Seattle City Light and the University of Washington will take part in regional plan for using advanced, "smart grid" technology to create more efficient use of electricity across the Pacific Northwest.
The Obama administration made the Northwest a big winner on Tuesday in the competition for stimulus money to help the country move to a more efficient digital system, what the federal Department of Energy has called "the internet brought to our electrical system." Energy experts say that advances in the distribution of electricity are critical to keeping the existing grid working and meeting future electricity needs.
City Light and the UW are part of the Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project, which received Department of Energy for half of a $178 million project around the region. City Light said the project was the largest of 16 receiving federal money in the second round of grants announced Tuesday.
In a press release, City Light Superintendent Jorge Carrasco said the utility was happy to be included in the regional team, which will work with 60,000 electricity customers across four states. "This is another step in our efforts to move to a different relationship with our customers in energy management," Carrasco said. "Advances in this area could help our customers reduce their energy consumption, shorten our restoration times for outages, and increase the overall efficiency of our distribution system."
The UW-City Light project involves development of what the utility said will be a $9.6 million smart micro grid project. City Light said the project "will allow UW administrators to better understand how energy is used on campus and apply that knowledge in ways to better manage their facilities and control energy costs."
According to City Light's release, the project has these four components:
- Install utility-grade "smart meters" that can monitor electric consumption for 200 buildings on the university's campus.
- Upgrade and create a common communication capability for the 33 individual building management systems currently in use across the campus.
- Install data management equipment at one location to allow a regional grid operator to monitor and control energy uses and important generation assets, such as solar panels, steam turbines or emergency diesel generators.
- And install monitoring and control equipment in two lab or classroom buildings and two dormitories.
