At Itron, we seek to grow resourceful communities across the globe with our technology, growing portfolio and community outreach. Last year, we successfully built more resourceful communities and technology across the world. Here’s a look at 2017.
Responding to the Demand
Itron acquired Comverge in June, enabling our customers to utilize distributed energy management (DEM) solutions. Merging Comverge’s solution with our OpenWay® Riva solution, our customers will be able to seamlessly connect homes and improve operational efficiency and energy efficiency. The combined solution will bring new data and real-time awareness to enhance consumer engagement and improve distributed energy resources.
Demonstrating the excellence of the DEM solution, Itron extended Comverge’s contract with Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO) in November. Utilizing Itron’s IntelliSOURCE® Enterprise™ cloud-based software for load management, SMECO is able to reduce its exposure to generation and transmission capacity charges in the wholesale market. Itron also operates the program for SMECO as a virtual powerplant, increasing reliability and lowering the costs for the utility’s customers.
Industry-defining Acquisition of Silver Spring Networks
Enhancing the capabilities of delivering highly-secure, value-generating solutions,we announced the acquisition of Silver Spring Networks in September 2017, andofficially became part of Itron on Jan. 5, 2018. Silver Spring and Itron’s combined expertise in delivering smart utility, smart city and Industrial Internet of Things (IIot) solutions will offer unparalleled innovation to our industry. Connecting more people than ever, we look forward to building a more resourceful world with combined technology.
Providing a Foundation for Smart City Applications
We continued to develop our OpenWay Riva IoT solution, expanding our reach to new markets. Enabling an increasingly diverse ecosystem of meters, network devices and distributed assets, OpenWay Riva provides a unified solution that successfully integrates new technology.
At the end of the year, we signed a contract with Vectren Energy Delivery of Indiana to modernize its energy grid with OpenWay Riva. Vectren provides energy delivery services to 250,000 electricity and gas customers in southwestern Indiana and will install Itron’s OpenWay Riva IoT solution throughout its South territory to support customer experience transformation efforts. The project builds on Vectren’s successful roll-out of automated metering reading for 600,000 gas customers in Indiana (North) and 300,000 customers in Ohio. Now, Vectren will deliver a highly secure and multi-application network infrastructure to its electricity customers.
With more than 1,000 attendees, Itron’s signature customer-focused event took place just months after Hurricane Harvey struck Houston. Causing $125 billion in damage, the hurricane caused extreme flooding in the surrounding area and devastated many neighborhoods in Houston. At our event, we heard from CenterPoint Energy firsthand about the hurricanes impact on infrastructure, the utility and the region as a whole.
In response, we organized a volunteer event to support recovery efforts. Attendees and employees quickly joined as we partnered with the American Red Cross and assembled 2,500 comfort kits to provide displaced residents with basic necessities like toothbrushes and toiletries. Thank you to all our Itron team members and conference attendees that helped assemble the kits.
Empowering the Third-party Development
Providing the fastest path for third party developers to connect IoT devices to our OpenWay Riva system, we released the next generation of our Itron Riva Development Kit in May. The Itron Riva Dev Kit is designed to allow third-party developers to quickly, easily and cost effectively pilot new technologies. To better serve developers, the next generation Dev Kit features a compact design and core inputs and outputs.
Building Future-ready Smart Cities
In June, Urbanova, a non-profit dedicated to promoting smart cities, reached a key milestone with its smart and connected streetlights pilot, which will help increase energy efficiency and public safety while also assessing air quality. Utilizing Itron’s OpenWay Riva solution, the streetlights can be intelligently managed and controlled to save energy, adjust lighting and ensure public safety.
Our involvement with Urbanova demonstrates Itron’s continued commitment to collaboration to achieve smart city goals. Urbanova with its consortium of partners is focused on a 770-acre area near downtown Spokane called “The University District.” Smart city technologies such as solar energy, streetlights and air quality monitoring will be implemented in this area. This step toward smart cities empowers our local community to model sustainability to the region.
Creating the First Smart Island
Speaking of smart. The Kingdom of Tonga is becoming the first smart island by unifying water and electricity management with Itron’s OpenWay Riva IoT solution. Building on the success of OpenWay Riva for Tonga’s electricity management, The Tonga Water Board signed a contract to deliver OpenWay Riva for water in June. This solution will leverage the benefit of a unified network to reduce water losses, capture lost revenue and improve customer service.
Located in the South Pacific just over 3,000 miles east of Australia, The Kingdom of Tonga is taking steps to become the first smart island by utilizing Itron managed services for network management and water and electricity maintenance.
The Next Generation of Leaders
The importance of STEM education goes hand-in-hand with our resourcefulness mission. Both are ingrained in everything we do. That is why we continue to make strides with Resourcefulness, a STEM curriculum-based app, which was developed by Dr. Michael Webber, director of the Energy Institute and associate professor at The University of Texas at Austin. During Itron Utility Week, students from Houston’s Energy Institute High School shared the impact of being a part of the world’s first energy high school, which utilizes the Resourcefulness curriculum. They shared the impact of project-based learning, collaboration and the Resourcefulness app.
Bringing Itron Gives to India
A step away from the crowded streets and unregulated traffic of Bangalore, India, Itron’s new office provides a hub of innovation and community right in the center of the Global Technology Park. In July,
CEO Philip Mezey visited the office to celebrate Itron India’s new office location and collaborate with local organizations to help create more resourceful communities.
An important component of the visit included expanding Itron’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts and employee giving programs. For the first time, an international office will participate in Itron’s employee giving and volunteering program, Itron Gives. Itron India selected two organizations to support with this effort: SOS Children’s Village andVidyaranya. Through the Itron Gives portal, employees in Bangalore can make payroll contributions and request matching gifts. Employees are also encouraged to volunteer their time and engage with local community organizations. During the Town Hall meeting, Philip expressed the importance of community as part of Itron’s culture and presented two corporate checks of philanthropic support to representatives of both organizations.
While our 2017 was a fantastic year, we look forward to continuing our mission toward resourcefulness in 2018.
