BPA seeks additional Smart Grid partners and launches second workshop

Portland, Ore. - The Bonneville Power Administration is issuing a request for information for vendors interested in partnering on a regional Smart Grid demonstration project.  This is the second request BPA has issued for the project; the first focused on identifying interested utilities.

BPA will also hold a second workshop with utilities, vendors and other stakeholders to further develop the regional approach to Smart Grid.

What: Regional Smart Grid workshop
When: Tuesday, May 19, 9 a.m. to noon
Where: BPA Headquarters, 911 NE 11th Ave
Who: BPA, PNNL, regional utilities and other stakeholders

Smart Grid technology includes everything from interactive appliances in homes to substation automation and sensors on transmission lines.  It is a system that uses various technologies to enhance power delivery and use through intelligent two-way communication.  Power generators, suppliers and users are all part of the equation.  With increased communication and information, Smart Grid can monitor activities in real time, exchange data about supply and demand and adjust power use to changing load requirements. 

BPA initiated the request for information because the Department of Energy has announced a funding opportunity through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for Smart Grid demonstration projects. The DOE announcement is still in draft form, but BPA is moving forward with the request as a proactive step to help bring a Smart Grid project to the region.

“Collaboration is key for this project,” says BPA vice president of Energy Efficiency Mike Weedall. “We are working to finalize which utilities will participate in a proposal to DOE, and now we need to get other types of partners on board.  We’re looking for manufacturers, hi-tech companies and other stakeholders to commit to capital investments and matching fund contributions for long-term Smart Grid success.”

BPA worked on Smart Grid technologies a decade ago, before they were even called Smart Grid.  In 2006, BPA partnered with DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to advance the technology through the Olympic Peninsula GridWise Demonstration project.  These activities showed that Smart Grid can help meet increasing power demands, improve service and promote energy independence. Development of Smart Grid can also bring jobs to the Pacific Northwest.

In an April 14 workshop, the agency outlined its intention to partner with the region on a Smart Grid demonstration project and the need for potential partners to participate in planning and capital investments.

During the May 19 meeting, BPA will review the timelines and milestones for developing a project proposal, review proposed criteria for utility and vendor participation, review Smart Grid research goals, ask for input from stakeholders and answer questions.

Responses to the utility RFI are due to BPA by May 18, 2009.  Responses to the vendor RFI are due to BPA by May 26, 2009.  More information and the RFIs can be found at http://www.bpa.gov/Energy/N/smart_grid/index.cfm

BPA is a not-for-profit federal electric utility that markets more than a third of the electricity consumed in the Pacific Northwest. The power is produced at 31 federal dams owned and operated by the Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation and one nuclear plant in the Northwest and is sold to more than 140 Northwest utilities. BPA purchases power from seven wind projects and has more than 1,800 megawatts of wind interconnected to its transmission system. BPA operates a high-voltage transmission grid comprising more than 15,000 miles of lines and associated substations in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.

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