The initiative spans five states: Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Washington, and Wyoming. The project would help the participating utilities to understand the costs and benefits of smart grid technology.
Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) deputy director Bill Drummond was quoted by The News Tribune as saying that "Demonstrating the benefits of smart grid outweigh the costs is crucial for any utility considering moving forward with these investments."
Bonneville Power is collaborating on the project, which is investigating how a smarter grid can deliver electricity efficiently and how wind power can be used.
A transactive control system would be used to capture how the wind supply and forecast varies to translate that into incentive signals which are updated every five minutes. These signals, or prices, will be then sent to participating utilities.
The project is being paid for by US Department of Energy’s Recovery Act money and the project’s utility and vendor partners, including BPA and University of Washington.
