Pacific Gas and Electric announced today that it’s partnering with the city of San Jose, Calif., to deploy a major project integrating smart meters provided by the utility with the city’s well-developed solar energy infrastructure.
PG&E has been gradually rolling out smart meters in its California service areas. Just like traditional meters, they record how much electricity a household or business is consuming in real time. Only now, they transmit the data they collect to both the utility and the consumer over wireless networks, eliminating the need for monthly meter readers and allowing energy users to keep track of how much they are spending on energy as they use it.
PG&E, which applied for $42.5 million in stimulus funding from the U.S. Department of Energy last month, says it will earmark some of the money it receives for the project in San Jose. The end goal of the collaboration is to equip 75,000 homes and commercial spaces in the area with smart meters, give PG&E control over more solar installations, and better manage grid loads to prevent brownouts and other disruptions.
via San Jose, PG&E lift veil on major Smart Grid collaboration | VentureBeat.
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- Cisco in global ‘smart grid’ collaboration – Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal
- More utilities look to the DOE for smart grid financing | VentureBeat
- NV Energy seeks stimulus funds for smart grid – San Jose Mercury News
September 25, 2009
[...] San Jose, PG&E lift veil on major Smart Grid collaboration [...]