Green Suppliers

AXION POWER—got a grant from the PA Energy Development Authority to develop the 500kW PowerCube battery energy storage system. The idea: “To enhance a Smart Grid electrical distribution system, including a future solar-powered EV charging station and a potential wind-powered energy system.”

CARMANAH TECHNOLOGIES—announced a distribution partnership with Semex to bring “solar LED lighting and solar-powered traffic beacon technology to Mexico.” Semex makes highway safety and traffic products. Separately, Carmanah signed onto a manufacturing agreement with PTL Solar to bring “solid LED lighting technology to the Middle East and selected countries in Africa.”

C&D TECHNOLOGIES—this Blue Bell, Pennsylvania-based company “will develop large-format lithium-ion batteries in Milwaukee under a $19 million U.S. Army contract,” the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported, generating 150 jobs in the area over the next three years. From Jeff Graves, president/CEO: “This contract will allow C&D Technologies to establish a world-class research and development facility in Milwaukee.”

FIRST SOLAR—the company is adding eight production lines in Malaysia this year, “to satisfy a global contracted and advanced pipeline” of more than 6GW. Separately, as of late December, the company and partner EDF Energies Nouvelles were near completion in talks to build a plant capable of making 100MW of solar modules annually—in Blanquefort, France.

LOCKHEED MARTIN—has been hired by San Diego Gas & Electric “to provide systems engineering support for a microgrid demonstration project.” Location: A Borrego Springs substation.

MOTECH INDUSTRIES—this Taiwanese company, which makes solar cells, will acquire a plant in Delaware from GE Energy (price: $4.54 million, according to Agence France-Presse). The plant can produce modules capable of generating 30MW of solar power “and will be Motech’s first solar-cell module assembly plant.” Further, Motech will be able—for the next two years—to slap GE Energy’s brand on the modules made in Delaware.

NEMY—this Japanese maker of solar panel mounting hardware “will enter the market for residential solar power later this month offering lower-priced setups using solar panels imported from China,” according to the Jan. 6 Asia Pulse.

NORDEX USA—will build eight N100 wind turbines for installation in Glenmore, Wis., under a contract from Emerging Energies of Wisconsin. The deal “includes maintenance and technical operation under a 10-year service contract.” Nordex claims to have installed more than 1,000 wind turbines worldwide.

NORTHWIRE—the company said it was making cable solutions available for charging of electrical and hybrid vehicles. EV cables can ship in five days, the company said, “with no minimum order, length, or quantity requirements.”

SECOND WIND—the company’s Triton wind profiler has named a finalist (by RenewableEnergyWorld.com) in the first-ever Excellence in Renewable Energy awards, in the category of “Innovation in Renewable Energy.”

STAHLIN—Stahlin Non-Metallic Enclosures provided help for the U. of Michigan’s solar car—which finished third in the World Solar Challenge (in a competition in Adelaide, Australia).

WAUKESHA ELECTRIC—this SPX Corp. unit was awarded a $10.7 million grant from the Dept. of Energy to make “a smaller, more-efficient superconducting transformer for electric utilities.”

Manufacts

ENOCEAN—

Energy harvesting—IDTechEx’s panel of independent experts awarded EnOcean the top prize for “Best Application of Energy Harvesting.”

GreenBuild show—EnOcean claimed that “more than 100 shipping products, manufactured by 11 different companies…were on hand for GreenBuild.” Companies named included Leviton, OSRAM SYLVANIA, and Philips Ledalite.

Hotel—the Verde wireless and batteryless energy control system from Magnum Energy Solutions (“enabled by EnOcean”) was tested at a Wyndham Hotel in Boston. Findings: 33% less energy used than for the control room.

Spec—the EnOcean Alliance has published the first public version of its specification for wireless building automation.  There are “50 equipment profiles….[including] building switches, remote controls, sensors, sensor combination, and data of every kind.”

Study—wireless lighting controls (from EchoFlex Solutions, based on EnOcean technology) “demonstrated significant energy savings in independent testing and lived up to the task of shedding peak loads during demand response events,” in testing from Pacific Gas & Electric.

 
GENERAL ELECTRIC—

Appliances—GE will in 2012 begin making energy-efficient front-load washers and dryers in Louisville. The products will incorporate communications technology allowing the units to work with The Smart Grid.

Dallas stadium—a release notes the role of GE (in sports lighting and LED lighting) in the engineering of the Dallas Cowboys’ new billion-dollar stadium.

Future—Investopedia.com claims that Wall Street analysts expect GE “to grow 10.25% per annum in the next five years, which is good for a company of its size.”

Layoffs—a plant in Fort Edward, N.Y., will lay off 15% of its 9,200-person work force. It will stop making “a small component capacitor that is used in panelboards and engineers,” as well as extruded film (which goes into all GE capacitors), according to the Post Star of Glens Falls, N.Y.

Wind—the company won a $1.4 billion contract to supply turbine and services to an Oregon wind farm (owned by Caithness Energy).

SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC—

Experience Center—the company has opened one of these to demonstrate commercial and home control solutions in LaVergne, Tenn. The company said that it will continue to open such centers, with plans for Chicago, Dallas, and St. Louis.

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition—the company became a Benefactor Sponsor of one edition of this TV show, providing products, “volunteer support from the local plant,” and some money to the family involved—in Indiana.

Lawsuits—according to an article on MSNBC.com: “Since April 2006, Schneider Electric has sued 40 companies it claims sell fake Square D breakers. Most are located in the United States, but the company also conducts raids in China and works to educate contractors about the importance of buying from authorized dealers.”

Military-friendly employer—the company was No. 18 on the Top 100 list of Military-Friendly Employers (as developed by B.I. Jobs).

Solar installation—the company last month held the grand opening of its North American headquarters in Palatine, Ill., with Plant Engineeringreporting here.  

GE Rearranges Lighting & Appliance Units

GE Consumer & Industrial is no more. A new division is being created by General Electric to include:

• Appliances
• Lighting
• Electrical switches
• Sensors
• Factory automation

From a Jan. 4 Bloomberg.com report: “The product lines were previously part of the GE Consumer & Industrial segment, which [CEO Jeffrey] Immelt considered spinning off or selling in 2008. He said last month he would keep those lines because GE can grow them as part of so-called smart electricity products.”

According to the report, GE Energy will get the industrial products from the C&I unit, “including switches and voltage controls.” The head of the new division will not be Jim Campbell (who ran C&I), but 43-year-old Charlene Begley.

57 CES News Releases

HomeToys.com offers a platform for product releases flowing from the Consumer Electronics Show. At our last visit, there were 57.

Gunman at ABB St Louis

A former supervisor, armed to the teeth, returned to an ABB factory in St. Louis and shot three people dead last week, also shooting five who were hospitalized. The shooter also shot himself to death.

According to a report in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, he got off more than 100 shots. The newspaper claimed that ABB, which held a meeting with employees on Jan. 8, plans to erase all visual evidence of the tragedy, check equipment for safety, and go back to work. Here’s the newspaper’s lengthy original report about the shootings.

Looking for a motive, The New York Times on Jan. 8 offered this:

A motive for the killings was not yet clear. A neighbor of Mr. Hendron said that at one point he was a supervisor at the plant, which assembles electrical transformers. At the time of the shooting, he was engaged in a public dispute with ABB Power, as one of four named plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit filed against the company over the company’s pension fund.

According to the complaint, filed in 2006, ABB’s pension fund managers assessed fees that were “unreasonable and excessive,” and without plaintiffs’ knowledge. The plaintiffs had sought to recover financial losses, and the trial had just begun this week in federal court in Kansas City, Mo.

Milestones

Corning Cable Systems—this unit of Corning will supply product and design assistance to Case Western Reserve U. and others in an effort “to test the power of super-high-speed Internet access to change people’s lives in inner-city neighborhoods.”

Dow Wire & Cable—this unit of Dow Chemical now has a “Dow Inside” program that it offers to power cable manufacturers and utilities.

Echelon & Green Energy Options—are collaborating “to develop energy displays for Echelon’s Networked Energy Service system, an advanced metering infrastructure solution.”

Emerson/SolaHD—won the 2010 readers’ choice award for power suppliers, as bestowed by Control magazine.

Gamewell-FCI—now offers a flexible financing program, “designed to make the expense of life safety system upgrades or build-outs more manageable and affordable.”

Generac—has filed for an initial public offering of common stock to the public (the stock to be traded on the NYSE). TedMag’s checks show that the initial filing came on Oct. 20, but that no stock has been sold as yet. The “red herring” (S-1 statement) on the Generac IPO, updated on Dec. 17, was downloaded by TedMag—at 672 pages. See this somewhat related Plant Engineeringarticle.

Harger Lightning & Grounding—is providing lightning protection system training to NECA-IBEW (via the NJATC) and is donating materials “necessary to install a lightning protection system to the [local JATC] of attending participants who meet the minimum qualification requirements.”

Hunt Dimming—celebrates its 50^th year of existence this year.

Nora Lighting—recently was recognized for a “very generous” donation to Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles.

Paresources—now in its 15^th year of business, according to an article, as “a premier supplier of electrical substation packages.”

Power Distribution—won the 2009 Best of Business Award from the Small Business Commerce Association “in the transformers and power solution for data center and alternative energy applications category.”

Power Partners—a plant in Athens, Ga., “that makes electrical transformers and solar water heating systems,” according to OnlineAthens.com, “is one of 29 Georgia manufacturing companies that will receive $1.4 million in [stimulus funds].” The money will enable the plant to become a Certified Work Ready facility.

Shermco Industries—received a bronze Training Partner Award from the NJATC (the national NECA-IBEW training org).

Silent Knight—recently teamed with a local company to provide fire alarm, System Sensor detection devices, and a complete system installation to the Riverside Pet Center (Mankato, Minn.).

Stahlin Non-Metallic Enclosures—now offers a 10-year product warranty.

Waukesha Electric Systems—this unit of SPX Corp. now has $10.7 million of DOE funding “to develop and manufacturer a new superconducting transformer.”

Lighting Roundup

Cyberlux Corp.—did N.I.R. Group, an investor in Cyberlux (which is in the LED biz), abide by the terms of the agreement it made to invest in the company? There was litigation on this matter. A release from Cyberlux says the fight is now over. According to the Triangle Business Journal (Jan. 7), “Cyberlux accused N.I.R. of converting shares that gave it more than the 5% beneficial ownership limit to which the two parties agreed and that N.I.R. shorted Cyberlux stock, also in violation of that agreement.” Details of the settlement were not made available; however, the N.I.R. chairman was quoted in the Cyberlux release: “We are encouraged by the progress that…the Cyberlux team have made and we support their efforts to develop Cyberlux’s business.”

            Separately: Cyberlux shipped 10 Portable Shelter Lighting Systems “for an exclusive Department of Defense order for a multinational OEM customer.” The unit replaces existing fluorescent lighting “used in all free-standing field shelters, ranging from personnel tents to command-and-control complexes.”

            Also: Cyberlux signed (with Spectrum Brands) to deliver six products for the Rayovac brand.

GE & Power Paper—GE Global Research and Power Paper (which is part of the Infinity Group’s portfolio) agreed to “jointly develop self-powered OLED lighting devices.” The O in OLED stands for organic.

Lagotek, lighting control & motorized window coverings—HomeToys.com interviewed Ron Risdon of Lagotek Corp. on lighting control—see it here.

Lumenergi & WattStopper—WattStopper (a unit of Legrand) is now collaborating with Lumenergi to unite technologies the two provide, to “eliminate compatability issues and simplify design, specification, and installation processes.”

            Somewhat related: See the Nov. 10 TedMag Special Report, which included coverage of a Lumenergi presentation on lighting & The Smart Grid.

Lumiversal & Tech Sensor—two new companies founded by Brian Brager and Michael Whittingham, according to the San Jose Business Journal (Nov. 6). Lumiveral “will seek out every commercial building in the U.S. using…T12 and T8 fluorescent lighting and switch them to T5 lighting.” Every building? That’s what it says. Tech Sensor, a development entity, will develop sensor technology—and plans are for it to hire 50 employees in the next year. The founders have invested $2 million in the companies and have housed them in 15,000 square feet in downtown San Jose.

Orion Energy Systems—obtained two design patents for exterior lighting technology (streetlight and parking lot fixtures). The company now owns 25 patents.

            Separately: The company agreed to amend its credit agreement. This deal “eliminated a provision permitting [OES] to request an increase in the line of credit” and got the bank “to waive its rights to declare [OES] in default under the Credit Agreement” as a result of events that happened in the period ending Sept. 30, 2009.

QD Vision—raised $10 million in financing (from North Bridge Venture Partners, Highland Capital Partners, and In-Q-Tel) to “support the expansion of the first QD Vision Quantum Light products into the global solid-state lighting market and continued advancements on a new generation of quantum-dot LEDs.”

Schreder Lighting—planned to open a new manufacturing facility on Jan. 4 in Addison, Ill. (near Chicago).

Westinghouse Lighting—relocated its California distribution center from Santa Fe Springs (near Los Angeles) to Chino, Calif., according to Home Center News. The new 137,523-square-foot building will cut leasing expenses by 41% in the first year.

 © 2010 The Electrical Distributor. All rights reserved.

Top

Supplier News From Elsewhere

Asia Lighting Compact—this is “a partnership comprising governments, regional lighting associations, and the world’s largest lighting manufacturers.” The plan: “To support the widespread adoption of high-quality, energy-efficient lighting in Asia.” Release.

Cooper Industries & Middle East—

Facility in Saudi Arabia—a new manufacturing facility was opened in Dammam, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It’s Cooper’s first (a 100%-company-owned unit) in the Gulf region. The 50,000-square-foot facility is to produce “electrical products, components, and engineering services for the region’s growing oil and gas market.”

Hotel in Abu Dhabi—the Yas Hotel is a 500-room complex that includes lighting solutions from Cooper Lighting & Safety—with 5,400 LED luminaires “installed inside a series of individually designed glass panels, which form a stunning crystal veil when lit up at night.” Note that the hotel complex reportedly includes “a Formula 1 race track running through its center.”

ALSO: A separate release from Enfis Group (Swansea, U.K.) notes that the company was involved in the Yas project with Cooper. Enfis calls itself “a developer and manufacturer of SMART high-power solid-state LED lighting systems.”

Daiko & MSM Tech—Daiko Electic (a Japanese lighting manufacturer) and MSM Tech (of South Korea) will “market LED lighting that can be used to replace fluorescent products,” according to Asia Pulse.

Echelon & Latin America—Echelon and ELO Sistemas Electronicos S.A. have allied “to bring smart grid solutions to the Latin American energy market.” ELO is said to be “the number one supplier of electronic meters and systems in the Brazilian electricity supply market.”

Extech award at Asian event—a product from FLIR Systems subsidiary Extech took home an Industrial Electronics Innovation and Technology bronze award from the 29^th annual Hong Kong Electronics Fair and electronicAsia event. The product: The RT30 wireless AC circuit identifier.

Havells India & LEDs/lighting—the company in the second half of November “announced the global launch of LED” lighting with a two-year target of achieving sales of more than $70 million, according to United News of India. The company set up a lighting R&D center at an existing plant at Neemrana (India).

As noted in the article, it’s important to remember that Havells bought the international Sylvania operations in 2007 (for 300 million euros, now worth about $430 million). “We are spending [$57 million] on restructuring Sylvania…we are hoping to get it completed by March…once that is completed, things will be operationally profitable in Sylvania,” said Anil Gupta, joint managing director of Havells.

Related: “Havells Galaxy” stores—Havells India opened an exclusive showroom in Tamil Nadu on Sept. 14. According to India Business Insight, the store model is for “a one-stop-shop for all kinds of electrical needs, which include low-voltage electrical equipment, industrial switchgears, cables, fans, CFLs, lighting fixtures, Crabtree switches, and Crabtree bath fittings.” The company reportedly has 27 exclusive stores across India, with more to come.

Iberdrola’s research project—Fenix is the name of a European research project undertaken by Iberdrola, Spain’s wind supplier, according to a release. The idea: To “develop a large-scale virtual power plant allowing the integration of distributed energy resources on the transmission network.” The project is completed, Iberdrola said; the VPP created integrates power from cogeneration plans, wind farms, a solar energy facility, and a hydroelectric power plant.

Philips’ Asia LED stores—the company will open “its first exclusive Philips Home Lighting Concept Store” in Singapore, according to a Dec. 10 report on Asia’s Cnet, with four more planned to open in 2010. The showrooms are a marketing strategy in the region, according to the article, and “will differentiate themselves by being set up to simulate realistic home environments, rather than cramp every nook-and-cranny of a store with light fixtures.”

According to the report, there will be 80 such retail showrooms for Philips in China by the end of this year.

Philips’ India plans—according to a Dec. 6 item in the Deccan Herald, the India op of Philips is rolling out a number of new consumer home lighting products—500 now, and 1,500 in 12 months. From Rajeev Chopra, CEO of the lighting division: “We are leading the way for manufacturing LED bulbs for homes. We would be first to launch these products in India.” The company has started making LEDs in India.

Tyco in Mexico—Tyco Electronics said it would “register growth of 10% in Mexico in 2009,” according to a report. “Growth this year has come via demand for intelligent-building solutions and data center solutions, when Tyco had been braced for zero growth,” according to the IT Digest article.

Vestas in China—according to an Oct. 16 report on ChinaDaily.cn, Vestas of Denmark—the world’s leader in wind power equipment—would have invested roughly $440 million in China by the end of 2009. Vestas has manufacturing facilities in China for wind turbine control systems and machined parts.

ManuFacts

Best plants: General Cable & Philips—a General Cable plant in Altoona, Pa., another in Mexico, and a Philips lighting facility in Sparta, Tenn., made up three of the 10 “Best Plants” named by Industry Week magazine. It’s the 20^th year that the magazine has bestowed these awards. See article here (includes links to verbiage about each plant).

Brady buys in Brazil—Brady Corp. has acquired Stickolor Industria e Comercio de Auto Adesivos Ltda. (Sao Paulo). The acquired company makes labels and has about $9 million in annual sales and 90 employees.

Eaton cuts people—a headline in the Nov. 16 Wall Street Journal noted that “Job Cuts Kept Eaton on Track.” The company “cut 15% of its 83,000 full-time workers,” and had “the workers who remained…take a week off without pay each quarter.” CEO Alexander Cutler also forfeited four weeks’ pay, according to the article.

Also of note: Cutler told the WSJ that he doesn’t “buy that [3.5%] growth rate” for U.S. GDP. From Cutler: “Just as we misread how deeply things went down, you want to be very careful on the upside not to misread these things.”

EconoReel acquired—Sonoco has acquired “the injection-molded plastic spools and reels assets of EconoReel (Logan, Utah). EconoReel makes plastic, plywood, and composite wire-and-cable reels.

Emerson sees improvement—the monthly report on three-month rolling sales at Emerson for the end of November showed Industrial Automation sales improving from the usual -25% to -30% to only a -20% in the three months ending Nov. 30 (the figures are comparing recent sales with those of one year ago). “Order trends for Industrial Automation continued to show sequential improvement each month,” the company noted.

Generation Brands stays in biz—despite its prepackaged bankruptcy filing (noted last month here on TedMag), Generation Brands remains operational. A Dec. 23 release noted that the company won “final approval from the Bankruptcy Court of its $20 million debtor-in-possession financing agreement.” That means GB can keep paying vendors and employees, and more. According to the release, the Bankruptcy Court will hear about the company’s prepackaged bankruptcy proposal on Jan. 15.

Nexxus raises cash—Nexxus Lighting sold another 5.75 million shares to the public (in a secondary public offering), raising $15.9 million (net) for itself. Plans for the cash: to fund the “growth of its Array Lighting LED replacement lamp business as well as the repayment of certain indebtedness.” As one might expect, the additional shares weighed on the company stock (symbol NEXS); it closed November at $4.30 and it ended December at $3.40.

Nortek out of bankruptcy—the company filed a prepackaged bankruptcy plan and emerged 57 days later, according to this report. Noteworthy: $1.3 billion of company debt is no longer on the balance sheet!

Rockwell to be acquired???—“will GE buy Rockwell?” was the question posed (in a Dec. 17 email newsletter by automation expert Jim Pinto. One day earlier, The Wall Street Journal posted a headline, “Deal Talk Drives Rockwell Action.” Rockwell’s stock (symbol ROK) ended November at $43.49 and ended December at $46.98. In the interim, the stock ran up as high as $49.25.

From Pinto: “GE’s recent moves have accumulated a war chest of roughly $25 billion cash on the balance sheet at year-end 2010. There are plenty of signals that GE is now on the deal warpath for industrial companies. Rockwell Automation has been mentioned as a distinct possibility. Buying Rockwell would allow GE to replace its media earnings and to grow in the automation arena, where the giant is not even a top-10 player.”

Note that Pinto hinted that GE would grow its automation business, perhaps by buying Rockwell (or some other company), as far back as his Oct. 12 newsletter.

From the WSJ: “The activity followed a research note from J.P. Morgan Chase, which said that GE should make a bid to buy Rockwell Automation for $60 a share, calling such a deal a ‘potential strategic win/win for both companies.’ ”

USI’s retail change—a Dec. 21 release form Universal Security Instruments noted that a large—unnamed—retailer, which “has purchased smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms from the company for sale in the retailer’s stores since 2006,” will soon (April 1) stop that. The retailer “will continue to sell the company’s products only online and through the retailer’s professional contractors desk.” The company’s stock (UUU), which ended November at $7.18, finished the year 2009 at $5.25.  

BELDEN—launched a family of Solar Cables “designed to support renewable energy initiatives.” These are UL Type PV approved “for use as the interconnection wiring of grounded and ungrounded PV systems.”

CLEAR SKIES SOLAR—sold $700,000 of common stock, making a total of $1.6 million that it raised in the period from June to October. “This latest investment will help fuel the growth curve,” according to the company.

DOW CHEMICAL—now offers the POWERHOUSE Solar Shingle, a PV solar panel that comes in the form of a roof shingle—and can be integrated (on a rooftop) with standard asphalt shingle materials. More. Note that, for what it’s worth, TIME magazine named this product one of the “50 Best Inventions” of 2009.

DOW CORNING—opened a Solar Solutions Applications & Business Center in Newark, Calif., to serve as the company’s west coast customer sales hub, according to RenewableEnergyFocus.com

EATON + ECHELON—Eaton will become a VAR of Echelon’s Network Energy Services Systems. Why? “Eaton will incorporate its home automation product line for energy management, enhanced comfort, and safety with the NES system. The release headline: “Echelon and Eaton to Extend the Smart Grid into the Home.” The catch: The focus of this agreement is on EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa).

ELECTRI-FLEX—the company said (Nov. 9) that it is “going green by installing new energy-efficient light fixtures throughout the company offices, manufacturing, and distribution facilities.” An additional green effort sees the company recycling paper, plastic, and aluminum products in office areas; the manufacturing op was already recycling steel, aluminum, and plastic scrap.

ENERGY FOCUS—the company has obtained $3.2 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA—the same people that actually DID invent the Internet)—via the DuPont-U. of Delaware Very High Efficiency Solar Cell Consortium. The idea: EFOI will “deliver advanced solar research to enable high-efficiency, low-cost photovoltaics.”

ENERPHASE ENERGY—a video (on RenewableEnergyWorld.com) includes info that the company has shipped 100,000 micro-inverters.

EXIDE TECHNOLOGIES—rolled out ReStore Energy Systems, a new op “dedicated to the development and pursuit of new markets for renewable energy storage and Lithium-Ion energy systems.” Release.

GE—the company will close the solar module production facility it operates in Glasgow, Del., some time in 2010, according to RenewableEnergyWorld.com. The plant made 35mW of solar modules annually. Reason for closing: “The facility can no longer produce modules at a competitive price.”

HCM—Hitachi Cable Manchester noted that it won an “Honorable Mention” from the NH Department of Environmental Services for a submission HCM made for the Governor’s Award for Pollution Prevention.

HELIX WIND—this company, in which you can buy stock, said a small wind turbine installed at a test site owned by PFG Green Energy [a Helix distributor] “is producing energy output within 90% of the company’s predicted performance.”

HONEYWELL—the Automation & Controls System division is the fastest-growing and largest segment of the company, according to a Forbes magazine article. (headline: “Honeywell: Green and Clean”). From the article:

“Some of Honeywell’s upgrades are of the ‘duh!’ variety. It might replace a store’s incandescent lights with compact fluorescents, or install a variable-speed fan control on a heater and link it to a programmable thermostat. Light and ventilation account for 80% of retailers’ energy use. Mundane efficiency fixes can cut 20% from energy bills, says [ACS division chief Roger] Fradin.”

Separately, a release noted that Honeywell will work with PEPCO Holdings (parent of PEPCO and Delmarva Power, two utilities) under a three-year, $12.8 million contract. The job: “To implement and manage a portfolio of energy-efficiency programs for homeowners” in D.C. and Maryland.

And still more: The company received a grant ($11.4 million) from the DOE “to create an automated peak pricing system in California.” It’s part of the federal Smart Grid effort. Report.

IDEAL INDUSTRIES—launched its new “Get Green With Blue” initiative at BICSI’s fall event, according to CNS magazine.

LEVITON—held a “Training the Trades” workshop recently in Melville, N.Y. (at Leviton’s new company headquarters) in conjunction with the Huntington (N.Y.) Chamber of Commerce. The workshop was part of an event that included a Green Expo.

LUTRON—TedMag noted on Nov. 19 that Lutron had started work on the Smart Grid. Additionally, the company has started up an Energy Solutions business unit to give the company “the opportunity to bring our expertise and technology in total lighting management and scalable solutions to a larger audience,” according to John Longenderfer, CEO.

MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC—the company introduced two PV inverters for the North American market which, according to a release, makes the company “the first Japanese manufacturer to enter the North American large-scale PV inverter market.”

OCTUS & QUANTUM—Octus Energy and Quantum Energy Solutions have entered into a non-exclusive joint venture which will see QES, described as “a leading energy management company,” to commercialize the Smart Energy Platform from Octus.

PLUG POWER—Coca-Cola Bottling Consolidated, the nation’s second-largest Coke bottler, plans to install 40 hydrogen-powered forklifts at a production facility in Charlotte, N.C., according to supplier Plug Power.

Q-CELLS—this solar cell manufacturer had a 40% slump in sales in 2009’s first nine months, vs. the year-earlier comparable period, according to an Agence France-Presse report.

SIEMENS—according to an Oct. 16 release, Siemens received “six new wind turbine orders in North America worth over $900 million.”

STS TECHNOLOGIES—based in Bangalore, this company will manufacture and supply Plug’s Gensys fuel cell systems in India.

Separately, Plug said 3M will supply “membrane electrode assemblies” for fuel cell units being sold in India.

SUNTECH POWER HOLDINGS—this China-based maker of solar modules plan to open a facility in the Phoenix, Ariz., area that will, upon opening (Q3 2010), employ more than 75 full-time workers and product 30mW of PV modules.

VESTAS—this leading global manufacturer of wind power equipment (based in Denmark) will boost its investment in China to roughly $439 million by year-end 2009, according to China Daily.

WINDSTREAM TECHNOLOGY—this startup manufacturer plans to make small-scale wind turbines in New Albany, Ind., according to an Associated Press report. By 2012, the operations there could employ 260-plus.

ZENERGY POWER—a first: American Electric Power will “become the first utility company to install and operate a transmission-voltage fault current limiter” on the U.S. grid. Zenergy makes the FCL; AEP will install the first one in late 2011, at a 138kV substation near Steubenville, Ohio.