scientists, and utilities, from the US and abroad.

About the GridWise Alliance
The GridWise Alliance was founded in 2003. The Alliance advocates a vision of an electric system that integrates the infrastructure, processes, devices, information and market structure so that energy can be generated, distributed, and consumed more efficiently and cost effectively; thereby achieving a more resilient, secure and reliable energy system. Its members include utilities, IT companies, equipment vendors, new technology providers and educational institutions.

For more information about the GridWise Alliance, visit: www.gridwise.org. For information about GridWeek, visit www.gridweek.com.

Current members of the GridWise Alliance include: ABB, Accenture, Aegis Technologies, Alcatel-Lucent, Ambient Corporation, American Electric Power, Arcadian Networks, AREVA-T&D, Austin Energy, Autodesk, BC Hydro, Beacon Power Corp., Bridge Strategy Group, British Columbia Institute of Technology, Cellnet+Hunt, CenterPoint Energy, Cisco, CMEA Ventures, Computer Sciences Corporation, Con Edison, Constellation Energy, Consumers Energy Company, Cooper Power Systems, Current, Duke Energy, Eka Systems, Electricite de France, Elster Integrated Solutions, Energy Insights, EnergySolve, EnerNex Corporation, Environmental System Research Institute, Florida State University, GE, Google, GridPoint, Inc., Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Institute of Electric Power Engineering, Itron, KEMA Consulting, Lockheed Martin, MainNet Communications, Microsoft Corporation, Midwest ISO, Milsoft Utilities Solutions, National Grid, Open Systems International, Optimal Technologies International, Progress Energy, Public Service Electric and Gas Company, PJM Interconnection, RockPort Capital Partners, RuggedCom, SAIC, SAP, Sempra Energy, SensorTran, Inc., Serveron Corporation, Sharp Laboratories, Siemens Power Transmission & Distribution , Site Controls, SmartSynch, Solar Integrated Technologies, 3Tier, Telvent, Tendril Networks, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Tollgrade Communications, Utilities Telecom Council, VELCO, Washington State University, and ZIV USA, Inc.

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