After more than two years of planning the Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project (PNW-SGDP), the country's largest smart grid initiative, will officially get rolling this fall.

Carl Imhoff, who manages the electricity infrastructure sector in Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's (PNNL) Energy and Environment Directorate, provided an update and perspective on the project in the June issue of the IEEE Smart Grid Newsletter. Battelle, which operates PNNL for the Department of Energy, is conducting the analysis for the project.

Imhoff outlined the five project objectives:

·         Quantify smart grid costs and benefits

·         Facilitate the integration of renewable resources

·         Validate new smart grid technologies and business models

·         Advance standards for interoperability and cyber security

·         Provide two-way communications between distributed generation, storage and demand assets, and the existing grid infrastructure

For the past two years, utilities have been installing the smart grid equipment and tools that are essential for the project – such as smart meters, water heater load controllers, solar panels, battery storage systems and backup generators. At the center of the project is its new transactive control and coordination network, the distributed system that provides the communications and other functions that will make the project work.

"As we start gathering data and experiences we will better understand which benefits may be realized and how these could be spread through deployment beyond our current footprint in the Pacific Northwest. The PNW-SGDP will surely not answer all remaining questions, but we are taking a significant step that will move the nation closer to a more efficient, sustainable and resilient power system," Imhoff said in the conclusion of his article.

For more background on the project ...

DOE Authorizes Grant Money for Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project

Northwest Utilities and PNNL Want to Show Us How Smart Grid Is Done