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Print Edition StoriesThursday, March 18, 2010
NSTAR brings smart grid tech to three Mass. communities
By Mass High Tech staff
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NSTAR’s pilot project to deploy in-home smart grid technologies to residents in Newton, Hopkinton and Jamaica Plain has been approved by the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities.
The project, part of the Green Communities Act and the initial part of four pilot projects, brings the smart grid technology to about 2,800 NSTAR residential customers. The smart grid technology, which includes programmable thermostats, is designed to lower energy use during peak hours by aiding customers’ monitoring of energy consumption and costs. A press release from the DPU notes that NSTAR plans to notify customers in the three pilot communities of the costs of their electricity use, particularly in high-peak times.
The project will begin “almost immediately” and run through 2012. NSTAR has also been approved by the DPU to test its smart grid technologies in an Urban Grid project in the Back Bay section of Boston, in order to see the impact in its underground distribution network.
A combination of charges from utility ratepayers and grants from the U.S. Department of Defense, through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is funding NSTAR’s $16 million project.
The other three smart grid pilot projects will incorporate Massachusett’s investor-ownd utility companies National Grid, Western Massachusetts Electric Company and Unitil.
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