The $4.5 billion that the federal government has allocated in smart grid stimulus funding is just a utility’s down payment on the grid, Department of Energy senior advisor Matt Rogers, who oversees allocation of the funding, told Grid Week attendees today. It is a down payment in customer choice, but the expected return on investment is what has nearly every utility and a range of players and new partners clamoring for a piece of the market.

“We are trying to move this in quite a rapid fashion,” Rogers said in a panel today on smart grid implementation. “As part of making the down payment is the expectation that these are high payout projects…It’ll take $150 to $180 billion in investments, but the payout is four or five to one.” The government’s aid in the grid is also an investment in network reliability to create much more rapid response and a reliable grid network, as well as to create a grid that can handle the levels of renewable energy that the DOE is anticipating, he said.

via Grid Week: Stimulus funding just a down payment, DOE says.

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