General Electric, the giant technology and services company, has sponsored an "ecoimagination" contest, and has now decided to acquire and technology company Ireland that was one of the winners in 2010. The 2010 ecoimagination challenge was called "powering the grid", and FMC-Tech, based in Shannon, Ireland, won the competition with their technology which lets utility operators keep better tabs on capacity, line faults and the like.
This technology adds more intelligence into the distribution system itself, and it will now become part of the GE Energy Services' Digital Energy Smart Substation business. It will allow utility operators to better balance the load by managing capacity and optimizing the amount of power sent through a line. Maintenance and repair crews will also be more effectively dispatched which will increase productivity, reliability and customer satisfaction.