Boulder’s Smart Grid [Video]

This is my 11th video interview with Tony Boniface President of Independent Power Systems filmed in Superior Colorado.

SolarDave: Can you tell me about Boulder Colorado’s Smart Grid?

Tony Boniface: I am new to this somewhat, I will say I predicted this a while ago. The grid today is not much different than it was 100 years ago - you have centralize power planets that pump electricity down the grid and have no idea what is happening at the end of the lines until they get a phone call from a customer saying their power is out or something has happened so it is pretty old.

Utilities recognize that with modern communications they can be smarter and understand what is going on with their grid they also understand if they can provide information to the end customer about the status of the grid, the status of the power planets coming online and offline and price signals that they will start doing homeowners can make informed decisions when they run certain loads.

The utility will have the power to shut certain things off maybe time AC in the neighborhood right now if every one flipped on their AC at the some time it could blow a fuse down the line.

They see that the (electric) grid is becoming more and more vulnerable to overload, so the Smart Grid benefits the end customer from a cost standpoint as.

The interesting thing is Boulder is the only place in the Boulder where Smart Grid is being developed because the nature of the grid and we have open space to the east from a phyiscal arena and a customer acceptance base. It brings a lot of oppurtunity to everyone because there is a lot of technoologies to be developed to take advanage of the Smart Grid.