Modernize the nation's electricity grid and use "smart grid" practices

Obama takes additional steps to upgrade the Grid

Updated: Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 | By Catharine Richert

The Grid is about to get an upgrade.
 
President Barack Obama announced on Oct. 27, 2009, that the Energy Department would be investing $3.4 billion in the nation's electricity infrastructure.
 
First, the announcement fulfills Obama's promise to create a matching program. Private companies, utilities, manufacturers and cities will be able to tap $3.4 billion in stimulus money. That funding will be matched by $4.7 billion in private investment for a total of $8 billion.
 
That money will be used to expand the existing electricity grid and to manage peak load and energy efficiency more effectively, as stated in the second part of Obama's promise. For example, Florida Power & Light will be getting $200 million to install smart meters, devices that show hour-by-hour energy pricing, in customers' homes.
 
Other high tech improvements will include the installation of 850 sensors meant to help grid operators prevent blackouts and outages. Those sensors will also help incorporate renewable energy, like wind and solar power, into the grid; this will help solve the long-standing problem of distributing alternative energies throughout the country.
 
The last part of his promise — to use some of the money for demonstration projects — has yet to materialize. Expect to see an announcement about $615 million for power grid sensing, communications, analysis and power flow control before the end of the year, according to the Energy Department.
 
Until then, we're keeping this one at In the Works.

Sources:

Energy Department, President Obama Announces $3.4 Billion Investment to Spur Transition to Smart Energy Grid, Oct. 27, 2009

Stimulus jolts electricity grid

Updated: Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 | By Robert Farley

Modernizing the electricity grid has been an important priority for President Obama's ambitious green agenda.

As with so many of President Obama's campaign promises, the massive $789 billion economic stimulus package afforded him an opportunity to take a major step toward that goal early in his presidency.

In the stimulus bill, under the heading "Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability," there is $4.5 billion set aside for modernizing the nation's electrical grid, making it more efficient and better able to adapt to disruptions.

There's also money for enhanced security, energy storage research, and for specific projects like the Bonneville Power Admininistration, which got $3.25 billion in additional borrowing authority to expand its Northwest power grid.

The White House says the investments will result in more than 3,000 miles of new or modernized transmission lines. The plan also will deploy 40 million “Smart Meters” in American homes, which track energy consumption in more detail and in real time and can lower utility bills and reduce power outages.

In all, a White House analysis says there is more than $11 billion in the recovery plan to create a "bigger, better, smarter electric grid."

"We will transform the way we use energy," Obama said at the signing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in Denver on Feb. 17, noting that the nation had been relying on a grid that dates back to Thomas Edison.

"The investment we are making today will create a newer, smarter electric grid that will allow for the broader use of alternative energy," he said.

This is a controversial plan in some circles, particularly among manufacturers of electricity meters that might have to change dramatically because of the new grid, and it will be a complex undertaking that will unfold over years. The White House acknowledged that this new nationwide "superhighway" will require long-term policy changes and years of planning.

"This gets the ball moving," said Phil West, a spokesman for the U.S. Energy Department.

We agree, and move this promise status to In the Works.

Sources:

USA Today, "Smart-grid standards an issue in economic stimulus bill," by Paul Davidson, Feb. 4, 2009

Taxpayers for Common sense, Final version: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 

CQ Transcripts, Remarks of President Obama at the signing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Feb. 17, 2009

Grid gets in line for funding

Updated: Thursday, January 15th, 2009 | By Angie Drobnic Holan

Certainly no one is happy that the U.S. economy is in such dire straits that policymakers are talking about a stimulus plan that could cost more than $500 billion. But an unintended benefit for Barack Obama is that the bill gives him a chance to make good on a number of his more expensive campaign promises.

Obama discussed the broad outline of his hopes for the bill in a speech at George Mason University on Jan. 8, 2009.

"It is not just another public-works program," Obama said. "It's a plan that recognizes both the paradox and the promise of this moment — the fact that there are millions of Americans trying to find work even as all around the country there's so much work to be done. That's why we'll invest in priorities like energy and education; health care and a new infrastructure that are necessary to keep us strong and competitive in the 21st century."

Democrats in the U.S. House released a broad outline of what they hope to include in the 2009 stimulus bill and it contained many ideas Obama promised during the campaign, including $32 billion to create a "smarter and better grid" for energy transmission distribution and production. The plan says the focus will be on renewable technology.

Granted, this is still a proposal, but it's concrete enough that we're moving the Obameter from No Action to In the Works.

Sources:

New York Times, Barack Obama speech on the economy at George Mason University , Jan. 8, 2009

U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee Web site, Summary: American Recovery and Reinvestment , Report Text , and Bill Text, (pdfs) published and accessed Jan. 15, 2009