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Print Edition StoriesWednesday, November 4, 2009
Policy Tracker
Smart grids get $3.4B; Small biz win 43% of DOE awards
MHT's Jackie Noblett: Generating power from hot pavement
MHT's Efrain Viscarolasaga: Tech companies may have to wait for stimulus funds
MHT's Efrain Viscarolasaga: Preparing the smart grid for more power
Obama awards $3.4B for ‘smart grid’ projects
President Barack Obama announced $3.4 billion in funding for projects to modernize the nation’s electricity grid — the largest group of economic stimulus awards ever made in one day.
The government funds will be matched by more than $4.7 billion in private-sector investments. The awards went to 100 companies, utilities, manufacturers and cities across the nation.
The largest chunk of the government funding — $2 billion — went to projects that will integrate different “smart grid” components, such as smart meters and automated substations, into one system. Another $1 billion was directed to projects that expand consumer access to smart meters and other systems that will enable them to run appliances and equipment when electric rates are the lowest.
In New England, $95.9 million was targeted at a $195.9 million project to install 650,000 smart meters in the territory served by Central Maine Power Co.
Other awards for smart meters went to municipal and regional electric companies in Marblehead; Norwich, Conn.; Plymouth, N.H.; and Rutland, Vt.; while infrastructure grants went to ISO New England Inc., NStar Electric Co. and Honeywell International Inc. of Danvers.
Small firms win 43% of DOE awards
The Department of Energy announced $151 million in funding for 37 research projects on advanced energy technologies. This marks the first round of projects funded by the department’s new Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E, which received $400 million in funding from the economic stimulus bill.
Of the lead recipients of the grants, 43 percent are small businesses, 35 percent are educational institutions and 19 percent are large corporations.
Projects selected for funding include development of an all-liquid metal battery that could bring large-scale energy storage to the nation’s electricity grid, and further work on a bioreactor that has the potential to produce gasoline directly from sunlight and carbon dioxide, with the help of bacteria.
— Kent Hoover, ACBJ News Service
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