Brilliant minds—Nikola Tesla, Thomas A. Edison—and great engineers produced the marvel of the electric grid. It has united and fed the vast complex that is modern industrial and post-industrial society. But like the Scarecrow in Oz, the grid lacks a brain. Advances in electronics, communication and information technology now are enabling engineers to give the grid a brain. In the last decade, grassroots initiatives have sprung up around the country to create what has come to be called the smart grid. In a smart grid, sensors can anticipate system disturbances and respond to them before they cripple the system. Communication

Just over a year into a long-term partnership with the U.S. Dept. of Energy to transform Hawaii into a model clean-energy economy, 1,000 MW of alternative-energy projects are in the works along with an undersea-cable transmission project to deliver power among the state’s islands. One goal of the partnership is to offer Hawaii’s experience as a test bed for island economies globally as they make the transition to clean energy. Photo: Castle & Cooke Hawai’i Castle & Cooke’s La Ola solar station recently began generating 1.2 MW. The Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative (HCEI) was launched in January 2008 with a

Electric-utility executives are cheering the announcement that the federal government will promote standards for interoperability and security of a “smart grid” and that Energy Dept. grants for smart-grid investments and demonstration projects will be greatly enlarged. On May 18, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke announced the first set of 16 standards required for smart-grid implementation. DOE also will provide $10 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to the National Institute of Standards and Technology to support development of the standards. DOE’s maximum award of ARRA funds for the Smart Grid Investment Grant Program

Wind-power owners, developers and suppliers are preparing to soar under a new round of federal incentives. The news had 23,200 visitors—78% more than last year—blowing into the world’s largest conference on wind-generated electricity. On tap was February’s passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which boosts production tax credits (PTCs) to reduce owners’ tax burden for the first 10 years of operation. Wind PTCs are extended two years, through Dec. 31, 2012. Developers also can claim an alternate investment tax credit (ITC) or Treasury Dept. grant to recoup 30% in the first year. Photo: Sarah Klose / ENR John

As a standard-bearer for French plans to control one-third of the global nuclear powerplant market, Finland’s Olkiluoto project falls short of expectations. Delayed and mired in contractual disputes, the project is the world’s first to include new Franco-German reactor technology on which Paris-based Areva NP is hanging its ambitions. Slide Show Photo: TVO First Franco-German EPR reactor for Finland’s Olkiluoto plant is late. Olkiluoto’s third unit (OL3) is the first of a kind, say Areva officials, in explaining some of the project’s difficulties, hinting that the joint venture may have bid too optimistically for the turnkey contract. Now in arbitration,

Sempra Generation believes in solar power’s bright future: The dust had barely settled at the company’s five-month-old 10-MW photovoltaic power generation plant near Boulder City, Nev., when it announced an expansion to quintuple capacity. The company claims it will create North America’s largest thin-film photovoltaic installation. Photo: First Solar Solar plant is next to Sempra’s 480-MW gas-turbine plant. The unit of San Diego-based Sempra Energy “won’t start construction until we have a [power sales] contract in hand,” says a Sempra spokesman. “We hope to start construction later this year.” Potential buyers could come from neighboring states, all of which have

Federal stimulus funds will help get 7,400 MW of wind-energy and solar-energy projects ready for construction on public lands by the end of 2010, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told the American Wind Energy Association in Chicago on May 5. About $41 million is earmarked for the effort. The Obama administration also plans renewable-energy coordination offices in Arizona, California, Nevada and Wyoming to complete reviews “on the most ready-to-go projects,” he said. The projects will require new transmission lines to carry electricity to markets, including 1,500 kV of capacity in California, nearly 900 kV in Idaho and 1,000 kV in

California’s push to increase renewable energy’s share of the power market is showing results. Construction of the first phase of a new 400-MW solar power project in the California desert will begin in late 2009 once a contractor is named. Photo: Brightsource Energy Inc. Flat mirrors mean lower cost for BrightSource’s solar plant, piloted in Israel’s Negev Desert. Oakland, Calif.-based BrightSource Energy Inc. this year has signed contracts with Rosemead, Calif.-based Southern California Edison Co. and San Francisco-based Pacific Gas & Electric Co. for a total of 2,200 MW of power from seven planned solar plants at locations in California

The U.S. Dept. of Energy recently launched its Commercial Real Estate Energy Alliance (CREEA), a collaboration of commercial real estate owners and operators who will work together and with DOE to reduce energy consumption by commercial buildings. The undertaking will link the real estate community with research and technology emerging from DOE national laboratories. The group will serve as a national forum in which best practices in energy efficiency are documented and publicized and in which peers can share practical experiences and insights, says the Building Owners and Managers Association International, which also is involved in the group. The alliance

Engineers, contractors and owners are boarding the Energy Dept.’s $32.7- billion gravy train, augmented by $12.5 billion in loan programs, as it leaves Washington, D.C. Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s last job was as director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. His familiarity with the condition of lab facilities may be why DOE is pouncing on the $1.6 billion in funds appropriated by ARRA, with half earmarked for construction, infrastructure, equipment acquisition and research at nine national laboratories in seven states (see table below). The largest share for a single project is $150 million to accelerate construction on the National Synchrotron Light