Utilities Seek Stimulus Funds to Upgrade Meters
The first deadline for smart grid stimulus funding (Funding Opportunity Number 58) from the Department of Energy has passed and it appears, from public statements made by the utilities themselves, that the program may already be close to oversubscribed.
According to greentechgrid, “…the rough tally of publicly announced grant requests now stands at a total of about $2.85 billion – or nearly nine-tenths the amount available under the Department of Energy’s Smart Grid Investment Grant Program. Total funding for the program stands at $3.3 billion ($200 million per request) and many utilities have not made their requests known.
Publicly identified utilities with smart grid applications include the following:
- Alliant
- Ameren
- Baltimore Gas & Electric
- CenterPoint
- Commonwealth Edison
- Consolidated Edison
- Dominion Virginia,
- Duke Energy
- FirstEnergy
- National Grid
- NStar
- Oncor
- PECO
- Pepco
- PSE&G, and others.
The next funding deadline for utilities seeking federal dollars is August 26, when DE-FOA-0000036 or Smart Grid Demonstrations is due. According to the solicitation, “…funded smart grid projects will include regionally unique demonstrations to verify technology viability, quantify costs and benefits, and validate new business models for smart grid, at a scale that can be readily adapted and replicated around the country.”
