smart grid technology

As solar technology evolves and improves, so does the necessity of finding efficient and reliable ways of getting the energy to the grid. Here's a look at what's being done.

The Problem:

The Obama Administration has recently devoted millions of dollars to invest in smart grid technology. “Smart grid” sounds very high tech and far in the future to laypeople like me, but the effects of this investment will start to be noticed soon and the changes will be long lasting. The government projects that these investments will:

The United States federal government has approved a program which will award $2.3 billion in tax credits to manufacturers of clean energy equipment.

The new program authorizes the Treasury Department to provide renewable energy developers with a 30% tax credit for facilities that manufacture particular types of equipment. 

Another day, another funding announcement by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

The DOE has announced it will deliver more than $47 million USD in funding for eight smart grid projects.  This is another step towards modernizing America's electrical grid--a critical piece for delivering renewable energy to American consumers.

Greentech Media has released data that shows venture capital investment in renewable energy sectors has risen 50% in the second quarter of 2009.

In Q2, $1.2 billion USD was invested through 85 deals in renewable energy sectors.  This is a sharp rise from the $836 million USD that was invested through 59 deals in the first quarter of 2009.

GridPoint, Inc., a leading smart grid company, recently released GridPoint Platform 3.0. 

"Smart Grid" is term buzzing around in the renewable energy and technologies industries, right now.