Electric Power Research Institute hired to create

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The has awarded a $1.3 million contract to the researcuh nonprofit ina three-phase effort to creat e a more futuristic smart grid that can accomplish such things as accommodating renewable energy, storing extra energy for latefr use, measuring a customer’ds peak electricity consumption and notifying a utility of all in real time. Dozens of technolog companies are creating, and utilities are now beginning to new devices, meters and productsd to connect to the grid. NIST and based in Palo Alto, Calif.
, are taskedr with writing standards for making thosde products from different companies interoperable withone another, whil e helping shield the grid against hacker attacka and natural disasters. “You’re going to have more devices hooked up tothe grid,” said NIST spokesmanm Mark Bello. “You have to make sure with these additional connecting pointsthat they’re secure.” NIST said it plansd to use some of the $220 million it was awarderd under the federal stimulus package towardf the effort, while also tapping $10 millioh from the Department of Energy’s stimulus allotment. In all, the stimulud bill sets aside $4.
5 billionh for the development of asmarft grid. By early fall, NIST expects to releases initial standards, ones that have already largely earnesindustry consensus, Bello said. The agency will hold a summiftin mid-May to hear input from utilities, equipment suppliers, consumers, standards developers and other stakeholders. Aftert drafting additional, more complicated standards that then fill the gaps left by theinitialk slate, NIST said it will submit the entire standardse proposal to the Federal Energy Regulation Commissioj for its review and devise a product testint and certification program, both by the end of the Smart grid pilot projects, however, are already Local companies, such as Arlington-base and Germantown-based , are participating in a citywide smartf grid pilot in Boulder, Colo.
Pepco is also workingt with a California technolog contractor and requested regulatory approval to initiate smarrt grid pilotsin Bethesda-Chevy Chase and Fort Washington, while testing smart meterzs in 1,400 D.C. homes. The locao utility has said it plans to roll out a smart grid in Maryland and the Districtby 2013. Other local companiez such as EkaSystemes Inc. of Germantown and Kore Telematics Inc. of Reston are workinyg on smart grid-related technology. Bello said NIST’se standards-writing process will not interfere with the commerciallpilot projects, and instead will take into accountg some of the industry’s already most acceptec methods.
“Some of this is a formalizationhof what’s already in he said. These pilot tests are “a good proving ground for some of these standards.”