Itron, based near Spokane, Washington, is the largest pure-play company in the smart meter space. Itron has two operating segments. The Actaris segment consists of the Actaris Metering Systems, SA operation which was a company that Itron acquired in April 2007. The Actaris segment produces many types of meters primarily for sale in Europe and the rest of the world. The Itron North America segment produces many types of meters primarily for sale in the U.S. and Canada.

The acquisition recombined the North American and European meter units of Schlumberger, which were sold off separately a number of years ago. The merger gave Itron a much stronger marketing reach in Europe and gave Actaris access to Itron's industry-leading technology.

The meters produced by the two segments include electric, gas, water and heat meters and a variety of other associated metering products for residential, commercial, industrial, transmission, and distribution customers. Itron has leading market shares in manufacturing solid-state electricity meters and in automated meter reading (AMR) systems for electricity, natural gas, and water meters.

Itron's new OpenWay product is an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) system that provides 2-way communications between a utility and its customers' meters. This 2-way communication, for example, could permit an electric utility to reduce the amount of electricity available to a particular customer during the utility's period of extremely high power usage. It could also permit variable billing so the utility could charge more for electricity during peak hours. Itron also sells software and consulting services to the utility industry.

ESCO Technologies Inc (NYSE: ESE)

ESCO Technologies is based in St. Louis, Missouri. The company operates in three segments: (1) the Filtration/Fluid Flow segment, which provides a range of fluid filtration products (36% of total fiscal 2007 revenue), (2) the Test segment, which provides products to measure and contain electromagnetic and acoustic energy (27%), and (3) the Communications segment, which is the segment that provides automatic electric meter reading (AMR) technologies (37%).

ESCO's subsidiary Distribution Control Systems Inc (DCSI) provides the TWACS® Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) communication system that provides 2-way communications between utilities and their electricity and gas customers with smart meters. This 2-way communication, for example, will permit an electric utility to reduce the amount of electricity available to a particular customer during the utility's period of extremely high power usage. It will also permit variable billing so the utility could charge more for electricity during peak hours.

ESCO was originally a subsidiary of Emerson Electric and was subsequently spun-off in 1990. Since then the company has migrated through a series of acquisitions and divestitures.

The latest acquisition is Wintec, LLC which was completed in August 2007. Wintec designs and manufactures metallic elements, filters, and strainers for pneumatic/hydraulic applications.

In February 2006 ESCO acquired Hexagram which designs and manufactures a radio-frequency based AMI to serve the electric, gas and water utility industries.

Comverge Inc (Nasdaq: COMV)

Comverge provides peaking and base load capacity to electric utilities and grid operators. The company also provides demand response solutions to electric utilities, using a combination of systems including wireless communications, software, and hardware devices installed at utility customer locations such as smart meters and smart thermostats. The company has three operating segments: the Smart Grid Solutions Group (33% of total 2007 revenue), the Alternative Energy Group (51%), and the Enerwise Group (16%).

The Smart Grid Group develops and provides smart metering, advanced meter reading, and other monitoring and control hardware and software. The company's most widely sold product is a digital control unit to monitor and control the cycling and operation of large energy-consuming devices.

The Alternative Energy Group offers the company's Virtual Peaking Capacity, or VPC, programs to utilities through which the company provides extra electric capacity during periods of peak energy demand. This is done by remotely turning off high-energy consuming devices at user locations, including such things as central air-conditioners, water heaters, and pool pumps. This allows the utility to build their facilities to handle only their average power loads rather than building excess capacity to be used only in peak usage periods.

The Enerwise Group was formed in July 2007 by the acquisition of Enerwise Global Technologies, Inc. This group provides energy management solutions to large commercial and industrial customers in order to reduce their power consumption.

EnerNOC Inc (Nasdaq: ENOC)

Enernoc uses its Network Operations Center, or NOC, to remotely manage and reduce electricity consumption across a network of commercial, institutional, and industrial customer sites.

This involves the voluntary reduction of electricity usage by end-user customers whenever there is an overload on a utility of the electrical power grid. Enernoc pays a regular fee to a large group of commercial and industrial customers who have agreed to have their electricity supply reduced whenever there is an overload on the grid. This permits the utilities and grid operators to alleviate a temporary overload condition by cutting power to those end-users. This arrangement makes it possible for grid operators and utilities to build facilities to just meet their normal demand rather than having to overbuild their facilities to meet infrequent overload conditions.

Enernoc has long term contract with many grid operators and utilities that pay them it for this service. When an overload occurs the grid operator or utility notifies Enernoc. Enernoc then uses its Network Operations Center (NOC) to remotely communicate with equipment at the involved customer locations to curtail the customers' electrical usage. This reduction takes place within minutes of notification from the grid operator or utility and with the NOC's rapid response has the immediate effect of reducing the load on the grid or the utility.

Enernoc began operations in 2003 in one state and had expanded to over 22 states by the end of 2007. The company has contracts with 21 grid operators and utilities and controls 1,112MW of demand response capacity.

Johnson Controls Inc (NYSE: JCI)

Johnson Controls operates in three primary divisions: Building Efficiency, Automotive Experience, and Power Solutions. The Building Efficiency division delivers integrated systems and mechanical equipment designed to improve the comfort, safety and energy efficiency of non-residential building in over 125 countries. Building Efficiency accounted for 37% of the company's total revenue in fiscal 2007.

The Automotive Experience division designs and manufactures products and systems for the interiors of passenger cars and trucks in 165 manufacturing plants located in 31 countries. Automotive Experience accounted for 51% the company's total revenues in fiscal 2007.

The Power Solutions division provides both original equipment and aftermarket batteries for the automotive market and accounted for 12% of the total revenue. The company is the largest producer of batteries in the world, producing more than 120 million lead-acid batteries per year in 60 plants in 9 countries. The company has expanded its product line to include nickel-metal-hydride and lithium-ion batteries for hybrid-electric and for all-electric vehicles.

The company plans to grow all the divisions through the acquisition of businesses and assets that will complement its current operations.

In July 2007 Johnson Controls announced that it would form a joint venture with Fengfan, Ltd in China to design, manufacture, sales and service of maintenance-free lead acid batteries for the automotive market in China.

Lime Energy (Nasdaq: LIME)

Lime Energy provides energy services and technologies that improve the energy efficiency of its clients' facilities and reduces their ongoing maintenance costs. The company currently markets products or provides services under three distinct business segments: Energy Services, Energy Technology, and Financial Services.

The Energy Services segment is served by the two subsidiaries Parke Industries, LLC and Kapadia Energy Services, Inc. Parke specializes in the design, engineering and installation of energy efficient lighting upgrades for commercial and industrial users. Parke determines the best lighting solutions for the customer and then removes the existing lighting system and replaces it with the new lighting system using its own installation crews. Kapadia provides energy-engineering services to assist customers in improving their energy efficiency and to better manage their energy costs. In 2007, this segment provided 81% of the company's total revenue and is expected to be the primary contributor in 2008 as well.

The Energy Technology segment includes the development and sale of the eMAC and uMAC product lines. The eMAC system provides intelligent control and continuous monitoring of HVAC and lighting equipment via wireless communication technology to reduce energy usage and improve system reliability. The eMAC technology has been installed for use in buildings, factories and office structures.

The Financial Services segment was created in 2007 to provide liquidity to the operating segments by purchasing certain long term receivables from them. This permits the company to offer extended payment terms to customers at favorable rates.

Echelon Corp (Nasdaq: ELON)

Echelon Corp develops and manufactures system and network infrastructure products that enable everyday devices like air conditioners, appliances, electricity meters, light switches, thermostats, and valves, to be made smart and interconnected. The company divides its total revenues into three categories: Network Energy Services, the LonWorks® Product Line, and the Enel project. About 87% of its revenue in 2007 was from international sales.

The Network Energy Services, or NES, sells products primarily to the electric utility industry that provide a two-way information and control path between the utility and its customers. This division provided 51.3% of total 2007 revenues.

The LonWorks® product line is provided to original equipment manufactures who embed the devices in the products they manufacture in order to give their products local intelligence and networking capabilities. This division provided 38.4% of total 2007 revenues.

The Enel project is under a contract with the Italian utility Enel to change out all their existing customers' meters with advanced networked meters. This project was completed in 2005 but Echelon has continued to provide deliveries of other equipment and services under a development and supply agreement which ends in 2009. This division provided 14.2% of total 2007 revenues.

The company focuses mainly on product development and expects to continue this emphasis in the future. Most of its manufacturing is outsourced to third parties in order to reduce costs. The company's manufacturing activities are limited to quality inspection, system integration, custom configuration, testing, and order fulfillment.

Cree Inc (Nasdaq: CREE)

Cree, Inc. develops and manufactures semiconductor materials and devices primarily based on silicon carbide (SiC), gallium nitride (GaN) and related compounds. The company focuses on light emitting diodes (LEDs), high-brightness packaged LEDs, high-power products, and microwave devices.

The company produces the four product lines. (1) LED chips and packaged LED products are of all colors, including white, but primarily of blue and green. LEDs provided about 78% of the company's total revenues in 2007. The LEDs are made from gallium nitride (SiC) and related materials grown on silicon carbide (SiC) substrates.

(2) Material products including SiC and GaN wafers for use in optoelectronic and power switching applications as well as in bulk crystal form for gemstone applications. These crystals are similar to diamonds in terms of color, hardness, and brilliance.

(3) High-power products including power switching devices as well as wide bandgap RF and microwave devices.

(4) Contracts with government agencies for the development of new SiC and GaN technologies.

The primary market for the company's products is in Asia. Revenue from Sumitomo, their Japanese distributor, was 24% of Cree's total revenue in 2007. Revenues from Seoul Semiconductor were 14% of total revenues in 2007. Cree states that its relationship with its end customers in Japan is critical to its future success.

American Superconductor (Nasdaq: AMSC)

American Superconductor is an energy technology company that provides solutions based on two technologies: programmable power electronic converters and high temperature superconductor wires. Their products are designed to enable the cleaner, more efficient and more reliable generation, delivery and use of electrical power.

The company services the two primary markets of wind energy and of power transmission and distribution (the power grid).

The company has two business units: Power Systems and Superconductors. The Power Systems unit produces products to increase electrical grid capacity and reliability as well as systems to permit wind power generators to connect to the grid.

The Superconductor unit produces high temperature superconductor (HTS) wires and coils. The term "high temperature" is a relative term in that HTS wires are still designed to operate at very low temperatures (at about minus 200? F rather than at a much lower minus 450? F) to increase the conductivity of the wire. At this temperature grid operators can transmit power efficiently from where it is generated at remote wind farms to where the power is needed. The HTS wires carry 150 times the electrical current of comparable sized copper wire.

To expand their sales, the company is targeting the high growth areas of the power and utility industry, especially the wind power sector. The company also is expanding their pursuit of foreign markets to increase the 47% of revenue coming from overseas during the 2006 fiscal year ended 3/31/07.

C&D Technologies Inc (NYSE: CHP)

C&D Technologies is a manufacturer of integrated reserve power systems and components for the standby power market, which includes telecommunication, UPS, military, cable, utilities, nuclear power plants, pipeline, oil and gas and other process industries.

The company sold its Power Electronics Division and parts of its Motive Power Division in fiscal 2008 (which ended on 1/31/08) in order to focus on the standby power market.

C&D Technologies now manufactures lead acid batteries and standby power systems that integrate lead acid batteries with other electronic components to provide backup or standby power for electrical equipment in the event of a power loss from the primary power source. The company provides batteries in a wide range of sizes and configurations in two broad categories: flooded batteries, which require periodic watering and maintenance, and VRLA (sealed type), that require less maintenance and are often smaller. The company also provides power rectifiers and other related power distribution and monitoring equipment

The company has manufacturing plants in the US, Mexico, and China and sells its products globally. International sales represented 14% of its total sales in fiscal 2008. The company states that it is one the largest providers of lead acid batteries uses in standby power systems in North America.

Distributed Energy Systems Corp (Nasdaq: DESC)

Distributed Energy Systems conducted extensive restructuring and refinancing during 2007. It now does business through two subsidiaries: Proton Energy Systems (Proton) which designs and manufactures on-site hydrogen gas delivery systems, and Northern Power Systems (Northern) which designs and sells direct drive wind turbines and associated power electronics.

Proton provides two families of products: hydrogen generators and regenerative fuel cell systems. Hydrogen generators produce hydrogen from electricity and water in a clean and efficient process for use in a variety of applications. The regenerative fuel cell systems, currently under development, combine the hydrogen generation technology with a fuel cell power generator to create an energy device that is able to produce and store hydrogen fuel so that it can later be used to generate electricity.

Northern was formerly involved in the design of various types of distributed power systems. Distributed power is the term used for equipment that generates power where it is needed rather than getting it from a large utility-operated generating plant. This provides the users with an independence from the grid for their source of power either because of a remote location or because of a need for reliability. Northern is now focusing on the design and sale of its 100 kilowatt direct drive wind turbines. This turbine can also be connected to the power grid to feed excess power into the grid. Wind turbines is Northern's oldest business dating back over 30 years.

Active Power Inc (Nasdaq: ACPW)

Active Power designs and manufactures products that provide temporary power for power disturbances such as voltage sags and surges. The products bridge the gap between the power outage and the restoration of power or until the switch to locally generated power. There are three main product areas: UPS systems, DC power systems, and turnkey backup power systems.

The temporary backup power systems use flywheel technology in which the system uses the regular power source to constantly spin a flywheel operating in a low-friction environment. When there is a power interruption, the kinetic energy of the spinning flywheel generates electricity for short periods until the utility power is restored or until a backup electric generator starts up.

The company says that their flywheel technology is superior to traditional lead-acid battery backup power systems in many ways, including space saving, greater efficiency, and less overall cost. By year end of 2007 the company had installed over 1,750 flywheel backup systems in over 35 countries.

To address the longer runtime requirements of customers without backup generators, the company developed a CoolAirDC product that can provide backup power for periods from several minutes to several hours. The system use thermal and compressed air storage technology to produce the backup electrical power. The system discharges cool air as a byproduct of its operation that can be also be used by the customer as a backup cooling system during power outages. The product competes directly with lead acid batteries. Unfortunately, this product has had limited sales success so a next-generation model is in development to improve sales.

Beacon Power Corp (Nasdaq: BCON)

Beacon Power designs, develops, and hopes to manufacture and sell, advanced products to support more reliable and cost-effective electricity grid operations. The company is still in the developmental stage and has not yet generated a significant amount of revenue.

The focus of its development efforts is to establish a commercially viable flywheel-based energy storage system. The company's initial market focus will be on the regions of the U.S, power grid that have been deregulated. These regions, which are called Independent System Operators (ISO), are: New England, California, Texas, New York, and the Mid-Atlantic. These regional ISOs, or grid operators, are permitted to purchase frequency regulation services from independent providers. Beacon is seeking to become one of those providers.

If electrical power generated by these grid operators varies too much from the standard frequency of 60 cycles per second (60 Hertz), end-user devices that use the power are negatively impacted. Since the frequency regulation of electrical power is critical, grid operators are financially penalized with there are deviations outside certain standards. Therefore, in order to maintain the correct frequency grid operators need frequency regulating devices like those to be produced by Beacon.

The company moved into its new plant in January 2008 and now has the capability to manufacture 600 flywheels per year. A second phase is planned to increase that to 1,000 flywheels per year. The company is expecting to start operating its first frequency-regulation plant for a NY utility with one megawatt of service by the end of 2008, with a full capacity of 20MW during 2009.

SatCon Technology Corp (Nasdaq: SATC)

SatCon Technology designs and manufactures enabling technologies and products for electrical power conversion and control for high-performance, high-efficiency applications.

The company's products are produced by four business segments: SatCon Power Systems Canada which produced 70% of total product revenue, SatCon Power Systems U.S. which produced 10%, and SatCon Electronics which produced 20%. The SatCon Applied Technology segment provided an additional $9.0 million of revenue.

The two Power System divisions design and manufacture a line of high power control systems. This includes modular inverters used in connection with distributive stationary fuel cell power plants, photovoltaic power plants, wind turbines, and micro-turbine distributed power systems. These two divisions also provide the company's line of rotary uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems. These UPS systems consist of a diesel generator and a flywheel energy storage system. These two divisions also provide a line of electric motors for the industrial automation market.

The SatCon Electronics division designs and manufactures advanced electronic equipment for the aerospace, defense, and telecom industries.

The Applied Technology division designs and manufactures prototype power conversion products for commercial and defense customers. One of the company's objectives is to transition these prototypes into production programs.

Altair Nanotechnologies Inc (Nasdaq: ALTI)

Altair Nanotechnologies is a Canadian company with principal assets and operations in the U.S. The company's primary business is developing and commercializing nanomaterial and titanium dioxide pigment technologies. It is organized into four divisions: a Power and Energy Group, a Performance Materials Division, and a Life Sciences division.

The Power and Energy Group develops and produces the nano lithium Titanate batteries as well as related design and test services. The group also develops and produces for testing purposes electrode materials for use in a new class of high performance lithium ion batteries called nano lithium Titanate batteries. These batteries are intended for use in electric vehicles.

The Performance Materials Division develops and produces high quality titanium dioxide pigments for use in paint and coatings and nano titanium dioxide materials related to removing contaminants from air and water.

The Life Sciences Division produces a test-stage active pharmaceutical ingredient which is designed to be useful in treating patients undergoing kidney dialysis.

The company is cooperating with Phoenix Motorcars in the development of an all-electric truck that is being sold to a large utility for use in their fleet of maintenance vehicles. The company is also working with AES Energy Storage to develop a line of energy storage solutions. The company is also working with Alcoa's AFL business to develop a specialty cell and new pack concept.