SRP applies for stimulus funds for smart projects
Officials with the Tempe-based utility say the extra money would not diminish the need for an 8.8 percent electric rate increase pending before SRP's board of directors, but it might reduce the size of future rate hikes.
SRP officials say the projects being sought for stimulus funding would give customers more options for controlling their energy use, improve reliability and promote clean energy.
Smart meters can send data via radio signals back to the utility, allowing the meter to be read automatically by a computer at an SRP control center.
SRP has already deployed more than 400,000 smart meters and wants to install another 540,000 by the fall of 2011, when every customer would have one.
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Irving Oil invests in electrolyzer to produce hydrogen from water
SAINT JOHN - Irving Oil is expanding hydrogen capacity at its Saint John, N.B., refinery in a bid to lower carbon emissions and offer clean energy to customers.
The family-owned company said Tuesday it has a deal with New York-based Plug Power Inc. to buy a five-megawatt hydrogen electrolyzer that will produce two tonnes of hydrogen a day — equivalent to fuelling 60 buses with hydrogen — using electricity from the local grid.
Hydrogen is an important part of the refining process as it's used to lower the sulphur content of petroleum products like diesel fuel, but most refineries produce hydrogen using…
