Casey, Specter Announce Over $233 Million Going to Pennsylvania for Smart Grid Technology

Washington, D.C. -- October 27, 2009 -- U.S. Senators Bob Casey and Arlen Specter today announced that the U.S. Department of Energy has awarded $233,184,232 to four companies in Pennsylvania to invest in Smart Grid Technology. Federal funding is provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

“I am pleased that this federal funding has been allocated to energy providers in Pennsylvania to reduce consumer costs and invest in infrastructure,” said Senator Casey. “This funding will allow Pennsylvania to continue to be a leader in conserving energy, increasing efficiency and harnessing innovative, renewable energy sources.”

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“The stimulus funding to develop Pennsylvania’s energy grid is a great investment that will spur the state’s transition to more efficient and reliable energy,” Specter said. “The smart grid technologies will promote energy-saving choices and cut energy costs for Pennsylvanians across the board.”

The Department of Energy today announced a $3.4 billion investment in Smart Grid Technology throughout the country which will fund a broad range of projects that will ease the nation’s transition to a smarter, stronger, more efficient and reliable electric system. This is the largest single Smart Grid modernization investment in U.S. history.

PPL Electric Utilities Corp. in Allentown will receive $19,054,516 to deploy a distribution management system and smart grid technologies to monitor and control the grid in real-time, improve system reliability and energy resource optimization and provide the infrastructure for distributed generation and broader energy efficiency efforts.

PJM Interconnection, LLC in Norristown will receive $13,698,091 to deploy over 90 phasor measurement units and other digital monitoring and analysis technologies across 10 states that will provide real-time data on the operating conditions of the transmission system, improving reliability and reducing congestion.

PECO Energy Company in Philadelphia will receive $200,000,000 to Deploy smart meters to all 600,000 customers, upgrade communication infrastructure to support a smart meter network, install 7 "intelligent" substations and accelerate deployment of more reliable and secure smart grid technologies that will reduce peak energy load and increase cost savings.

The Wellsboro Electric Company will receive $431,625 to implement the "Smart Choices" project, which will deploy smart meter network systems throughout the utility's service territory.

Source: Senator Arlen Specter