Comverge Gets Another Smart Meter Management Deal
By Jeff St. John Comverge ( COMV ) has landed another deal that calls for it to turn down homes' energy use during peak demand times with pagers at first, and with smart meters later on.The deal is with Dominion Virginia Power ( D ), and calls for Comverge to manage about 117 megawatts of commercial and industrial power loads . Comverge will also provide its Apollo software platform to manage demand response devices for about 150,000 homes – representing roughly 150 megawatts of power use – which the utility wants to hook up with smart meters eventually. The idea is to turn down home air conditioners, water heaters and pool pumps – the devices Comverge can now control – using its existing mainly pager-based communication system at first, said Mike Picchi, Comverge's interim president and CEO. Then, as Dominion rolls out its smart meters, made by German manufacturer Elster, Comverge will switch over to using them as the gateway into the home instead, Picchi said. Comverge'...