DSL may be the key to holding down 'smart grid' costs

The US government is attaching new priority to the task of reducing nationwide energy waste, with one approach being to modernize the country's aging power grid. By creating a "Smart Grid," or a self-monitoring and balancing network of electricity, the US may be able to utilize all forms of power (solar, fossil fuel, hydroelectric, wind, nuclear) in a more efficient and less wasteful manner.

Because $4.5 billion of national stimulus funds have been allocated to the creation of such a smart grid, a host of companies have sprung up, ready to provide the technology. However, just as the forms of energy are coming from disparate sources, there are different communications networks, metering software and central management systems at play. Just one week ago, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released its first preliminary List of Smart Grid Interoperability Standards, and according to the group, it could take several hundred different standards to achieve a secure, end-to-end interoperability across a fully implemented smart grid.

Current Group, a company participating in the "gold rush" for smart grid technology announced today that it has partnered with national telecommunications company Qwest to release a framework for smart grid implementation based around Qwest's DSL network. The two companies have already tested the platform with power company Xcel Energy in the SmartGridCity consortium, which is a smart grid project being built in Boulder, Colorado.

Since DSL is relatively cheap and highly available, Current is hoping that energy companies will jump on its solution. CEO Tom Casey said, "We have further reduced the cost of a Smart Grid and today, we introduce an attractive option for utilities interested in using the stimulus funding to implement a Smart Grid and manage the two-way power flow of the future," in a statement today.