AFP/Miami
President Barack Obama announced yesterday the largest modernisation of the US electricity grid in history, in a $3.4bn bid to unleash a new era of renewable energy consumption.
Some 100 firms, manufacturers, utilities and cities were awarded grants worth from $400,000 to $200mn to help build a nationwide “smart energy grid” to cut costs and improve reliability of the creaking system.
“It is something that will give us sort of a transformational impact on how electricity is generated, delivered, and consumed,” said Carol Browner, assistant to the president for energy and climate change.
“We have a very antiquated system in this country. We need to upgrade that system, we need to modernise that system, and with it will come tremendous benefits for consumers and for our environment.”
Obama announced the grants, which reconcile a campaign promise from his 2008 election campaign and are drawn from his $787bn economic stimulus plan, after touring a solar energy center in Arcadia, Florida.
The programme is in line with his vow to lead the global battle against bloated energy consumption and climate change, and to build a “green economy” to produce new generation of jobs in an environmental revolution.
Administration officials battling the worst economic crisis for decades, said the project would create tens of thousands of jobs and lay the foundation for a new green energy infrastructure in the US.
The administration touted an analysis by the Electric Power Research Institute that estimated that the use of smart grid technologies could cut electricity use by more than 4% by 2030, saving $20.4bn.
Officials also said that the investment in the smart energy grid will allow companies to better draw electricity generated by solar power in the western US and wind power from midwestern states for instance.
“I would say this is much more than just a facelift,” said Browner.
“This is about really making something function in a modern way so that consumers can have better choices.”
The program will also fund the installation of millions of smart meters in homes and businesses, which will help consumers regulate their own energy use.
Administration officials argue the plan will put the United States on a path to generate 20% or more of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.
It will finance the installation of 1mn in-home displays, 170,000 smart thermostats and 175,000 load control devices to allow consumers to cut their energy use, the White House said.
Many of the projects are also supplemented by matching capital from private firms. |
