Smart Grid Program Waits On State Approval | Worcester, Hopkinton to be part of pilot programs for new technology in energy tracking
Officials with National Grid were hoping to begin a smart grid pilot program during the first quarter of this year to study if better monitoring of energy usage could decrease utility costs for customers.
In fact, the state’s 2006 Green Communities Act mandated that the four investor-owned utility companies in the state develop a smart grid pilot program.
Now, National Grid is waiting on the state’s Department of Public Utilities to give them the green light to start the project.
Waiting Game
The four electricity utilities in the state, including National Grid, NStar, Massachusetts Western Electric and Fitchburg Gas & Electric, which is owned by Unitil, all made applications for a smart grid pilot program to the state last year. Now, the companies are waiting for approval for the projects, which must be done by August 2010.
Timothy Shevlin, spokesperson for the DPU, said state officials are reviewing the applications, but responses to the pilot program will not be coming “anytime soon.”
He said DPU lawyers and utility experts are reviewing each of the applications and the utilities will have a response by the August deadline.
National Grid’s $57 million project would impact 15,000 Worcester-area customers, said Bill Pratt, director of smart grid customer programs for National Grid. It’s by far the largest of the four proposals being considered by the state.
NStar has the second largest project proposal, which would impact 3,000 customers and cost $15 million. About a third of that pilot would take place in Hopkinton, while the majority will be in Newton.
Western Mass Electric has proposed a 1,750-customer, $7 million pilot, while Unitil has proposed a 96-customer, $300,000 pilot, which would take place in North Central Massachusetts.
Mandated smart grid programs are just one piece of the Green Communities Act, said Philip Giudice, commissioner of the state Department of Energy Resources. The overall act is meant to encourage energy conservation and efficiency through a variety of programs, including smart grid technology.
“We need to understand how we’re using energy, in our homes, in our schools and in our businesses,” Giudice said. “Then we need to figure out ways of using the energy and distributing it more efficiently.”
Pratt, the National Grid planner, said the company’s program calls for installing smart meter technology in each of the customers’ homes or businesses that are part of the pilot. The meters will allow customers to track real-time use of electricity and allow the company to better monitor trends in usage. The pilot would also establish different prices for energy depending on how much energy is being used across the entire grid.
If the company gains approval from the DPU to execute the program, Pratt said they would likely need about nine months to upgrade the equipment and ready the system.
Unitil’s program would be similar, but it would impact far fewer customers. Wes Eberle, a spokesman for the company said Unitil has already installed automated metering infrastructure across much of the customer base, which give the utility better tracking of electricity distribution and easier-to-understand readings for customers. The pilot would also include a more advanced outage management system, which would allow the company to better track power outages.
NStar’s program would also allow better customer tracking of usage and would focus on giving customers information via the Internet to monitor energy usage and pricing.
Some customers could even participate in a “smart thermostat” program that would automatically change the temperature in a home depending on the price and demand for energy at the time, according to the company.
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