Smart Grid to Roll Out in Australia This Year

Grid updates can help us all use electricity more efficiently and save energy (image from jayson shenk on Flickr)

For all the nay-sayers who believe that its too expensive to update our electric grid, take note!  The smart grid is rolling out in Australia this year.  Several cities in New South Wales are planning on updating to a smart grid later this year.  They’ll be the first region in Australia to make the important change.  Australia expects many more cities to follow suit.

Australia is encouraging nationwide upgrades to a smart grid through its “Smart Grid, Smart City” initiative.  It has joined forces with GE Energy, IBM Australia, and Energy Australia, a leading utility in the country.

Rolling along the power superhighway (image from Rennett Stowe on Flickr)

The smart grid will go live in the cities of Newcastle, Scone, Homebush, Ku-ring-gai and the central business district of Sydney, Australia.  While it is estimated to cost approximately $100 million to upgrade the grid, the carbon emission savings are astounding!  Sen. Penny Wong, Australia’s minister of climate change, energy efficiency and water estimates that smart grids across Australia could save about 4 million metric tons of CO2 each year.

How can a smart grid help save so much energy?  I’m glad you asked!

A smart grid is, as the term implies, “smart.”  Think of it as a direct communication between the utility and end-users of the power.  Peak-hour production and system strains are minimized through alerts that allow people to adjust their consumption to avoid peak usage hours.  Electricity use can be optimized to allow non-urgent power demands to be met during off-peak hours.  As a result of smarter electricity consumption, brown-outs can be eliminated.  In short, its a win-win for both sides!

How Smart Grids Work (image from GDS Digital on Flickr)

Here in the U.S., steps continue to be taken toward our own smart grid system.  The federal government is encouraging investment through Department of Energy smart-grid technology development grants.  As of October 2009, 100 smart grid projects had received funding for development.  DOE estimates that over 18 million smart meters could be installed through the projects, which would be approximately 13% of all U.S. homes.

Perhaps one of the first local smart grid systems to come on-line will be Sacramento County in California.  It is aiming to upgrade to a smart grid for 600,000 power users by March 2011.

What do you think about the smart grid?  A smart way to save energy, or too expensive to justify?