Addressing Policy and Logistical Challenges to Smart Grid Implementation

Description

On September 17, 2011, the Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability issued a Request For Information (RFI) seeking information from stakeholders on the policy and logistical challenges that confront smart grid implementation. Responses to this RFI will also help inform the Administration’s analysis of policy challenges and possible solutions being developed by the Smart Grid Subcommittee of the National Science and Technology Council’s Committee on Technology.

The Smart Grid Subcommittee is working to ensure the Federal government develops and executes a long-term, comprehensive smart grid strategy in partnership with the states. The Subcommittee is co-led by DOE’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability and the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology.

“This request for information is a continuation of the Department of Energy’s and the Administration’s commitment to seek input from all stakeholders regarding the policy and logistical challenges to implementing smart grid technologies and applications,” said Assistant Secretary Patricia Hoffman. “The information gathered from the responses provided to this request will inform and shape the Administration’s smart grid policy.”

Modernizing the nation’s electric grid is important to achieving the Administration’s energy and climate change goals, and smart grid deployment, accelerated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act investments, is a significant component of the Administration’s broader strategy. Smart grid technologies can integrate information, communication, and intelligent control into the electrical system, improving the reliability, efficiency, and flexibility of the grid and enabling consumer choice.

In the RFI, DOE seeks input on:

• the best way to define the term “smart grid” for policymaking purposes;
• the consumer-level benefits from, and challenges to, smart grid deployment;
• the benefits and challenges associated with smart grid implementation on the “utility side” of the meter;
• the ways in which policy makers at all levels of government can share experience and resources; and
• the broader, economy-wide benefits and challenges associated with the smart grid.

Issues

Comment due date: 11/01/2010