US government ups smart grid support

The US moved a small step closer to delivering on President Obama's vision of a nationwide smart grid last week, after the Department of Energy (DoE) announced it will soon release of the first set of draft standards for smart meters and intelligent devices that could connect to the grid.

The trailing of the new draft standards, which will be subject to a 30 day comment period, was accompanied by the announcement that $10m in additional funding will be made available to further the development of interoperability standards, designed to make it easier for manufacturers of electronic devices to connect appliances to the smart grid.

The DoE said the initial batch of 16 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recognised interoperability standards will help ensure that software and hardware components from different vendors will work together seamlessly together, securing the grid against disruptions.

Spanning areas ranging from smart customer meters to distributed power generation components and cybersecurity, the list of standards is based on feedback from participants at a recent industry and stakeholder workshop hosted by the DoE.

Barack Obama has said he wants a smart grid to be at the heart of his low carbon revolution in the US, arguing that the two way communication between energy suppliers and users that smart grids enable will make it easier to reduce overall energy use, while also allowing grid operators to enhance efficiency by better managing peaks and troughs in demand.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has set aside $4.5bn for investment in smart grid technologies and a raft of energy and technology companies are currently applying for funding.

Energy secretary Steven Chu also announced last week that based on feedback from the public and smart grid developers, the DoE is increasing the maximum award available from $20m to $200m for smart grid device projects, and from $40m to $100m for smart grid demonstration Projects.

"The smart grid is an urgent national priority that requires all levels of government as well as industry to cooperate," he said. "We still have much to do, but the ultimate result will be a much more efficient, flexible power grid and the opportunity to dramatically increase our use of renewable energy."

In related news the DoE also announced last week that it would divide $2bn in federal grants between 35 battery companies, including battery makers, component providers and electric vehicle firms. Applications for these economic stimulus grants, ranging in size from $100m to $150m are due by today, according to reports from the VentureBeat blog.