Elster Participates in White House Grid Modernization Event

RALEIGH, N.C., June 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Elster (NYSE: ELT) announced that, at the invitation of the White House, it participated in the Obama Administration's Grid Modernization Event, held Monday at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC.

(Logo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110126/SF35872LOGO-a )

Ed Gray, vice president, legislative & regulatory affairs, Elster Solutions, contributed to the session that included representatives from technology and meter vendors, leading utilities and others active in the North America Smart Grid market. The event featured three breakout sessions, all designed to advance the current state of the U.S. electric grid, including Regulatory Reform Efforts and Emerging Business Models; Innovation and Interoperability; and Long-term Planning Strategies.

"Elster was honored to participate in today's grid modernization event and we are excited about what this next wave of Smart Grid initiatives means for the industry," Gray said.

"As a pioneer in Smart Grid, our proven, real-world deployments across the globe can help provide a model of the Smart Grid done right that others can follow. We look forward to sharing our unique insights and experiences with the Obama Administration to help continue the successful development of our nation's electric infrastructure," added Gray.

Today's event featured a number of key industry speakers and electric grid stakeholders, including Steven Chu, secretary, Department of Energy; Tom Vilsack, secretary, Department of Agriculture; and Aneesh Chopra, White House chief technology officer. The goals of the session included:

• The fostering of a clean energy economy that integrates renewables, distributed energy, electric vehicles and energy storage into the electric grid
• The design and implementation of an electric infrastructure that provides cost savings and reliable energy delivery
• Promoting consumer-informed energy usage through innovation

The discussions identified a number of areas, from utility rate structures to energy usage data collection to Smart Grid security, which play pivotal roles in the modernization of the electric infrastructure. Initiatives coming out of the event include $250 million in loans for rural Smart Grid deployments, the launch of Grid 21 for improved consumer access to their own energy usage data and partnerships designed to share best practices from current Recovery Act Smart Grid investments.

About Elster

Elster (NYSE: ELT) is one of the world's largest electricity, gas and water measurement and control providers. Its offerings include distribution monitoring and control, advanced smart metering, demand response, networking and software solutions, and numerous related communications and services – key components for enabling consumer choice, operational efficiency and conservation. Its products and solutions are widely used by utilities in the traditional and emerging Smart Grid markets.  

Elster has one of the most extensive installed revenue measurement bases in the world, with more than 200 million metering devices deployed over the course of the last 10 years. It sells its products and services in more than 130 countries across electricity, gas, water and multi-utility applications for residential, commercial and industrial, and transmission and distribution applications.

For more information about Elster, please visit www.elster.com.

SOURCE Elster