Steve Holland, PlanetArk 28 Oct 09;
ARCADIA, Florida - President Barack Obama on Tuesday announced $3.4 billion in grants to help build a "smart" electric grid meant to trim utility bills, reduce blackouts and carry power generated by solar and wind energy.
It was the largest award made in a single day from the $787 billion stimulus package approved by Congress. The White House said the award will create tens of thousands of jobs while upgrading the U.S. electric grid.
Republicans have heavily criticized the stimulus as wasteful spending that has done little to reduce America's 9.8 percent jobless rate.
The grants, which range from $400,000 to $200 million, will go to 100 companies, utilities, manufacturers, cities and other partners in 49 states -- every state except Alaska.
Obama made the announcement after taking a tour of an array of 90,000 solar panels that line a grassy plain of cow pastures deep in the muggy heart of Florida, apparently more panels than there are people in Arcadia.
Obama, doffing his suit coat against the heat and humidity, told a crowd the program was an important investment in the types of clean energy he would like to foster in the United States to wean the country off carbon fuels.
He said the grants would go to private companies, utilities and cities and were aimed at creating a "smarter, stronger and more secure electric grid."
"At this moment, there's something big happening in America when it comes to creating a clean energy economy," Obama said.
Carol Browner, Obama's top adviser on climate change and energy issues, told reporters that the current grid system was outdated and dilapidated.
"Not only do we need to make the current system bigger and add more watts, but we need to make it function better," she said.
"MORE THAN A FACE-LIFT"
The grants will not be used to build new power lines, but improve the capabilities of the electrical system. "I would say it's more than a face-lift," Browner said.
The money will pay for about 18 million smart meters that will help consumers manage energy use in their homes, 700 automated substations to make it faster for utilities to restore power knocked out by storms and 200,000 smart transformers that allow power companies to replace units before they fail, thus avoiding outages.
The winning companies have secured an additional $4.7 billion in private money to match their government grants, creating $8.1 billion in total investment in the smart grid.
One of the winning companies is Constellation Energy's Baltimore Gas and Electric Co, which will receive $200 million in grants to add to $250 million in private funds to deploy a smart meter network for all of its 1.1 million residential customers.
Constellation Energy chairman Mayo Shattuck said the new technology would put the country on the brink of the "greatest transformations of the electric grid ever."
"This technology allows consumers to have the opportunity to reduce their bills and it allows utilities to increase their efficiency," Shattuck said.
The White House will act fast to get the money into the economy, with the funds expected to be in the accounts of the winning companies within 60 days. The projects themselves will last 12 to 36 months.
BGE customers can use the meters to view their electricity use in real-time, allowing them to run appliances when there is less demand on the grid and power prices are cheaper.
Sempra Energy's San Diego Gas and Electric Co subsidiary will get $28.1 million on top of the $32 million it plans to spend to connect 1.4 million smart meters.
(Editing by David Storey)
Obama unveils historic power grid reform
Yahoo News 27 Oct 09;
ARCADIA, Florida (AFP) – President Barack Obama Tuesday announced the largest modernization of the US electricity grid in history, in a 3.4-billion-dollar bid to launch a new era of renewable energy consumption.
The president toured the largest solar energy plant in the United States to unveil the program, under which 100 firms, manufacturers, utilities and cities were awarded grants worth from 400,000 to 200 million dollars.
The new plan will help build a nationwide "smart energy grid" to cut costs and improve reliability of the creaking system.
"We need to do more than just add solar megawatts to this electrical grid," Obama said, against a backdrop of rows and rows of solar panels sown like vines in the fields at the DeSoto solar energy plant in Arcadia, Florida.
"This grid... still runs on century-old technology. It wastes too much energy and costs us too much money and it's too susceptible to outages and blackouts."
Obama compared the current US electricity grid, plagued by breakdowns and outages to the national roads system built during the 1920s and 1930s.
Carol Browner, Obama's special assistant on energy and climate change predicted the program would have a "transformational impact on how electricity is generated, delivered, and consumed."
"We have a very antiquated system in this country. We need to upgrade that system, we need to modernize that system, and with it will come tremendous benefits for consumers and for our environment."
The grants keep a campaign promise from Obama's 2008 election campaign and are drawn from his 787-billion-dollar economic stimulus plan.
The program is in line with his vow to lead the global battle against bloated energy consumption and climate change, and to build a "green economy" to produce a new generation of jobs in an environmental revolution.
Administration officials battling the worst economic crisis for decades said the project would create tens of thousands of jobs and lay the foundation for a new green energy infrastructure in the United States.
The administration touted an analysis by the Electric Power Research Institute that estimated that the use of smart grid technologies could cut electricity use by more than four percent by 2030, saving 20.4 billion dollars.
Officials also said that the investment in the smart energy grid would allow companies to better draw electricity generated by solar power in the western United States and wind power from midwestern states for instance.
"I would say this is much more than just a facelift," said Browner.
"This is about really making something function in a modern way so that consumers can have better choices."
The program will also fund the installation of millions of smart meters in homes and businesses, which will help consumers regulate their own energy use.
Administration officials argue the plan will put the United States on a path to generate 20 percent or more of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.
It will finance the installation of one million in-home displays, 170,000 smart thermostats and 175,000 load control devices to allow consumers to cut their energy use, the White House said.
Many of the projects are also supplemented by matching capital from private firms.
