Lockheed Wants to Help Utilities Pitch Smart Grid Projects

Defense contractor Lockheed Martin is making its smart grid ambitions clear, announcing that it will partner with construction firm Black & Veatch to help utilities put together stimulus-worthy smart grid projects – and to protect them from cyber-attack.

That's something Lockheed said it has already been doing behind the scenes, though it did not name any utilities it is working with, according to this VentureBeat story.

Wireless provider Sprint made a similar smart grid publicity pitch earlier this month. Of course, Sprint and Lockheed will bring wholly different capabilities to the smart grid space. Sprint has its global wireless network to carry smart grid data to offer, as well as its stake in public WiMax networks (see Sprint Stakes Smart Grid Claim).

Lockheed, on the other hand, has a lot of broad engineering and computing expertise to back up its smart grid ambitions, starting with its energy efficiency consulting and engineering line of business.

As for smart grid, Lockheed has given $400,000 to Penn State University to research smart grid technology, and early this year it said it would offer software meant to integrate various smart grid functions in a central utility back office system, something that computing giants SAP, Cisco and Oracle are also seeking to provide (see Oracle Launches 'End-to-End' Smart Grid Software).

It also has experience in an emerging area of concern for regulators and utilities when it comes to smart grid projects - cybersecurity. With millions of smart meters and other grid controlling devices being installed around the country, the risk of opening those systems up to malicious or accidental tampering has a lot of industry watchers concerned. Lockheed's deep experience with military contracting could give it an advantage in that field.

Of course, the first round of stimulus grant applications for commercial-scale smart grid projects is now closed and the $3.4 billion available is expected to be exceeded by requests. That means there may be little more in the way of commercial-scale projects expecting stimulus funds, although applications for grants to support smaller, more experimental projects are still open for the next few days (see Green Light post).

Still, Lockheed's experience in government contracting could make it an attractive partner for future projects. After all, the federal government's involvement in smart grid is unlikely to end with the depletion of those stimulus grants, given the ongoing standards and security work underway at agencies such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (see DOE Issues Rules for $3.9B in Smart Grid Stimulus Grants).