DOE Selects NW and Benton PUD for $178 million Smart Grid Demonstration Project

The Department of Energy has selected a Pacific Northwest team including Benton PUD to conduct a regional smart grid demonstration project designed to expand upon existing electric infrastructure and test new smart grid technology with up to 60,000 customers in five states.

The Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project was one of 16 announced by DOE.  The team combines energy providers, utilities, vendors and research organizations. 

Total estimated cost for the project is $178 million.  DOE will provide half the funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.  The project’s participants, primarily utilities and industry team members including Benton PUD,  will provide the remaining funds.

The Northwest study will involve more than 60,000 metered customers in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming.  Using smart grid technologies, the study will test new combinations of devices, software and advanced analytical tools that enhance the power grid’s reliability and performance.

At its peak, the project could create about 1,500 total jobs in manufacturing, installation and operating smart grid equipment, telecommunications networks, software and controls in the five states. 

“We are thrilled to be a part of this project. It will accelerate the process for Benton PUD to develop Smart Grid concepts for the benefit of our customers,” said Rick Dunn, Benton PUD Director of Engineering. 

The project team will install equipment and technology in 2010 and 2011.  Then, for the next two to three years, project leaders will gather data on smart grid performance from 15 test sites that represent the region’s diverse terrain, weather and demographics.  The test sites range from Fox Island in Washington State’s Puget Sound, to the Teton Mountains in western Wyoming, and include the campuses at the University of Washington and Washington State University as well as in Benton PUD’s service area. 

The project will involve more than 112 megawatts of power, enough to serve 86,000 households.  

 

In 2006, the region participated in the DOE-funded Pacific Northwest GridWise Demonstration Project on the Olympic Peninsula.  The project was designed to test and speed adoption of new smart grid technologies that can make the power grid more resilient and efficient.  The study showed that advanced technologies enabled consumers to be active participants in improving power grid efficiency and reliability, while saving about 10 percent on their electricity bills in the process.  The new project build on those results expanding the scale of the effort and introducing additional technologies.

Smart grid technology includes everything from interactive appliances in homes to substation automation and sensors on transmission lines.  It is a system that uses various technologies to improve power delivery and use through intelligent, two-way communication.  Generators of electricity, suppliers and users are all part of the equation.  With increased communication and information, smart grid technology enables real time monitoring of electric energy use, exchange of data about supply and demand and adjustments of power use to changing load requirements. 

 

Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project

Test Site Locations and Corresponding Utilities

Idaho

Idaho Falls (Idaho Falls Power)

Montana

Northwest Montana (Flathead Electric Cooperative, Inc.)

Southwest Montana (NorthWestern Energy)

Oregon

Milton-Freewater (City of Milton-Freewater)

Portland (Bonneville Power Administration)

Salem (Portland General Electric)

Washington

Airway Heights (Inland Power & Light Co.)

Ellensburg (City of Ellensburg)

Fox Island (Peninsula Light Co.)

Kennewick (Benton PUD)

Pullman (Avista Utilities)

University of Washington (Seattle City Light)

Wyoming

Western Wyoming (Lower Valley Energy)

Technology and Vendor Team Members

3TIER, Inc.

AREVA USA

IBM

Netezza Corp.

QualityLogic, Inc. and Drummond Group, Inc. 

 

Additionally, there are several companies that will be collaborating with one or more of the project’s utilities.