U.S. Energy Dept. Awards $47 Million in Recovery Act Funding for EV Smart Grids

Also: Illinois, Colorado, Austria announce plans to invest heavily in plug-in infrastructures.

By Scott Doggett, Contributor

When it rains, it often pours. That's certainly the case now, as the U.S. Department of Energy, the states of Illinois and Colorado, and an Austrian utility all announced in recent days that they will invest many millions of dollars to create recharging networks for electric vehicles.

That's wonderful news, because it brings electric-vehicle makers and potential EV makers a step closer to solving one of the two major problems they face: That being a lack of infrastructure to support pure EVs and plug-in gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles.

The other problem remains development of inexpensive, safe, reliable, lightweight and energy-rich batteries to power the vehicles. Many companies and governments are working on a solution to that problem.

The Energy Department on Monday awarded $47 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to eight ongoing smart-grid demonstration projects. The $47 million investment will add to the $17 million in funds DOE had awarded these eight projects last year, thereby accelerating the timelines for the projects.

Most of the projects relate to technologies to help transmission and distribution systems operate better, but a few are directly related to clean energy. For example, the city of Fort Collins, Colorado, will research, develop and demonstrate a coordinated and integrated system of mixed clean energy technologies and distributed energy resources, allowing the city to reduce its peak electrical demand by at least 15 percent.

Meanwhile, the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago will focus on implementing distributed energy resources and creating demand-responsive microgrids, which are small power networks that can operate independently of the utility power grid. In addition, the University of Hawaii will explore the management of its electrical distribution system to better accommodate wind power.

The Energy Department also just released the first Smart Grid System Report, which examines smart-grid deployments nationwide. The findings show that while many smart-grid capabilities are just beginning to emerge, the adoption of various technologies such as smart metering, automated substation controls and distributed generation are growing significantly.

The report also notes that smart-grid capabilities are socially transformational. As with the Internet or cell phone communications, smart-grid technologies have the potential to dramatically change how we experience electricity in the country, but improvements in physical and cyber security and information privacy will require consumers, manufacturers and utilities to closely follow a range of best practices for the smart grid.

Additionally, the Energy Department has begun the development of a Smart Grid Information Clearinghouse, tapping Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University for the $1.3 million initiative to develop and maintain the clearinghouse Website, which will provide information to the public about smart-grid initiatives happening nationwide. The Smart Grid Information Clearinghouse was mandated by the Recovery Act.

Illinois, Colorado and Austria

While there is no coherent national plug-in vehicle legislation aside from the PHEV tax credit bill, some states are moving forward with their own proposals to encourage more vehicles with plugs. Both Colorado and Illinois recently passed plug-in support laws.

In Colorado, state lawmakers and the governor have passed legislation that creates or extends tax credits for natural gas conversions, plug-in hybrid conversions, diesel-electric hybrid conversions and anti-idling technologies. The credits are capped at $6,000.

Meanwhile, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has signed a bill that gives nearly $250 million to various technology projects in the state, including $10 million for an electric-car infrastructure.

And in the country that gave us Adolf Hitler and Arnold Schwarzenegger comes news that Verbund, Austria's largest utility, Siemens AG and several partners plan to invest as much as $71 million to build the Alpine country's first power network for recharging electric cars.

Together with car-parts supplier Magna International and electric-motorcycle manufacturer KTM Power Sports AG, the group will service 100 vehicles next year and 1,000 by 2012 in a yet-to-be-determined Austrian urban area, Verbund CEO Wolfgang Anzengruber said today at a briefing in Vienna.

The investment helps Austria prepare for a surge in demand triggered in part by its joining a global treaty to reduce carbon emissions from sources such as gasoline-burning cars.

Industry forecaster CSM Worldwide predicted this month that global EV output will rise to 132,067 in 2015 from 7,115 vehicles during the current calendar year. Ford, Nissan, Toyota, Honda, General Motors, Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Smart and other major automakers are developing EVs, and smaller automakers Tesla Motors and BYD have already done so.

Posted by

Scott Doggett July 22, 2009, 12:16 PM

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