In March of this year, I discussed the ARRA feeding frenzy in a blog entitled “The Air Is Electric”. The ARRA is still in its infancy, but at its debut, intense lobbying had already begun on Capital Hill. Utilities, vendors, and consultants had descended in hopes of carving out their own piece of the stimulus pie. A little over six months later, we’re starting to see exactly how some of those pie pieces were divvied up.
One big winner is the Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) in Chicago. ComEd is one of the largest electric utilities in the country with a total of over 5.4 million customers (3.8 million of which comprise 70% of Illinois’ population). According to a Reuters report, ComEd is slated to receive $5 million in ARRA funds for a “Smart Grid solar pilot.” Designed to analyze the integration of renewables into the Smart Grid, this one-year pilot project will also help the utility examine the impact of pricing signals and distributed energy for approximately 200 customers. The project will also incorporate smart meters within a new AMI system that will be used to collect usage information every 30 minutes.
What’s significant about this project from the distributed energy perspective is how the customers and the utility will be monitoring demand, use, and the relationship between onsite power and the smart grid, always with an eye towards efficiency. The pilot participants will be using onsite solar systems (some with storage capability), and ComEd will measure and meter not only the energy usage of the participants, but the energy generation as well. Some customers will even receive credit for excess generation when the onsite solar systems pumps electricity back into the grid.
As outlined in Reuters, ComEd's Smart Grid solar pilot will:
* Study how integration of photovoltaic panels and energy storage into AMI systems will affect reliability of the distribution system
* Observe and evaluate the way consumers engage with technology and respond to price signals during peak and non-peak demand times
* Assess customer attitudes toward adopting new and emerging technologies
So what do you think? Is this exactly the type of project promised by ARRA advocates? Does this mean that the future of distributed energy and onsite power is becoming ever more intertwined with the Smart Grid?