Four more utilities are seeking millions of dollars from a $3.3 billion pool of smart grid stimulus grants. A rough tally puts the total requested at $1.53 billion, but more applications are likely to come, industry watchers say.
The deadline is fast approaching to ask for a piece of the Department of Energy’s $3.3 billion Smart Grid Investment Grant Program, and utilities are taking notice.
Four more utilities – CenterPoint Energy, United Illuminating Co., Westar Energy and PPL Electric Utilities – have publicly announced their requests, in advance of the Aug. 6 deadline for applying for the investment grants (see DOE Issues Rules for $3.9B in Smart Grid Stimulus Grants).
Those make up the larger portion of a total of $3.9 billion in stimulus grants for smart grid projects. The remaining portion is for smaller projects that demonstrate new technologies (see DOE Hands Out $47M for Smart Grid Demos).
But for the investment grant program, job creation will be one of the key measures DOE will use to judge winners and losers, industry watchers say – and for many of the utilities that have applied so far, that means big smart meter deployments.
That includes a $317 million request from Texas utility Oncor, a $200 million request from Baltimore Gas & Electric and a $254 million request from Maryland-based Pepco Holdings (see Oncor Makes $317M Smart Grid Pitch and news reports here).
Still, not all the applications are aimed at boosting the number of two-way communicating electric meters in the field (see 8.3M Smart Meters and Counting in U.S.).
Distribution automation projects – sensors, communications and control systems to improve the efficiency of distribution grids – are also seeking a smaller, but significant, portion of the funds available (see Distribution Automation: Smart Grid’s Quiet Efficiency Offering).
Take the example of Houston-based CenterPoint Energy, which said Wednesday it would request $200 million from the program.
via Greentech Media: Smart Grid Stimulus Applications Accelerate as Deadline Approaches.
Related posts:
- Greentech Media: Utilities Brief California Energy Commission on Smart Grid Efforts
- Greentech Media: DOE Lifts Smart Grid Stimulus Cap to $200M
- DOE Issues Rules for $3.9B in Smart Grid Stimulus Grants | Greentech Media
- Defining an End-to-End Smart Grid | Greentech Media
- CU seeking stimulus grants for smart grid | Springfield News-Leader
