Senate panel to study details of setting up electric 'smart grid'

[jpak]

http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/03/02/02greenwire-senate-panel-to-examine-details-benefits-of-sma-9921.html

Lawmakers, regulators and industry officials have declared that a "smart grid" is necessary for the nation's energy security and clean energy future, but the technology has yet to be adopted nationwide.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will examine the smart grid dilemma in a hearing tomorrow with discussion on what exactly a smart grid is made up of, the benefits -- including jobs -- it creates and what barriers restrict its implementation.

"Clearly, everyone agrees we should do more," Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) said in an interview. "But we know we have to get down to the details of what does that mean." Bingaman said there is likely to be a smart grid component in upcoming energy legislation that he hopes to introduce and mark up in the next four to five weeks.

Despite including $11 billion for smart grid initiatives in the economic stimulus bill, lawmakers, businesses and the public alike are still absorbing what a digitized, intelligent grid could do for renewable energy, consumption behavior and information, and grid operation and efficiency.

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