The Winners and Losers in the Smart Grid Stimulus Funds
The $3.4 billion in smart grid stimulus fund awards were announced this morning and close to 100 recipients woke up today to the equivalent of Christmas morning. At the same time, another 300 or so utilities and cities missed the boat and will have to find their own funds to get their smart grid projects rolling.
CenterPoint Energy, Florida Light and Power and PECO Energy Company received the maximum $200 million grant, while the tiny municipal utility EPB, which is building an unusual fiber-based smart grid in Chattanooga, Tenn., received $111.57 million. But California’s Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison, as well as National Grid, Oncor, and Tennessee Valley Authority were notably absent from the list (see some of the applicants that didn’t receive funds here).
The non-utility awards went to Whirlpool ($19.33 million) for smart appliances, and M2M Communications ($2.1 million) for a smart irrigation system in California’s Central Valley. In terms of how the funds were split up among regions, North Carolina brought in $400 million, Florida received $267.20 million, California brought in over $200 million, and New York $173.55 million (a far cry from its full ambitions).
Here’s some of the big winners in this morning’s announcement that were awarded over $100 million:
| Company | Type of Firm | Amount Received | Project | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southern Company Services | Utility | $164.53 million | Deploy 5 smart grid tech system. | Birmingham, AL |
| Sacramento Municipal Utility District | Utility | $127.51 million | Install 600,000 smart meters, dynamic pricing, electric vehicle charging, and 50,000 demand response controls. | Sacramento, CA |
| Potomac Electric Power Company (PEPCO) | Utility | $104.80 million | Install 570,000 smart meters, dynamic pricing, distribution automation, and communication infrastructure tech. | Washington DC |
| Florida Power & Light | Utility | $200 million | For Energy Smart Florida, which will install 2.6 million smart meters, 9,000 smart distribution devices, 45 phasors and advanced monitoring at substations. | Miami, FL |
| Baltimore Gas & Electric | Utility | $200 million | Smart meter network for 1.1 million residential customers that will enable dynamic pricing. | Baltimore, MD |
| Duke Energy | Utility | $200 million | Smart grid for Duke’s midwest electric system including Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. Smart meters or 1.4 million customers, advanced automated distribution, dynamic pricing, plug-in electric vehicles. | Charlotte, NC |
| Progress Energy Service Company | Utility | $200 million | Build a smart grid “virtual power plant” through conservation. | Raleigh, NC |
| NV Energy | Utility | $138 million | Smart grid, dynamic pricing, 1.3 million smart meters, | Las Vegas, NV |
| Consolidated Edison Company of New York | Utility | $136.17 million | General smart grid, . | New York, NY |
| Oklahoma Gas and Electric | Utility | $130.00 million | General smart grid, deploy 771,000 smart meters, in home energy management displays, and dynamic pricing. | Oklahoma City, OK |
| PECO Energy Company | Utility | $200 million | Deploy 600,000 smart meters | Philadelphia, PE |
| Electric Power Board of Chattanooga | Utility | $111.57 million | Deploy smart grid to all 170,000 customers. | Chattanooga, TN |
| Center Point Energy | Utility | $200 million | Install 2.2 million smart meters, as well as 550 sensor and automated distribution devices. | Houston, TX |
a far cry from it’s ambitions indeed.
FYI, today the DOE announced awards for “investment” grants. Southern California Edison did not apply for any investment grant funding. They applied for two “research” grants. The DOE will announce research grant awards within the next 2 to 4 weeks.
The biggest threat to America’a power grid?
See:
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/10/24/terrorists-strike-u-s-infrastructure/
Smart Grid is all the buzz, but it is the reality. Controlling the peaks of power usage is becoming ever more important. The projects which we are involved, will save the Utilities huge sums of money over time and will level out usage. The ability for your power company to alert you to savings of $22 per month by washing your clothes after 9pm, or washing your dishes at a certain hour to save “X” will be huge for consumers, too. We will all become more responsible for our consumption. The benefit will be lower bills to us, better reliability for the utilities.
Appliances with timers? They are coming next.
Bobby Vassallo
http://citywirelessconsulting.com