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A consortium of businesses, the city-owned utility and environmentalists said Wednesday they plan to make Austin’s power grid a model of “green” energy and a test bed for new and emerging technologies. They hope startup and established companies will come to Austin to develop technologies that will eventually be used in other cities to modernize the electric grid.
[This is an EXCERPT: read the whole article here. -Ed.]
By Tom Fowler
The City of Austin is hoping to re-create its 1980s success at becoming a high-tech business hub, but this time it’s shooting for the title of America’s Clean Energy Capital.
A consortium of businesses, the city-owned utility and environmentalists said Wednesday they plan to make the city’s power grid a model of “green” energy and a test bed for new and emerging technologies. They hope startup and established companies will come to Austin to develop technologies that will eventually be used in other cities to modernize the electric grid.
The current power grid isn’t designed to handle the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources like wind power, or input from a variety of sources such as building-mounted solar panels.
Other cities have similar initiatives. Boulder, Colo. is part of a $100 million program run by utility Xcel Energy that will install smart meters and provide in-home information devices.
Photo credit: haley 
