It was after the 2003 power outage that began in Ohio and spread to eight states and parts of Canada that Americans began to hear about the urgent need to upgrade the nation’s electricity grid.
A more advanced grid — a “smart grid” — could have prevented the outage, which affected 50 million people, experts began saying.
The most significant step yet toward getting a smart grid under way was taken Tuesday by President Barack Obama when he released a total of $3.4 billion in stimulus money in the form of grants.
That money will be paired with money from utilities, including Nevada’s NV Energy, and private companies to create a budget of more than $8 billion to install new grid and power-monitoring technologies.
Expectations are high among the 100 grant recipients across the country that the new technologies will revolutionize not only how electricity is distributed, but also how consumers use energy.
Regarding distribution, for example, a common criticism of energy from solar and wind is that it isn’t effective when the sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing. But the sun is always shining and the wind is always blowing somewhere — and a smart grid could find that power and deliver it where most needed.
Regarding consumers, the grants contain $1 billion for the installation of “smart meters.” These digital displays show the times when electricity and gas costs are lowest. Conservation through efficient use of these meters could prevent electric utilities from having to buy more power during times of peak use, meaning fewer power plants would have to be built, resulting in cleaner air and lower all-around energy costs.
The stimulus grants included $138 million for NV Energy, which plans to match it with $160 million and make smart-grid infrastructure improvements and install more than a million smart meters.
All of these technical improvements are expected to create tens of thousands of jobs, making the grants a perfect use of stimulus money.
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