Smart Grid Investment Grants: The Also-Rans

For every one project that got a piece of $3.4 billion in Department of Energy stimulus grants on Tuesday, three projects didn't.

But while the 100 winning projects may have won on the technical merits, that doesn't mean the 300 that didn't make the cut are lacking in quality, DOE advisor Matt Rogers said in announcing the awards (see DOE's $3.43B Smart Grid Grant Program: The Winners).

Still, utilities with projects that didn't make Tuesday's list are likely weighing their options for how – or if – to continue without DOE funding.

Several utilities had asked for extra money to speed up ongoing smart grid projects. Those will likely continue, if not as fast as they could have.

Dominion Virginia Power, for example, didn't get $200 million to speed up its deployment of 2.4 million smart meters, and Austin Energy missed out on the $113 million it was seeking to help support its $230 million plan to build out smart grid systems across its service area (see Grant Watch: Austin Energy, Oncor Seek Millions More for Smart Grid).

Some utilities filed multiple requests that added up to more than the $200 million maximum. Some of those got only partial funding.

Atlanta-based Southern Co., for example, only got $164 million of the $362 million it had sought (see Green Light post). Pepco won $149 million, but had asked for $254 million (see Baltimore Business Journal).

Texas-based Oncor, which had sought a total of $317 million in three applications to support both smart meter and distribution grid automation projects, didn't get any grant funding (see Oncor Makes $317M Smart Grid Stimulus Pitch).

Other projects that didn't get grants haven't started yet, but were part of utilities' longer-range plans. Whether or not they can go forward or will have to be scaled back or shelved will depend on many factors, including how much funding they've already secured versus how much they'll have to ask state regulators to approve via customer rate hikes.

Pacific Gas & Electric, for example, didn't get the $42.5 million it had sought to boost its plan to deploy energy management devices to about 75,000 small businesses and homes in San Jose, Calif. (see PG&E Asks Cisco to Help Make 75K Businesses Energy Wise).

Still, the utility will move forward with a smaller-scale project with funding already approved as part of its $2.2 billion, 10 million smart meter deployment, PG&E spokesman Paul Moreno said Tuesday.

Other proposals that weren't on Tuesday's winners list include:

• Connecticut-based Northeast Utilities, which had sought grants of about $126.5 million, or up to half the cost of its $253 million smart grant plan.
• National Grid, a U.K.-based company with operations in the United States, had asked for $200 million for a smart grid program for about 200,000 customers in New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
• St. Louis, Miss.-based Ameren Corp. has sought $185 million for two of its subsidiary utilities in Missouri and Illinois.
• Chicago-based Commonwealth Edison had asked for $175 million to boost its 141,000 smart meter deployment (see Green Light post).
• The Building Owners and Managers Association of Chicago (BOMA Chicago) had wanted $93 million to create a "virtual generator" out of 260 office buildings linked for energy control (see BOMA Chicago's $93M Smart Grid Stimulus Pitch).