Results from a year-long study on high-tech electricity meters found smart grid technology performed as intended, saving consumers about 10 percent on their bills while easing strain on the power grid.
The Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest Laboratory on Wednesday released the findings from its GridWise project, which tested the use of Internet-connected thermostats and other controls in 112 homes in the Seattle area.
Consumers also tried out appliances, like water heaters and dryers, that were able to automatically change their settings according to signals sent by the utility over the power grid.
The trial showed that consumers are willing to have utilities remotely dial down the appliances to lessen the load on the power grid and reduce their consumption, said Rob Pratt, program manager at Pacific Northwest National Lab.
These changes could be as small as turning off the heat on the dryer while it continues to tumble for a few minutes. But those minute-to-minute adjustments, driven by the fluctuating demand on the power grid, can have significant benefits to utilities.
"We could save $70 billion in investments in the next 20 years by offsetting construction of new infrastructure that would otherwise be needed to meet load growth," Pratt said during a teleconference with the media.
Smart grid technology would also provide more reliability to the power grid, allowing utilities to isolate problems more easily. Clean power sources such as wind and solar, which pose technical challenges because they don't supply a steady stream of electricity, can be better incorporated with upgraded equipment, the study found.
The electricity infrastructure in the United States needs significant investment to be modernized, according to industry analysts. But utilities tend to be very conservative and unwilling to make large capital expenditures on new equipment.
"The only thing that will move this forward is simply the fact that we have got to do something," Pratt said. "(Utilities) have been delaying investment (in physical infrastructure) and they're going to need computer and Internet technologies as a stopgap if nothing else."
The recently passed energy bill includes a title that would allocate additional research for smart grid technologies. It also outlined a process for standardizing communications protocols.
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