(Host) The American Recovery and ReinvestmentAct of 2009 includes billions of dollars for what’s known as "smart grid" technology.
Vermont’s utility industry hopes to take advantage of some of that money to revolutionize the way electricity is delivered and consumed.
VPR’s Susan Keese has more.
(Keese) Kerrick Johnson sees smart grid as nothing less than a transformation of the flow of power and information across the rural landscape.
(Johnson) Essentially what you’re talking about is that at every step of the energy chain you seek to implement information technology.
(Keese) Johnson is a spokesman for VELCO, the company that runs Vermont’s electrical transmission system.
Smart grid is a computerized system that utilities can use to monitor how electricity is being used and where. It also gives consumers similar information – so they decide how and when to use power.
Johnson says utility officials have been plotting how to implement smart grid in this rural state. The state has also been looking for a way to bring high speed Internet to everyone. He says those two goals are closely linked and the federal stimulus package could jump start them.
Now, the power industry and telecommunications officials are working on a package of related applications that reflects those synergies.
Johnson says the goal is to create a fiber optic backbone that can support smart power use as well as broadband for all Vermonters.
A smart grid system is interactive, Johnson says. Information and power flow both ways, so customers with solar panels may actually feed the grid at times instead of consuming power.
And instead of having their meters read once a month, ratepayers at home will be able to monitor minute-by-minute changes in the cost of power.
Electricity costs more when demand is higher. David Hallquist is CEO of the Vermont Electric Coop. He says that for his members, the peak is early evening, when people tend to be home.
(Hallquist) And one of the nice things about smart grid technology is that it allows you create smart appliances and actually set price points that you want your appliances to operate under. It’s a question of well, I’d like my dryer to operate when the price of power is less than 10 cents a kilowatt hour.
(Keese) The Vermont Electric Coop has already provided so-called smart meters to three quarters of its mostly rural customers. The move was sparked by a need to respond to outages more quickly. The utility can now monitor its system and spot power outages on its computer rather than waiting for complaints.
But there’s more to be accomplished. And the state’s other major utilities are just getting started. The project could cost hundreds of millions of dollars and could take decades to achieve without a federal boost. But Johnson is optimistic.
(Johnson) The idea that you have a state working together aligning their interests and seeking to craft a common vision for these overall smart grid telecommunication goals that’s something that sets Vermont apart from other areas in the country and frankly we hope that gives us an edge in the competition for some of these federal dollars.
(Keese) Vermont utilities will have to compete with companies in other states for that money.
For VPR News, I’m Susan Keese.