GERRY CONNOLLY FOR CONGRESS

Potomac News & Messenger

By KEITH WALKER

Rep. Gerald E. "Gerry" Connolly, D-11th, asked U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu for $5 million for the Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative, and got it.

The grant, from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will help the cooperative create a smart grid to "improve efficiency and reliability of its electric generation and distribution network," stated a press release from Connolly's office.

Connolly wrote to Chu to back up NOVEC's grant proposal, and said in the letter that growth in the state will threaten the future reliability of electricity distribution.

The grant money, which will come to the cooperative over three years, will create about 75 jobs, the release stated.

Installing new software, hardware and remote digital equipment to make the grid "smart" will allow the cooperative to obtain more accurate information about its system, prevent outages and respond more rapidly and effectively when outages occur, according to the grant proposal.

The cooperative's 142,000 customers in Prince William and Fairfax counties stand to realize some savings once the project is completed, said NOVEC spokesman Mike Curtis. "Ultimately, it will support the foundation of technology implementation that will help customers save money,"

Curtis said of the smart grid that should be up and running in three years and will cost a total of $10 million. Roughly $5.3 million will go toward new equipment and $4.7 million will go toward design, installation and cyber-security, Curtis said.

The cooperative will start work on the smart grid as soon as the money arrives. It's a "shovel-ready" project.

"That was one of the requirements of the filing. We have a fairly limited time frame that all of this has to be done, so we're prepared to move forward," Curtis said. "We have a detailed schedule to meet all of the requirements of the application."