Japan signs smart-grid accords with New Mexico

The Japanese government expects to invest $30 million over four years in smart grid research and demonstration projects in New Mexico.

Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization signed five agreements on Friday in Los Alamos with state officials and representatives from the two national laboratories, Los Alamos County, the Public Service Co. of New Mexico, and the Mesa del Sol master-planned community in south-central Albuquerque.

The agreements outline collaborative efforts to set up smart-grid demonstration projects in Los Alamos and at Mesa del Sol, plus laboratory-based research that will help test and evaluate new energy technology and integration systems.

NEDO expects to contribute $30 million to the effort, although the accords don’t contain any funding commitments or budget outlines, said Kazayuki Takada, a Washington, D.C.-based NEDO representative.

“Our current plan is to spend $30 million over four years, but we still need to discuss details with our partners,” Takada said.

NEDO is considering 18 proposals from 31 Japanese companies that are bidding to participate in the New Mexico projects. Representatives from all the companies are now in New Mexico to meet with potential partners here to get more information and refine their bids, said Tom Bowles, Gov. Bill Richardson’s science advisor on loan from Los Alamos National Laboratory.

“The companies already sent their proposals to NEDO, but they’re doing due diligence now to refine those plans and make sure everything they’re proposing can actually be done,” Bowles said. “They will update their proposals by the end of March and NEDO will review them in April. After that, NEDO will select the winners, sign contracts and award funding to the winning companies.”

Through the projects, the participating companies and institutions will be able to test out new technologies, and evaluate in a real setting how a fully integrated smart grid will work.

Smart grids rely on automated monitoring of electricity use and computerized supply-and-demand controls to reduce energy consumption in homes and buildings. That means installing smart meters to monitor consumption in homes and buildings, plus establishment of control centers and mechanisms to rapidly shut things on and off and alternate back and forth among a variety of energy sources.

In New Mexico, officials want to establish a “green” smart grid, which means integrating a lot more renewable energy into the electric system in a seamless fashion.

The Los Alamos demo project, which will include the Los Alamos County Department of Public Utilities, will test a residential-based smart grid. The partners will install a 2-megawatt solar photovoltaic system with battery storage, a command control site, a demonstration smart-grid house and smart metering on other properties to gather data, said Utilities Manager John Arrowsmith.

NEDO will invest about $17 million in the project and Los Alamos $10 million, Arrowsmith said, although the final agreement must still be approved by local government officials.

At Mesa del Sol, NEDO and its partners will test and evaluate a smart grid for a large commercial building.

NEDO will invest about $10 million to install a PV system with battery storage, a gas engine and a fuel cell with smart meters and systems to control supply and demand at the planned community’s “Aperture Center.”
PNM received $1.8 million in stimulus funding, which will be used on the demo project in cooperation with NEDO, Bowles said.

NEDO will contribute another $3 million for research at LANL and Sandia National Laboratories to study two issues: The seamless inter-operability of a fully established smart green grid, and effective cybersecurity to make sure terrorists or hackers can’t do damage to the system or collect intelligence, Bowles said.

NEDO will benefit from the opportunity to test and evaluate Japanese technology while tapping the advanced research capabilities at the national laboratories in New Mexico, Takada said.

In addition, it will allow Japanese companies to help create an international standardization of technology and equipment that will be used in smart grids worldwide, said Dr. Shatoschi Morozumi, director of NEDO’s Smart Community Promotion Division.

All equipment, no matter what company or country it comes from, will have to be compatible with smart grid systems in the future.

“That will be very important as smart grids emerge worldwide,” Morozumi said.

※ source : http://albuquerque.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/stories/2010/03/01/daily52.html