Report says Triangle is THE smart hub

A new report from Duke University documents just how important Raleigh, the Triangle and North Carolina have become to the nation’s growing “smart grid” industry, according to this.

(Of course, you'd prefer that accolade come from outside the Triangle, but still. It reminds me of an old Emo Philips joke where he said he one day thought just how smart and amazing the human brain is, "but then it hit me -- look what's tell me that!" But I digress ...)

With five company headquarters in Raleigh and Cary plus some Cisco operations at its RTP campus and sites as far away as Wilmington and Shelby, companies that are seeking to improve the U.S. power grid have sunk North Carolina roots.

Nationally, more than 17,000 jobs have been created by firms seeking to build what the Duke team calls an “energy Internet” in a report titled “U.S. Smart Grid: Finding New Ways to Cut Carbon and Create Jobs.” That total does not include utility jobs. ...

A smart grid uses Internet and networking technology to help link devices, such as so-called smart meters, to the grid for better management, monitoring and usage of power.

Charlotte-based Duke Energy and Raleigh-based Progress Energy both have major smart grid projects underway. ((See maps posted with this story.)

Raleigh has five smart grid-related company headquarters, good for second place nationally along with Redwood, Calif. San Francisco leads with six.

North Carolina is not alone in the region as a smart grid hotbed. According to the report, the southeast has the largest number of company headquarters, manufacturing and research operations focused on smart grid projects with 83. That’s eight more than second-place California. ...