Economic development and the Smart Grid

A recent article in an online magazine for site selectors calls for the involvement of economic development officials in decisions about the Smart Grid.

In the siteselection.com article, Talking Points LLC President Scott Carlberg claimed that economic development officials who understand what the Smart Grid will do for their communities can help those areas become early adopters of the technology.

Carlberg notes that the Smart Grid will improve reliability of electric service and reduce the financial risk to corporations. “Reliability and reduction of financial risks benefit economic developers, too. Prospects for expansions and relocation will go where they have more options for success,” he wrote, calling upon economic developers to “be catalysts in the Smart Grid transition.”

He cited an economic development organization in Loudoun County, Virginia that established a sustainable energy task force including local power providers, large power users, and local educators.

Carlberg quoted the county’s economic development director as saying, “We recognize the need to invest in a grid poised for the future, one that hosts distributed generation as well as base load. That is a trend in electric generation, and we need to plan for it.” The article suggests that economic developers are the logical people to bring together the many parties who need to play a role in Smart Grid decisions.