July 1, 2009

Too Many Fingers in the Smart Grid Pie?

Brian Gish

There has been much excitement about the advent of the "smart grid" recently, especially because of the strong push by the Obama administration. Despite the simple-sounding term, the smart grid is not a simple concept. It encompasses numerous complex elements. The smart grid has been touted as the means of, among other desirable objectives, reducing electricity demand and costs by giving consumers accurate price and usage signals, integrating renewable and distributed resources, improving the robustness of the system in the event of outages, and providing the infrastructure for the widespread use of electric vehicles.

Because the smart grid promises to address so many components across the industry, smart grid initiatives are being overseen by many — perhaps too many — different organizations and agencies, as I outline below. This raises the question of whether the smart grid effort could be advanced more efficiently by using a more centralized approach.

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), expanding on 2005 legislation, provides the statutory framework for much of the national smart grid effort. The EISA gave the DOE the responsibility to:

• Establish a Smart Grid Task Force made up of members of multiple federal agencies to coordinate federal efforts and make recommendations to Congress.

• Establish a Smart Grid Advisory Committee to include private and nonfederal governmental entities to advise relevant federal officials on matters involving smart grid development.

• Facilitate research on smart grid technologies.

• Establish smart grid demonstration projects.

• Study and report on infrastructure security aspects of the smart grid.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) appropriated funds for smart grid grants, for which the DOE has issued solicitations of nearly $4 billion. ARRA also instructed the DOE to establish a Smart Grid Clearinghouse for the sharing of demonstration results and research.