An Oct. 11 Associated Press article describes a smart grid system that will soon be tested in Maui.
Hawaii is the country’s most fossil-fuel dependent state, with imports supplying about 90 percent of its power needs. Smart grid offers a solution to cutting the island’s energy consumption.
General Electric will test its smart grid technology will be tested at the luxury resort community of Wailea, turning off appliances when electricity is expensive and makes better use of wind and solar power. GE hopes to reduce peak electricity consumption there by 15 percent by 2012.
Electrical contractors well know – but many consumers are just now learning – that electricity costs more when demand is higher. The goal of smart grid is to eliminate unnecessary energy use during peak times. The technology to facilitate this includes meters and information relays that communicates electricity usage and allows a utility to cut power to unnecessary appliances during peak times.
There are nearly 70 smart grid pilot programs around the country including Miami, Seattle, Houston and Boulder, Colo. From the article:
Located on the slopes of Haleakala, Wailea was chosen for the smart grid because rapid construction growth in the area and its isolation make it a fertile testing ground, said Peter Rosegg, spokesman for Hawaiian Electric Co., a shareholder-owned utility and the parent of Maui Electric Co.
“Eventually, advanced metering and the smart grid will be all across the country,” Rosegg said. “They can learn a lot here on a small, easily manageable grid.”
Half of the $14 billion project is funded through the U.S. Dept. of Energy stimulus funds, with the rest of the resources and personnel contributed by General Electric and Hawaiian Electric.
Maui’s independent power grid provides about 200 megawatts of electricity across the island during peak times, with its largest wind facility, Kaheawa wind farm, able to produce up to 30 megawatts within the current system.
Separate from GE’s smart grid, another test project at Kaheawa aims to store and distribute 1 megawatt of renewable power using a large battery. Integrating the renewable power with the smart grid will be the next step in the testing process.
Read the complete article
http://enr.construction.com/yb/enr/article.aspx?story_id=136333481
October 19th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
I hope the $14 billion dollar figure is just a slip of the tounge. I had a hard time believing Hawaiian Electric could afford a reasonable portion of this figure. The complete article states the project cost at $14 million. This seem more beliveable. The disturbing point is your proof readers didn’t see the decimal shift here. They didn’t question the US Department of Energy spending $7 billion funding a smart power project. That is truly the sad part of this mistake.
October 27th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
You are correct. The amount is $14 million, not billion. Thanks for taking the time to bring this error to our attention. The AP article is no longer posted, but Maui News has it posted at http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/524674.html.
Would you be able to expand on your comments on smart grid project funding? What amount do you believe would be appropriate?