Smarter Faster Power Grids in Making

The Department of Energy is unlocking a good $3.3 B to companies and utilities in pursuit of developing a smarter and faster power grid. This is a really nice and rational step. The stimulus grants come with a cap of US$ 200 M which is still a handsome amount as compared to previously proposed $ 20 M. Now that is one hike. 20 was not expected to make any significant appreciable changes to the grid and that may be one reason to inflate it to 200, which should hopefully do the job.

This new smart grid will be able to "automatically measure the amounts and peak times of a homeowner’s or business’ actual electricity consumption. This shall even detect outages and problems and electronically notify utilities, and perhaps even store power during off-peak hours to be used during times of higher demand" as noted by Business First

The new National Standards of this smart grid products and technologies should be out by the end of the year.

It is definitely going to change an individual's as well as a company's future.