Smart grid $ flow The Department of Energy is expected to give away tomorrow all its $3.4 billion in economic stimulus funds earmarked for smart grid projects. More than 400 groups will be waiting to see if their proposals got picked.	Rick Merritt Computing Editor
Obama administration officials said the move represents "the largest single grid modernization investment in U.S. history." They add that "modernizing the grid will create tens of thousands of jobs [and] save money for consumers and businesses." The government has long expected to spread the money around to a wide swath of geographies and technologies, so don't expect any specific trends when awards are announced Tuesday (Oct. 27). But you can expect the whole $3.4 billion kahuna will come down rather than a dragged out process of two or three phases of calls and proposals as some expected at the beginning. I love to say we told you so, and that's what we did in our cover story early this year which procliamed after years of talk about smart grids, this stuff is becoming real. In addition to providing these funds, the government has also pushed smart grid standards forward. And it is providing money to train a new generation of digital power engineers. Not bad for nine months in office. Posted by Rick Merritt on Oct 26, 2009 06:15 PM in Computing

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