The U.S. Department of Energy awarded $111.5 million to the Electric Power Board Tuesday in order to expedite the build-out of a fiber optic smart grid in the Chattanooga area.
The funding stems from a new initiative of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, or stimulus plan, to improve and secure electric grids across the country. The award to EPB is part of a broad $3.4 billion package recently announced by President Obama in Arcadia, Fla.
With stimulus dollars in tow, implementation of the smart grid will take three years instead of the 10-year time frame originally proposed by EPB.
The smart grid will utilize the $220 million fiber optic infrastructure that the electric provider began installing in 2008. Stimulus funds will help EPB increase points of automation on the electric system, as well as provide smart meters to every electric power customer's home in the service area. All told, approximately 170,000 homes and business in East Tennessee and North Georgia will form one of the largest, municipal smart grids in the country.
"We hope that, in addition to Chattanooga area customers benefitting from the electric system Smart Grid, the area will become a test bed for smart grid technology and deployment." EPB President Harold DePriest said at a press conference Tuesday.
"Information technology and new approaches to managing customer relationships is the key to managing energy costs and environmental impacts in the future," he said.
In addition to EPB, the project will include: Tantalus Systems Corp., a Canada-based company that specializes in smart grid metering and technologies; Medium, a local web firm that will build a web-based electricity monitor for consumers; and Alcatel-Lucent, which handles digital TV solutions for the utility.
For more information about smart grids, visit the U.S. Department of Energy.
Electric Power Board is a publicly owned electric utility in Chattanooga, Tenn.
David Morton
fftspam on Oct. 30, 2009
This is a game changer. Being one of, if not the first community to be 100% connected to a 'smart grid' puts us on the bleeding edge of real time energy conservation.
Listen to the WSJ morning report podcast 29OCT2009.
BTW, does everyone know that CARTA is the only municipal transportation authority in the US that has 100% WiFi? Every single bus has 100% free WiFI?
Anonymous on Nov. 22, 2009
sounds like 1984