Pacific NW gets $89 mil of the $620 mil DOE Smart Grid grants

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will manage the Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration project.

NW power grid project gets $89 million from DOE

A project to examine how high technology can improve the Pacific Northwest's electric power grid has received an $88.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

By The Associated Press

RICHLAND — A project to examine how high technology can improve the Pacific Northwest's electric power grid has received an $88.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The money, to help pay for the $177.6 million Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project, was the largest among 32 grants DOE announced Tuesday as part of $620 million in stimulus aid.

The grant will go to Battelle Memorial Institute's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, which will manage the project. The remainder of the project's cost will be borne by energy providers, utilities, technology companies and research organizations taking part.

Electricity Infrastructure Operations Center

The Electricity Infrastructure Operations Center at PNNL is a user-based facility dedicated to energy and hydropower research, operations training and back-up resources for energy utilities and industry groups.

Smart meters are part of the project.

Among those taking part in the project are the campuses of the University of Washington in Seattle and Washington State University in Pullman. At both schools, "smart meters" will be installed to provide real-time information on power consumption, along with software and other gear to automate and monitor the electricity distribution system.

I wonder if anyone has thought including the Pacific NW data centers in Washington and Oregon in the project?  Problem is almost all the big data center operators wouldn’t want the public to know the power consumption of their data centers.

I hope someone proves me wrong and signs up with PNNL.

Comments

[Commercial Energy Australia Co]

Great read and informative, thanks. You’re right we don’t hear very much at all about the Greens Policies. I had no idea they didn’t recieve big biz political donations – good on them. This will be something I’ll be keeping strongly in mind when I head to the ballot box.