Silver Spring Networks has agreed to provide its smart grid platform and related software and services to Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE) which recently received approved for its Smart Grid Initiative. Silver Spring will be BGE’s prime contractor for networking technology, smart meters, gas modules, and related solutions

According to a new report by Energy Business Reports, getting consumers to use smart grid technology will prove challenging. The Smart Grid: Achieving Customer Buy-in report, which surveyed 240 industry professionals including utility executives, professors, commercial users, and energy policy makers, investigates how the industry can encourage the public’s adoption of smart grid technologies.

Butte College in Oroville, California, will become one of the first colleges in the United States to produce a surplus of renewable energy. The board of trustees has approved its Phase III solar project which calls for the installation of more than 14,000 Mitsubishi Electric solar modules capable of producing 3,481,920 kWh per year. This 2.7 MW DC installation is an addition to the 10,000 solar panels the college already employs, making the total system size 4.55 MW DC.

According to data from the Pike Research report, “Energy Storage on the Grid,” the stationary energy storage sector will become increasingly important in the electricity grid of the future. Fueling the demand is the proliferation of renewable energy, the expansion of utility smart grid initiatives, and the introduction of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles. Pike predicts worldwide installed system revenues will increase from $1.5 billion in 2010 to $35.3 billion annually by 2020.