As an exhibitor or attendee, you have the opportunity to share your press release to the DistribuTECH industry professionals. A Press Room Request form will be available this summer and will also be located in the exhibitor manual, under Promotional Opportunities.

Press Registration:
Click here to request DistribuTECH Press Registration. Please allow 4-5 business days to review your press registration request. Upon confirmation, you will receive an email from our registration team.

Click here to add your name to receive a weekly report of all press registrations. The reports will be emailed beginning December 2013.

Press Conference Room
Members of the press are invited to visit the press conference room for exhibitor press conferences. All exhibitors are welcome to place press materials in this room. Visit the conference desk to schedule a conference.

Press Work Room:
All registered press attendees are welcome to use the Press Work Room. Internet connection, interview area, desktop computers and printer will be available. Must have a press badge to access the room.

POWERGRID International Magazine Names Projects of the Year at DistribuTECH 2013

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 29, 2013 — PennWell Corp. — The editors of POWERGRID International magazine and PennWell Corp. announced four winners of the magazine's annual Projects of the Year awards Tuesday during the DistribuTECH Conference & Exhibition keynote in San Diego.

Winners were selected in four categories: Best Energy Efficiency/Demand Response Project, Best Grid Integration of Renewables Project, Best Smart Grid Project and Best Smart Metering Project. Further details on winning projects will be featured in the April issue of POWERGRID International magazine.

Best Energy Efficiency/Demand Response Project

Gulf Power Co. won the Energy Efficiency/Demand Response Project of the Year for its Energy Select Program. Based in Pensacola, Fla., the Southern Co. subsidiary initiated the automated dynamic pricing program for residential electricity users to increase efficiency and sustainability while meeting growing demand. The program’s 10,000 participants can automate their home energy usage by programming intelligent devices through a Web portal. The devices automatically respond to the utility’s dynamic pricing signals based on settings chosen by the participants. Gulf Power expects the program will expand to 16,000 participants by 2016.

Runner-up for the 2013 Energy Efficiency/Demand Response Project of the Year is Western Power in Perth, Australia, for its demand response air conditioning trial.

Best Grid Integration of Renewables Project

Duke Energy Corp. won the Grid Integration of Renewables Project of the Year for the Rankin Energy Storage System. In 2010, Duke, S&C Electric Company and FIAMM, a producer of sodium-nickel-chloride batteries, solved a problem Duke was experiencing on distribution circuits with distributed solar generation: Passing clouds were causing solar energy output to fluctuate. In some cases, more than 80 percent of a solar unit’s output would drop in less than five seconds. FIAMM delivered 12 sodium-nickel-chloride Zebra batteries to S&C Electric Company for assembly and testing, and the system was delivered to Duke in December 2011. Duke installed the system in the Rankin Avenue Retail Substation in Mount Holly, N.C. Since then, the battery control system has been adjusted continuously to develop the most effective way to use storage for solar integration.

Runner-up for the 2013 Grid Integration of Renewables Project of the Year is Acciona Energy for implementing power management capability with advanced control and energy storage systems.

Best Smart Grid Project

Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) won the Smart Grid Project of the Year for SmartSacramento, which incorporates grid modernization, customer programs and pilot projects. More than $307 million has been invested in SmartSacramento, including a $127.5 million Department of Energy smart grid infrastructure grant. The program includes more than 20 projects to modernize the grid, reduce costs, increase its electrical system’s efficiency, boost energy savings, improve reliability and introduce customers to better energy-management tools. SMUD installed more than 619,000 smart meters and has saved more than $15 million of labor charges for billing, meter reading and disconnects and reconnects. In addition, SMUD partnered with six local government agencies to install and implement building emergency management systems with automated demand response capability in more than 120 buildings.

Runner-up for the 2013 Smart Grid Project of the Year is Progress Energy Carolinas for its Virtual Generation on Grand Scale project.

Best Smart Metering Project

NV Energy won the Smart Metering Project of the Year for NVEnergize, which integrates customers with the utility through advanced technologies. NVEnergize has enabled immediate customer benefits by providing customers access to Web-based information about their usage and tools to manage their energy. More than half of NV Energy’s customers have signed up for the MyAccount portal, which includes access to AMI presentment and alerts. NVEnergize saves $35 million annually and eliminates nearly 17 million monthly manual meter reads. The integrated remote disconnect and connect switch has eliminated more than 1 million truck rolls. The utility has deployed more than 1 million electric meters and 156,000 gas modules across its service territory, encompassing more than 98 percent of Nevada’s population.

Runner-up in the 2013 Smart Metering Project of the Year category is Central Maine Power for its AMI project.

About POWERGRID International POWERGRID International magazine is celebrating its 18th year as the power industry's leading source of information on electric power transmission and distribution automation, engineering and information technology. It reaches 40,000 electric utility professionals, managers, engineers and other qualified subscribers. The magazine and DistribuTECH are owned by PennWell Corp., a worldwide media company based in Tulsa, Okla.

PennWell Corp.’s DistribuTECH Conference & Exhibition Named
One of the 50 Fastest-growing Trade Shows in 2011
Click here to download the full press release.

TULSA, OKLA.//Oct. 4, 2012 – DistribuTECH Conference & Exhibition, North America’s largest annual smart grid conference and exhibition, was named by Trade Show Executive magazine one of the Fastest-growing Trade Shows in 2011 in three categories: total net square footage of exhibit space, number of exhibitors and attendance growth from 2010 to 2011.

“We are honored to have won three Fastest-growing Trade Show awards, which strengthens DistribuTECH’s reputation as the leading information provider for the electric utility industry,” said Michael Grossman, publisher of PennWell’s Power Delivery Group. “DistribuTECH offers attendees more information on electricity transmission and distribution in one place than they can get anywhere else.” DistribuTECH ranked No. 11 in attendance growth with a 34 percent increase.

In addition it experienced substantial growth in the number of exhibitors and net square feet of exhibit space. DistribuTECH ranked No. 33 in number of exhibitors with a 15.3 percent increase and No. 33 in total net square footage with a 14.8 percent increase.

“The electric utility industry is going through a technology revolution and DistribuTECH offers attendees a way to learn about all these new technologies on the exhibit floor,” Grossman said. “We would like to thank all our current and past exhibitors for contributing to the success of DistribuTECH.”

DistribuTECH began 23 years ago and has consistently grown and evolved with the industry. DistribuTECH 2013 is expected to be the largest event yet with more than 8,600 attendees and more than 400 exhibitors.  DistribuTECH will be held Jan. 29-31, 2013, at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, Calif. Held over three days, the conference program will include 14 tracks, 77 sessions and 350 speakers. DistribuTECH 2013 will officially kick off with an opening keynote session Jan. 29. The keynote session speakers will include Bob Woodward, journalist and best-selling author of “The Price of Politics”; Patricia Hoffman (invited), assistant secretary, Department of Energy; Stephen Berberich, president and CEO, California Independent System Operator Corp.; and Michael R. Niggli, president and COO, San Diego Gas & Electric.

Co-located with DistribuTECH for the fifth year, Utility Products Conference & Exposition will take place simultaneously, bringing together buyers and sellers of power, telecom, CATV and water equipment to learn firsthand about their industries’ latest products. Gary Norland will be the 2013 keynote speaker discussing the importance of safety in the workplace. Gary will share his life experience after being electrocuted by 12,500 volts.

“We are proud of the great success we experienced in 2011 and look forward to another strong year,” Grossman said. “DistribuTECH and Utility Products Conference & Exposition are important platforms for industry leaders from around the world to come together to exchange information, present new solutions and discuss future developments and the growth of the industry.”

About PennWell
PennWell Corp. is a diversified business-to-business media and information company that provides quality content and integrated marketing solutions for the following industries:  Oil and gas, electric power, water, electronics, semiconductor, contamination control, optoelectronics, fiberoptics, enterprise storage, fire, emergency services and dental.  Founded in 1910, PennWell publishes 75 print and online magazines and newsletters, conducts 60 conferences and exhibitions on six continents, and has an extensive offering of books, maps, websites, research and database services.  In addition to PennWell's headquarters in Tulsa, Okla, the company has major offices in Nashua, N.H.; Houston, Texas; London, England; Fairlawn, N.J.; Moscow, Russia; and Hong Kong, China.  For additional information about PennWell, visit www.pennwell.com.

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