Under the shadow of DOE Secretary Steven Chu's pen, U.S.-China energy relations are being fostered, and smart grid initiatives are continuing to gain momentum.

Duke Energy entered into a long-term relationship with Echelon Corporation, a smart meter and energy management company to work on the smart grid in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. The partnership brought Echelon's stock to a recent high.

Echelon shares rose over 20-percent on Monday afternoon. The five-year project, which was recently submitted for stimulus funding consideration, will be focusing on smart meters that will work with Echelon's existing power equipment.

Duke's smart grid technology will be integrated into Echelon's Networked Energy Services system. The first order, with deliveries expected to begin at the end of the quarter, is over $15.8 million, and includes smart meters and smart concentrators.

The $1 billion initiative will be able to take advantage of existing IP networking infrastructure via web services.

Duke Energy has been working with smart grids all over the nation. The company expects to install over 1.5 million smart meters between Indiana and Ohio, but has only received regulatory approval from the Buckeye State to date.

Echelon's NES smart-metering system already serves millions of homes in Europe and the company is expanding its U.S. presence.

Duke is also working with Cisco, building a smart backbone to the electrical grid, creating weatherproof equipment for substations among other technologies.

The third-largest utility in the United States, like Echelon, has been active internationally. Monday also saw another Duke agreement with the Chinese state-run power giant, the China Huaneng Group for clean energy collaboration in Asia.

The agreement is nonbinding and opens the door to future contracts, but for now only involves employee exchange programs. The two companies will cooperate on clean coal efforts (especially integrated gasification combined cycle systems), carbon capture/sequestration, efficiency and emissions controls and renewables.