GE Buying One of Its Ecomagination Challenge Contestants

June 1st, 2011 by Zachary Shahan

GE, which you would think sponsors us given the large number of articles we’ve written about it this week (it doesn’t), recently announced that it is buying one of the top contenders from its Ecomagination Challenge. FMC-Tech, a company based in Ireland that provides real-time power line monitoring to help with quicker commercialization of power grid technology, is the company about to get bought out by GE.

“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 digital energy at GE Energy Services. “Utility operators can better balance the load by managing capacity and optimizing the amount of power sent through a line. Maintenance and repair crews can be more effectively dispatched for increased productivity, improved reliability and greater customer satisfaction.”

The acquisition is projected to be completed in July. All FMC-Tech employees will remain in Shannon, Ireland and work for GE’s Energy Services’ Digital Energy Smart Substation business.

Want a little more info on FMC Tech? Here’s more from GE:

FMC-Tech solutions are a key component of a utility’s distribution automation system that provide information on locating faults, providing dynamic line ratings and help manage maintenance and repair crews. The system is designed to easily integrate with supervisory control and data acquisition(SCADA), energy management systems (EMS) and demand management systems (DMS)/outage management systems (OMS).

About the Author

Zachary Shahan spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as the director/chief editor. Otherwise, he's probably enthusiastically fulfilling his duties as the director/editor of Solar Love, EV Obsession, Planetsave, or Bikocity. Zach is recognized globally as a solar energy, electric car, and wind energy expert. If you would like him to speak at a related conference or event, connect with him via social media. You can connect with Zach on any popular social networking site you like. Links to all of his main social media profiles are on ZacharyShahan.com.