Sacramento County To Install Smart Grid System
The Sacramento Municipal Utility District recently signed a deal with Silver Spring Networks to provide around 600,000 businesses and homes with a smart grid. The installation of the project is scheduled to begin in July and is expected to be completed by March 2011.
The installation will include two way electric meters and area networks that will provide real time information for usage, rates and even provide the ability to control the energy usage to a building. The information will allow users to monitor how much energy is being used and adjust their energy consumption.
The smart grid will give the Sacramento Utility the sixth largest electric utility that is community owned in the United States, the ability to not only monitor energy usage, but to determine trends throughout the entire service area. It will also reduce the operating costs and improve reliability.