The Consumer Electronics Association (News - Alert) (CEA) announced the launch of a new smart grid committee to advance standardization of the Modular Communications Interface (MCI) specification.

The committee is expected to improve the adoption and growth of smart grid-ready products across the globe.

The new standard will be framed in a way that it will benefit manufacturers, utilities, service providers and consumers. The new smart grid committee will focus on preparing guidelines that can bring more Smart Grid-ready products.

“This committee is designed to accelerate the adoption and growth of Smart Grid-ready products,” said Brian Markwalter, senior vice president of research and standards, CEA, in a statement.

“We’re eager to build on the significant efforts of USNAP and EPRI to create this standard by further addressing the needs of manufacturers, utilities, service providers and consumers alike,” Markwalter added.

The MCI specification will enable manufacturers of consumer products to build smart grid-ready products that can obtain energy information from digital meters and energy system interfaces.

“Consumers benefit from the selection of smart grid-ready products that can be used anywhere in the country,” said Jon Rappaport, chairman, USNAP Alliance.

The USNAP Alliance will work with the CEA committee, CEA R7.8 Modular Communication Interface for Energy Management, to support the industry adoption of the MCI standard through certification and test programs.

“This new specification addresses a significant gap in the Smart Grid for a unifying technology that enables a range of consumer products to respond to demand response events,” said Brian Seal, technical executive, EPRI.  

Recently, the U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack unveiled a loan program that will grant $900 million in funding to rural electric cooperative utilities. The program will benefit more than 19,000 rural consumers in 14 U.S. states.

More than $19 million will be used toward financing smart grid technologies, while other RUS funding will build nearly 1,500 miles of line and enhance more than 1,700 miles of current line in rural regions.