Bay Area To Lead The Way In Smart Electrical Grid Technology
SAN JOSE (KCBS) – Making our electricity grid smarter was the subject of a meeting at San Jose City Hall Wednesday. Experts say the Bay Area is poised to take the lead when it comes to smart grid technologies.
The way that it works is that power plants create the electricity, transmission lines send it out, and distribution lines connect the power to your home. A "smart grid" adds communication technology between all of those elements.
"That's so that the flow of energy can be better managed," said Tracey Grose, the vice president of Collaborative Economics.
She said that the company's report on smart grids finds that the Bay Area, with its high concentration of IT companies, is the perfect incubator for smart grid technologies.
KCBS' Matt Bigler Reports:
"There's great opportunity for the Bay Area with a national roll out of smart grid," said Grose.
The most comprehensive project in the U.S. is at Moffett Field, where Google, Yahoo! and NASA are partnering with PG&E to create a smart mico-grid.
"We are really focused on making sure that we've got the investments available to really insure that the infrastructure is in place to facilitate all of the new demands that will be on the grid," said PG&E President Chris Johns.
He said that the first step is finishing installation of the smart meters, which is expected to be completed by 2012.
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