President Obama rolled out a plan to use $3.4 billion in stimulus funds to modernize the nation’s electrical grid today.
The smart grid spending will go to private contractors, utilities, and municipal governments in grants of between $400,000 and $200 million. The administration expects $4.7 billion in private investment to match the taxpayer money, and predicts the spending will create tens of thousands of new jobs.
In addition to job creation, the administration has described projected savings on electricity for consumers, and the mitigation of economic damage caused by power outages, which will be less frequent and easier to fix with a smart grid. New technology will also allow consumers to tap into renewable sources of energy.
“The smart grid is something that has a transformational impact on how energy is delivered,” a presidential energy adviser tells Politico. “This is about building more than just miles of wire.”
Politico also has a list of the White House’s Smart Grid Energy Awards.
October 28th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Many of these grants will present fantastic opportunities for NECA’s electrical contractors, as utilities across the country will need to install millions of smart meters. The DOE site has detailed lists of the grant recipients, listed by state (http://www.energy.gov/recovery/smartgrid_maps/SGIGSelections_State.pdf) and award category (http://www.energy.gov/recovery/smartgrid_maps/SGIGSelections_Category.pdf ). I’m sure that some of our more proactive contractors are already searching through the lists to determine who to call on in their market area.