Arlington, Virginia; November 17, 2011 – Effective Tuesday, November 15, 2011, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association closed on contracts worth $26.7 million for smart grid components to be deployed at 23 cooperatives participating in the cooperatives’ regional Smart Grid Demonstration Project (SGDP). 

Supported by a matching grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, over the course of the project, participating cooperatives are deploying more than 75 technologies and equipment in twelve states.

NRECA has made these purchases for research and evaluation of the following smart grid features:

Communications
AMI systems and digital communications software and infrastructure to enable smart grid features including demand response over AMI, load management, prepaid metering and in-home energy displays.

Efficiency and Demand Response
Software and equipment to improve efficiency both at the operational and end-user level, and enable automated demand response and load control.  Components include load control switches, in-home displays, advanced Volt-Var control, demand response over AMI, meter disconnect collar sealing kits.  Conservation voltage regulation.

Reliability and power quality
Software and equipment to improve reliability by implementing SCADA, self-healing capability, power quality monitoring and regulation and improved conservation voltage regulation.

Distributed generation and renewable energy
Equipment to assist the integration of renewable energy and distributed generation resources.

NRECA has executed contracts with the following vendors:  Cooper Power Systems, Inc., HD Supply Utilities, Ltd., Stuart C. Irby Company, Larson Communications, Inc., RFIP, Inc., Ruggedcom, Inc., VFP, Inc., Alstom Grid, Inc., Nolan Power Group, Inc., Hunt Technologies (aka Landis & Gyr) and QEI, Inc.