Environmental Leader

Smart grid demonstration projects should benefit from the $620 million in Department of Energy funding announced Nov. 24.

In addition to smart meters, the 32 demonstration projects range from large-scale energy storage to distribution and transmission system monitoring devices. To view a full list of projects, click here.

The GridWise Alliance hailed the move for its cost-sharing aspect. The government funds will be leveraged by about $1 billion in private funds.

“We will learn how these smart grid ideas work from a real world technological and a business level. These regional and technology-specific awards will help quantify the costs and benefits of the smart grid,” said GridWise President Katherine Hamilton, in a statement.

Hamilton said that smart grid technologies can enable clean energy solutions like renewable energy, distributed generation and energy efficiency.

In other news, the GridWise Alliance recently entered into a pact with the International Engineering Consortium to work together on making utilities more intelligent and compatible with the smart grid, according to a press release.

The Electric Power Research Institute estimates that the smart grid could reduce electricity use by more than 4 percent by 2030. That would equate a savings of $20.4 billion.

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