Two new GE ads in the Super Bowl, a move by Obama to include Grid modernization in the Stimulus and some recent mainstream press have given companies toiling away in the (until recently relatively unsexy) electricity grid some fresh public light.
Obama's stimulus package includes $32B for grid-specific spending and incentives, and the spending structure ranges from matching funds for private investment to typical R&D grants. Some industry analysts estimate that modernizing the US grid might take between $50-65B, so half-way there is a pretty good start, assuming the money is spent in a way that fosters an open, standards-based ecosystem of upstarts rather than forming just a major handout to industry incumbents.
Here's the If I Only Had a Brain commercial.
What's old is new again.
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