Newly-Appointed Secretaries Emphasize Importance of Energy Grid Update

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu (images: Getty Images/AP via nytimes.com)

Now that the stimulus bill is officially law, it is just a matter of time until some of those recovery dollars make their way into the energy sector.  But where exactly will the first progress be made?  Wind turbine construction?  Solar panel construction?  Geothermal exploration?  If the words of the freshmen secretaries of energy and the interior are any indication, modernization of the U.S. power grid is priority number one.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Energy Secretary Steven Chu both spoke on a conference call organized by the Center for American Progress last week, and both emphasized the importance of a “smart grid” to the implementation of green energy resources.  Chu said that “the modernization of the nation’s electricity grid system has to be an integral part of” clean energy plans in the stimulus bill, and Salazar’s language was even stronger.  He said that the Department of the Interior is ready to address issues of distribution of clean energy, which have been major obstacles to green energy projects in the past, declaring, “you are literally going to see an energy revolution.” (NY Times)

Chu offered one tidbit of detail from the stimulus plan, saying that the Bonneville Power Administration and the Western Area Power Administration will receive a portion of the grid-related stimulus money.  Both are federally-owned entities that deliver electricity to consumers in the Western U.S.