The “Smart Grid” has caught the attention of political, business, and community leaders from the White House to Northwest communities and electric utilities. This is not surprising.

Its champions say Smart Grid will allow us to use many of the same technologies, concepts, and models behind the Internet to transform our electric grid from a centralized network that is largely controlled by utilities, to one that is less centralized and more customer driven. They argue the Smart Grid will encourage the growth and enhance the value of renewable and distributed energy options; support energy efficiency; help owners of homes, businesses, and factories save money and better manage their use of electricity; improve transmission efficiency and reduce power outages, blackouts, and brownouts; accelerate the adoption of new technologies; create more family wage jobs; and more. It should also help communities reduce their collective environmental footprint by allowing us to integrate greener energy options such as wind, solar, and the power stored in the batteries of our electric and hybrid vehicles. Many advocates say the Smart Grid’s full potential will be achieved when combined with a model that enables consumers to actively manage their energy consumption and sell surplus power back to the grid. These claims become all the more important when we consider how critical electricity has become to modern society.

As we take on the challenge of modernizing our electric grid, new opportunities emerge for collaboration among utilities, local governments, housing and transit authorities, the private sector, and other stakeholders. Federal funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and other sources has already been impressive and is likely to continue. Progressive communities are recognizing that federal support for “greening the grid” and “clean energy” open the door to new partnerships that can help make other key community assets, including infrastructures and distribution systems (such as waste water, natural gas, streets, public transit, public housing, cable, and telephone) more sustainable as well.

However, the Smart Grid also has its share of critics who argue that it is more hype than hope.  Among other things, they are concerned the “razzle-dazzle” associated with the Smart Grid may tempt us to ignore other strategies they believe would be more practical solutions to make our communities more sustainable.

With generous support from Portland General Electric and the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation’s matching grant for sustainability research and education, Portland State University launched a two-term seminar winter and spring term to explore the concept of the Smart Grid and investigate whether and how it could help Northwest utilities and communities become more sustainable.  This seminar, called “Designing the Smart Grid for Sustainable Communities,” brought together graduate students from many academic disciplines. It also attracted senior professionals who work at the Bonneville Power Administration, investor- and consumer-owned utilities, NW Power and Conservation Council, the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the Oregon Public utilities Commission, several state agencies, Metro, the City of Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, consumer and environmental advocacy organizations, several high tech, IT, and Smart Grid firms, energy efficiency and renewable resource consulting companies, and more. Our grants allowed us to bring in many national and regional experts on Smart Grid and sustainable development as guest speakers and advisors; it also allowed us to sponsor field trips to give us a first-hand look at Smart Grid opportunities and technologies in the region.

As a thank you, the seminar participants are pleased to offer this conference to inform the community on what we have learned so far, offer our preliminary recommendations, engage in interactive small group discussions, and begin thinking about appropriate next steps. While we have invited three excellent additional speakers to provide guidance and context, most of the presentations will come from the seminar participants themselves. In addition, we have scheduled time for all conference participants to brainstorm in small groups and offer their recommendations to the entire conference and the broader community. All seminar members participate in the class and conference as graduate or professional development students at Portland State University and not as representatives of the companies or agencies where they work.

Small Group Learning Community Presentations, Table Discussions, and Reports Back to the Entire Conference

Seminar participants have formed four small-group “learning communities” to research selected topics and prepare their “deliverables” for this conference. Their observations and recommendations will come in three formats: representatives from each small-group learning community will offer a 25-minute oral presentation (with five additional minutes to field audience questions); the entire group will post on our conference website a “green paper” that explores the subject in more depth; executive summaries of the four green papers will be available at the conference and on the conference website.

After we hear the two morning group presentations, conference attendees will assemble in eight-person “roundtable” discussion groups. These groups will have about 40 minutes to explore further the two morning topics. Each roundtable will receive the same set of discussion questions to consider, some marker pens, and butcher paper. Seminar participants will be included in each roundtable to help facilitate discussion. All conference participants will return to the full conference for an additional 20 minutes to share key findings and observations from their roundtable. Jim Oswald, our graphic recorder, will help capture visually what is shared. We will follow the same cycle in the afternoon by considering the oral presentations from the other two small-group learning communities.