PPL proposes 'smart' grid pilot project
HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA - PPL Corp. is seeking federal stimulus dollars to help it test the use of new equipment that could lower prices and attack outages more quickly.
The Allentown, Pa.-based PPL said that the $38 million project would pilot the use of what it calls "smart" technology.
The testing would focus on electric service for 60,000 customers in the Harrisburg area. PPL is applying for $19 million in stimulus dollars.
Hundreds of new electrical devices would be installed and linked to a centralized computer system.
The technology could help appliances use less electricity and detect outages more quickly and isolate them by routing power around them until repairs are made.
PPL provides electric service to 1.4 million customers in eastern and central Pennsylvania.
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The price spike, triggered by an alert regarding generation losses, came only four months after Ireland and Northern Ireland launched an Integrated Single Electricity Market (ISEM) designed to make trading more competitive and improve power distribution across the island.
Evie Doherty, senior consultant for Ireland at Cornwall Insight, a U.K.-based energy consultancy, said significant price volatility was to be expected while ISEM is still settling down.
When the U.K. introduced a single market for Great Britain, called British Electricity Trading and…
