GridWise membership grows as Congress passes landmark energy legislation

-- Manufacturing Business Technology, 1/9/2008 12:56:00 PM

The GridWise Alliance says 17 leading companies and organizations have joined its efforts to transform the nation's electric power system.

New members of the Alliance include ABB, Aegis Technologies, Alcatel-Lucent, Ambient Corp., Arcadian Networks, Autodesk, CMEA Ventures, Constellation Energy, Consumers Energy, ESRI, Energy-Insights, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Serveron Corp., SmartSynch, Tollgrade Communications, and the Utilities Telecom Council.

"These companies represent many of this nation's foremost organizations working in the areas of electricity generation, transmission, and management," says Guido Bartels, chairman of the GridWise Alliance and GM of IBM's Global Energy and Utilities Industry. "In an industry embarking on a major transformation, we are pleased to have the new member's creativity and innovation as part of the Alliance."

The GridWise Alliance was founded in 2003. Over the past four years it has advocated for change on both the national and state levels.

"By passing the new energy bill, Congress has signaled a significant shift in our nation's energy policy," says Tom Standish, group president & COO of Regulated Operations at CenterPoint Energy. "These companies now join with the other alliance members in building a broad consensus for implementing these concepts."