NOVEC gets grant for 'smart grid'

$5 million federal stimulus award Upgrades expected to save energy, improve reliability

The Manassas-based Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative has received $5 million in federal stimulus funds to deploy new technology that will improve the efficiency and reliability of its distribution system, company officials said.

The new digitally based equipment, dubbed "smart grid technology," will improve the system's reliability as much as 5 percent and result in the creation of about 15 jobs at the manufacturing facilities that will produce the equipment, said Jim Moxley, NOVEC's senior vice president for administration, substations and telecommunications.

"We're very pleased to have been awarded this," Moxley said, noting that the company began deploying smart grid technology on its own in 2007. "We're a company that has been moving into the direction of a smart grid for a few years now, and we are delighted to be able to continue."

NOVEC was one of 100 utilities nationwide selected by the U.S. Department of Energy to receive a grant. The funding is coming from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and is part of $3.4 billion in grants President Obama announced Tuesday to improve the nation's electrical grid. NOVEC serves about 142,000 people in Manassas Park and in Prince William, Loudoun, Fairfax, Stafford, Fauquier and Clarke counties.

Moxley said the technology will enable NOVEC to receive real-time data on the conditions and status of the grid, information that has been collected on a monthly basis. The system will also allow company officials to gather the data from a remote location, cutting down on staff time and vehicles on the road.

Another benefit, Moxley said, is it will allow NOVEC to respond to outages much more quickly. Crews will be able to identify the source of outages almost immediately instead of having to drive along a power line to find the problem.

"It is imperative that we improve the state's efficiency and reliability of electric generation and distribution, as the growth in our state will otherwise threaten reliability of our electric supply," Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.) said in a letter to the Energy Department, supporting the grant. "Moreover, we will not be able to achieve the energy savings goals established by Gov. [Timothy M.] Kaine . . . without substantial investments in conservation and demand response technologies."

When the stimulus grant expires in three years, Moxley said, about 85 percent of NOVEC's system should be wired with smart grid technology. The company estimates it will save about $600,000 in energy costs annually once the entire system is upgraded, Moxley said, noting that cost savings have the potential to be reflected in customers' bills.

The Rappahannock Electric Cooperative in Fredericksburg was the only other Virginia organization to receive funding. It received about $15.7 million to upgrade its communication infrastructure.

The City of Manassas, which provides power to about 15,000 customers, did not receive a grant it had sought. Gregg Paulson, deputy director of the city's electric department, said Manassas had applied for $2.5 million to help cover costs to install an advanced metering system, a Web-based application that allows residents and city officials to read and monitor water and electric meters remotely.

The system was tried out in the summer with the help of MainNet Communications, Paulson said. Although the project was a success, Paulson said, Manassas will search for a new company to install the system citywide because MainNet did not meet the performance criteria established in the contract. He said Manassas did not have to pay the $229,000 cost of the pilot project since MainNet didn't fully execute the agreement.

Although the city did not receive the grant, Paulson said, it plans to move forward with the project and replace the water and electric meters in the city with "smart meters." It will take about three years to fully deploy the system, costing the electric department $6 million. Once in place, it is expected to save Manassas more than $1 million annually.