Miami is plugging into the Smart Grid

Today, General Electric (GE) announced that the Smart Grid has come to Miami, Florida.  The Energy Smart Miami Initiative was rolled out today, providing more than a million wireless “smart meters” to each and every home in Miami-Dade County.  GE has partnered with Silver Springs Network and Cisco for technology and communications components of the smart grid in Miami.

Just in time for Earth Day, the announcement is exciting on a number of levels.  As explained in an email press release by GE:

The groundbreaking project has the potential to be the most comprehensive and holistic smart grid city implementation ever launched in the United States.  Energy Smart Miami will empower Florida Power & Light customers to use in-home devices to pay lower prices for electrical power — such as using off-peak energy on high consumption washers and dryers and plug-in vehicles.  While so-called “time of use” pricing reduces consumer energy use by 5 percent, studies show that when combined with technologies such as smart appliances, smart thermostats and home energy displays, savings can jump to an average of 25 percent.  And in a yearlong study by the U.S. Department of Energy, smart grid consumers reduced peak consumption by up to 15 percent — and overall consumption by up to 10 percent.

Time for an Energy Smart Miami

Use of $200 million from the federal Stimulus monies provided to Florida will help get the project off the ground, and will create as many as one thousand green jobs during the 2-year roll-out.

If you are familiar with the concept of a smart-grid, you’ll recognize the importance the upgrade will have to renewable energy projects like solar panels and wind.

As renewable energy production is connected to the general power grid, a “smart” computer-enabled grid is required to manage the result.  When people rely on distributed generation renewable energy instead of electricity from centralized power plants, it can be expensive to manage the variable power generation, changing usage patterns, and multiple sources.

With GE’s participation in the development of smart grid for our country’s future energy needs, we’ll get there soon.  Miami is a great test case for the rest of the nation and the world.

We’ll finally see first-hand that the efficiencies of smart grid management, when combined with sustainable renewable energy, is a critical element in the fight against global climate change and foreign oil dependence.