April 8, 2009

US Sen Maria Cantwell (D-Wash) -- who was reportedly instrumental in developing the smart grid title of the 2007 energy bill -- is on pins and needles, waiting to hear about a regional smart grid demonstration project because DOE is about to issue a notice of intent on how the stimulus funds will be spent.  So she told attendees of a smart grid conference this week in Spokane, Wash.

          “I hope with BPA [Bonneville Power Administration], who has long been a leader in smart grid technology, that we will be able secure a significant portion of the stimulus dollars,” Cantwell said.

          “This would give us a chance to demonstrate other aspects of smart grid like cyber security, plug-in electrical vehicles and smart meters.”

          Landing a regional demonstration project could well “give us a leg up in the competition for federal matching funds for smart grid deployment investments,” she added.

          Washington state is home to 28 smart-energy organizations including power and gas IOU Avista, leading AMI firm Itron and Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories -- that employ over 2,000 people, noted Cantwell.

          “Our challenge is to lay out the master plan for adding intelligence to our energy system,” she said.  “We need to show that there is a cost-effective path to move from 1950s analog technology to 21st century digital technology.”

          “Most homes and businesses in America use the same types of meters that were invented before the television.” Electricity travels at the speed of light but the utilities generate a single price signal for consumers that comes in the mail a month later, “aggregated in an unintelligible paper bill,” complained Cantwell.

          An EPRI study showed that the US economy is losing between $104-164 billion/year to outages along with $15-24 billion in power quality related losses, she quoted.

          Federal government stimulus money could, according the GridWise Alliance, generate 75,000 jobs just in the first year, said Cantwell.  The stimulus bill also included about $100 million for smart-grid related worker training, $80 million for resource assessment and $10 million for the development of new interoperability standards, she noted.

          The National Smart Grid Conference was sponsored by Itron, a Washington State smart grid firm plus Avista, BPA, Current, Gridpoint, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratories and one of that entity's creations, the Gridwise Alliance.