Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Editorial: A smart power grid for America
The nation will upgrade its critical electricity infrastructure.
From the RoundTable blog
Read the latest entries
Televisions, cellphones, computers, video games, air conditioners, electric heaters. America's appetite for electricity continues to grow. Electric cars even cruise down Roanoke streets.
Getting the electrons to the right places is no easy feat. The power grid, for all its amazing ability to deliver service to homes, businesses and streetlights in the middle of nowhere, is inefficient and antiquated. Engineers equipped with modern technology would build something better, something smarter.
That is the goal of $3.4 billion President Obama announced Tuesday to modernize the nation's power grid. The money comes from the economic stimulus package approved this spring. Private investors will chip in another $4.7 billion.
One hundred projects will receive funding, including installing smart meters at homes, digital transformers on the grid and new sensors that can better monitor and control the flow of power. Such upgrades will earn big savings over the next couple of decades. The Electric Power Research Institute estimates a smart grid would save $20.4 billion for businesses and residential users by 2030.
A smart grid reduces waste and allows utilities to route power where it is needed when it is needed. The technology empowers consumers to control and monitor how much electricity they use.
It also will facilitate generation of more electricity from green sources, which have variable output.
When the wind does not blow or the sun does not shine, windmills and solar panels do not work. A smart grid can compensate for that.
Some smart grid money out of the stimulus package is heading to Virginia Tech, too. The school will receive $1.25 million to develop, manage and maintain a public Smart Grid Information Clearinghouse Web portal. It is a major responsibility, but the Department of Energy believes Tech is up to it. So do we.
Some critics of the stimulus plan complained that not enough money was going to infrastructure projects that would create jobs. The smart grid upgrade should help satisfy them.
