Stimulus award paves way for Pullman ‘Smart City’ project

A recent award of federal stimulus money could put Pullman and Albion on the path to better energy efficiency.

A group of energy companies, including Avista, is planning to move ahead on a $38 million “smart grid” energy project in Pullman and Albion, after the U.S. Department of Energy last week announced funding for the project.

The project is part of a $178 million five-state project by 12 energy companies that is being spearheaded by Battelle, the company that operates the Pacific Northwest National Laboratories in Richland.

“I think this project would not have gotten off the ground without the stimulus grant,” said Paul Kimmel, regional manager for Avista. “We’re real excited to get this off the ground.”

Avista is putting $12.9 million of its own funds toward the project.

The project will try to implement technologies to improve power management in 15 communities throughout Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming and Montana.

Locally, Avista will install energy monitoring devices in the houses of more than 15,000 residents.

Those meters will allow customers to see what appliances use the most energy and when energy use is highest throughout the community. Kimmel said the hope is that customers will tailor their energy consumption to times of less demand.

Customers would pay less for using power that is not in peak consumption periods.

Conservation, said Kimmel, could hold down overall rates by reducing the utility’s need to construct new power stations. Those meters could be installed in local homes as soon as the end of the year.

Kimmel said students from Washington State University will help compile the data from the meters throughout the five-year project.

Also part of the project is sensors that will automatically reroute power around areas hit by power outages.

Large-scale batteries will also be built to store excess energy generated from wind farms.

In total, the Department of Energy awarded $620 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help fund 31 projects across the nation.