Smart Meters, Smart Grid, Green Jobs & More

Smart Meters, Smart Grid, Green Jobs & More: Mayor Diaz Unveils Energy Smart Miami Program
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 04.20.09

At a press conference today Miami Mayor Manny Diaz unveiled the $200 million Energy Smart Miami program. Done in conjunction with Florida Power & Light, GE, Cisco Systems, and Silver Spring Networks, the program will install wireless smart meters and a smart electric grid, expand solar power at local universities and schools and expand use of plug-in electric hybrid vehicles. Not to mention create 800-1000 new jobs. Here are the details:

Contingent on federal funding being received under the Stimulus, the work on the following is slated to begin later this year and be completed by 2011:

Smart Meters For Homes & Businesses
Florida Power & Light will install more than 1 million smart meters at every home and most businesses in Miami-Dade County. Over the next five years this will be expanded to more than 4 million homes in Florida. These meters will allow customers to go online and monitor their energy usage for the month, hour or day. This should allow customers to better manage their electricity usage, saving money in the process, and will allow FPL to more efficiently deliver electricity.

The Smart Grid
Miami's smart grid will connect these wireless smart meters with high-efficiency transformers, substations and other equipment through a centralized control system that will continuously monitor power usage, identify problems in the grid (fixing them remotely or dispatching teams to do so), and more generally improve reliability and efficient distribution of electricity.

Academic Solar Power & PHEVs
Florida Power & Light will add 300 plug-in electric hybrid vehicles to its fleet in the Miami-Dade County area. These will be powered by 50 new charging stations. Additional PHEVs will be used in trials at Miami Dade College, Florida International University, the University of Miami, and by the City of Miami.

Additionally, several local universities and schools will be receiving solar power installations, some of which will have battery backup to store power for use during times of peak demand