Leading the Way in Building a ‘Smart Grid’

May 19, 2009

The federal stimulus package and various U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) initiatives are promoting development of a “smart grid” to help solve America’s energy crisis. In addition, DOE Secretary Steven Chu declared our nation’s electricity transmission and distribution system a national priority this spring.

But what does any of this mean for electric cooperative members?

The electric grid that covers our nation—quite literally the largest machine ever built—includes millions of miles of transmission and distribution lines that deliver power from generating stations to your front door.

Contrary to popular belief, the grid isn’t unintelligent; it has sustained us for almost a century, keeping electricity safe, reliable and affordable. But the grid is similar to a high school graduate who heads off for college. There’s a lot of room for learning, in this case, in the areas of energy efficiency and reliability.

The first step toward building a smarter grid involves installing a strong foundation of smart meters at homes and businesses that can talk back and forth to utilities about outages and electric use.

Electric cooperatives lead other industry sectors in deploying smart meters and related automation devices, creating an advanced meter infrastructure inside the grid. Seventy percent of the nation’s cooperatives have installed some form of a smart meter, and another 11 percent will join them in the next year. This is important when you consider cooperatives own and maintain 2.5 million miles of distribution lines, delivering power to 12 percent of American homes. In comparison, a recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) report showed only 2.7 percent of investor-owned utility customers have smart meters.

South Plains Electric Cooperative began its smart meter program in 1996. Currently, there are 34,285 smart meters connected—that’s 75 percent of our total. The current work plan predicts the Cooperative will be at 100 percent in five years. Installing smart meters is an expensive project, so the Cooperative has used a careful implementation plan to spread out the financial burden.

These meters cut down on operating costs and help cooperatives effectively manage outages. For example, a smart meter can tell us when the power is out instead of relying on you to call the outage in, and they can help reroute power around problems. Down the road they might be able to help you manage energy use, showing you what power costs at different times of the day to help you make smart energy choices when using appliances.

At South Plains Electric Cooperative, we’re committed to building a smarter grid, making it faster, more efficient and smart enough to handle challenges this century promises to bring. An intelligent, strong grid will help members save money and may minimize future government mandated increases resulting from climate change and other policy goals. It’s a critical part of the way we focus on supporting innovative technologies that make economic sense, allowing us to continue providing you with safe, reliable and affordable power in years to come.

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