DOE launches smart grid Web portal

The Energy Department has started a new Smart Grid Information Clearinghouse Web site to provide a forum for information sharing on smart grid technologies.

The beta version of the Web portal started July 7 provides information on technologies, standards, rules, use cases, training and other best practices for smart grid technologies that use sensors, infrastructure and communications devices to better monitor and control energy use. The fully operational Web site is anticipated to start this fall.

The clearinghouse Web site provides an overview of the technologies, projects and deployments underway. Another goal of the Web site is to collect comments and suggestions from the smart grid community and the public about application, research and development of smart grid technologies.

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A related federal Web site, www.smartgrid.gov, also tracks smart grid projects in detail. It is sponsored by the Federal Smart Grid Task Force, an interagency group of nine agencies, including the Energy, Commerce, Defense and Homeland Security departments.

Smart grid technologies include smart meter implementations, as well as upgrades to transmission and energy distribution infrastructure. In a report released July 7, ABI Research estimated that the global smart grid industry would grow to $46 billion by 2015, from $12 billion in 2008.

Energy last year selected the Virginia Tech Advanced Research Institute in Arlington, Va., with assistance from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the EnerNex Corp. to create the new Web site. The five-year contract is valued at $1.3 million. Funding was provided through the economic stimulus law of 2009.