Photo of Vice President Biden, Governor Schwarzenegger and Governor O'Malley courtesy of Priscilla Knight's Blackberry.

When officials at the Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative (NOVEC) received an invitation to a press conference in Washington with Vice President Joseph Biden, they weren't sure what to expect. 

On October 30, Wilbur Rollins, senior vice-president, and Priscilla Knight, communications specialist, arrived early at the Executive Office Building gate on Pennsylvania Avenue.  After passing through security, they walked with other grant recipients down grand hallways before entering a small conference room.

When the door on the platform opened two hours later, participants gasped when not only Vice President Biden walked to the podium, but also Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Almost in unison, according to Knight, participants grabbed their cell phones and started snapping photos.

The Vice President and governors were there to provide a status report on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), also known as the stimulus bill, including an update on Department of Energy (DOE) smart grid grants.  Two days earlier, NOVEC had learned it would receive a $5 million matching grant for the co-op's electric distribution system automation program.

NOVEC is one of more than fifty cooperatives who will be receiving $215 million in federal funds made possible by ARRA. In Virginia, Rappahannock Electric Cooperative will be receiving $15.7 million in federal stimulus funds. 

According to Jim Moxley, NOVEC's senior vice president for administration, substations and telecommunications, the grant will accelerate the planned replacement of older, technically obsolete equipment with digital-based, smart grid equipment and help expand the fiber optic network. 

Moxley says that the upgrades will allow NOVEC to improve power quality, reduce electricity losses through the distribution system, and save more than $100,000 annually in substation maintenance alone through the automation of inspection processes. By lowering peak demand with new equipment, the Co-op will likely save approximately $600,000 annually in power costs and defer the need for new peak-generation power capacity.

NOVEC's industry partners expect that the Co-op's smart grid project will create at least 15 jobs in the manufacturing facilities that will produce the equipment NOVEC will deploy. The equipment installation firms estimate that approximately 55 jobs will be preserved during the three-year grant performance period.

According to Knight, the affair had its lighter side. When Biden finished his presentation, Schwarzenegger – the Austrian former weightlifter and movie star – yelled, "There's wiener schnitzel and beer for everyone!" The room erupted in laughter as everyone left…hungry.