With the smart grid as a centerpiece of the new national energy policy, it’s no surprise that a coalition of 25 organizations have come together to collaborate efforts to turn San Diego’s electrical grid into a digital smart grid.  

The smart grid would include renewable energy generation, advanced electric transmission and distribute smart metering and energy storage technologies. 

Of the 25 companies, San Diego Gas & Electric, or “SDG&E,” CleanTECH San Diego and the University of California, San Diego are pioneering the movement.

Michael Niggli, COO for SDG&E, said that while realizing the benefits of a smart grid goes beyond a high-tech experiment, investing in this venture will help pave the way to develop a more sustainable energy future for the industry. 

And, since the federal government dedicated over $4.5 billion to smart grid development through the economic stimulus program, the coalition is seeking $100 million of the funds for its San Diego project.

The goal of the coalition is to build on the smart grid foundation SDG&E has created – smart meters, the company’s new outage and distribution management system and self-healing and microgrid technology – and accelerate the delivery of benefits to customers in the San Diego area.

Lisa Bicker, president of CleanTech San Diego, said that greater interaction among all the stakeholders is essential to the success of the smart grid. 

By leveraging San Diego’s strong history of collaboration we will enable new products, services and markets to fuel an economic engine in San Diego and beyond.  In addition, we will bring new clean technology jobs and export opportunities to our region,” Bicker said.  

Niggli said that the smart grid will allow customers to save money, increase the use of renewable resources located at both distribution and transmission service levels, increase the number of electrical vehicles and provide each customer with a choice on how they choose to use energy.

“The initiative will provide the first look at how the smart grid will function – at all levels – from generation to transmission to distribution and to the customer,” Niggli said. “This demonstration, and what we learn from it, will allow us to compress the timetable for the large scale deployment of smart grid technologies for quicker benefits for our customers, the environment and the country.”

Since the San Diego area has a plethora of renewable energy resources, namely sun and wind, SDG&E was the first utility to commit to a 33 percent renewable portfolio standard by 2020. 

Additionally, San Diego leads the nation’s cities in solar rooftops and is part of the largest “transportation electrification” infrastructure project in the country, Niggli said. 

In addition to SDG&E, UC San Diego and CleanTECH San Diego, some of the other organizations in the San Diego regional smart grid project include IBM, GE, Cisco, Intel (News - Alert) and Balance Energy.