General Electric (GE) Claims To Buy FMC-Tech

The E-giant company General Electric claims that it will be buying FMC-Tech which is technically a smart grid start up company. The FMC-tech had surfaced in the “2010 ecomagination challenge” by the GE. It was basically an open innovation challenge worth $200 million in which companies had to search for the brightest and the best bulbs in the chandelier of the smart grid. A chandelier comprises of a large light which has branches of several light bulbs. It can also be imagined as a decorated ceiling mounted light fixture.

#-Link-Snipped-#The FMC-tech set up way back in August 2001 aimed at designing a new network management system for the medium voltage overhead electricity network. By gripping the FMC-tech, GE is planning to expand its horizons to the automation of the distribution systems which currently is a very promising field in the smart grid distribution space. FMC tech is a Shannon based company in Ireland and has its project installation at the UK, Sweden and Malaysia at 12 sites. Another interesting part of the story is that the company is also indulged in starting a power grid at the substation where the transmission grid terminates. This substation connects up to the meters installed at the residences of the consumers.

To be specific, the company has designed a system which provides us with the real time information about the conditions of the distribution grid. And not to forget that the system is designed in such a manner so that it can be integrated with the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System (SCADA), Demand and Outage management system (DMS/OMS) and the energy management systems (EMS). “With the acquisition of FMC Tech’s portfolio, GE will be able to provide a new level of grid intelligence to utilities, improving decision-making and streamlining operations with real-time information on power outages and available capacity on power lines,” said Bob Gilligan, CEO of GE digital energy services. [As quoted by #-Link-Snipped-#

This system improves the network performance drastically and that too at a reasonably low cost. The sensors are fitted on the overhead as well as the underground cables to measure the temperature and current through the cables. This data is fed to the web controller by GPRS, the data being collected by the Local controllers (X-Net).  We have some prominent advantages of the system which include better balancing of the load by optimization of the power transferred through the line, rapid and low cost restoration of the power after an outage and ensure customer satisfaction as the network provides more reliability. This acquisition is surely going to enhance GE’s position in the substation automation market.